Princess Leia and Hans Solo Cupcake Tutorial

Since Princess Leia and Hans Solo are so similar I thought I would put the two tutorials together.  You can use this idea for making any type of people cupcakes just by altering them a little to make them look young, old, male, female, etc. 

Lets start with Hans Solo.  Here are the tools that you will need for both the Hans Solo and Princess Leia Cupcakes:

Fondant: Cream or Ivory color, black, and brown, Circle cookie cutter a little larger than your cupcake, A square cookie cutter, a black food coloring pen if you don't have black fondant, white food coloring, dresden gumpaste tool, the mouth tool/veiner and a rolling pin. 

  

Start by rolling out your cream colored fondant.  Make sure when you cut things out with cookie cutters that you wiggle them back and forth to make a clean cut (if not you will get little frayed edges and have to smooth them with your finger and that is a pain in the neck). 

I would then place the circle on a frosted cupcake and then do the step for the eyes.  (For most cupcakes I like the shape to dry flat and then put it on the cupcake, but when making people I prefer to put it on the cupcake to give the round shape of the face. Since I didn't have any cupcakes handy I had to make due.  But, if you want the face to dry flat to go on top of a piped swirl then don't add it to the cupcake yet. (And if drying it flat use a smaller cookie cutter because you don't want it to be bigger than your cupcake).

To make the eyes use the dresden tool and not only make the hole, but rock it around in a circle to make the eyes a little bigger.  *** If you don't have black fondant then don't make the holes with the dresden tool, just use your black food coloring marker to make the eyes.*****

Take a tiny piece of black split it in half and roll them into balls and insert then in the eye holes, which have been brushed with a tiny bit of water to make them stick .  Then take a small piece of the cream or ivory fondant and make a round ball for his nose, attach with water as well. 

This is the Mouth Tool/Veiner  I love this tool.  It does cute little smiles and the other side is great for making flowers.   Just press the tool gently into the fondant.   

For the hair this is the process that I did.  1. Cut out some brown fondant (as you can see it doesn't have to be a complete circle since you are going to be cutting off a bunch).  2. I just rotated it so that the round part was on the top.  3.  I used a square cookie cutter to help give me a peak in the hairline. You can just use your exacto or sharp knife if you don't have the square cutter.  4.  I used my exacto knife to finish off the sides. 5.  What it looked like when I was done.  

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The last step for the hair is to use the dresden too again to add some lines so it looks like hair and not a toupee. hehehe

Oh, and the very last step I did was take a little white food coloring and dipped the paint brush in it and put a little dot of white on the eyes!  And then you have a Hans Solo or Luke Skywalker if you want to make him instead.   You could make the same cupcake and just make the hair lighter to distinguish between them. 

Princess Leia:  There are not too many differences between them, just the eyes, nose, and the hair a tiny bit.  The difference with the eyes is instead of making the eyes a vertical oval I make them more horizontal and try to pinch the outside edge of the black a tiny bit.  The nose is just a little smaller than Hans Solos, and the hair you just need to add the buns on.  And I made the hair a little shorter.

Here is how you make the buns: Either roll out a snake of brown fondant with your hands or a fondant smoother.  (I love using the fondant smoother because it rolls it out evenly and you don't see marks where your fingers are).  

Add a tiny bit of water to the end and begin to roll it up.  

I tuck the ends under the bun which gives it a little height and looks better.  Then attach that to the cupcake with a little water.  And of course repeat that step to make two buns. 

And there you have it a beautiful Princess Leia Cupcake!  Super easy and Cute!

If you try it send me an email of your cupcakes! Happy Decorating!