Make a fun bath treat topping that is activated by water
Use this recipe to make an exciting, versatile topping for your cupcakes, bath bombs, and other bath treats.
You can use this recipe to make two different toppings: frosting and fondant.
To get frosting, you simply pipe it on a cupcake right after it is mixed. On this floating bath bomb cupcake, the pink was piped and the yellow lemon was made of fondant.
Make toppers out of fondant
For fondant, let the frosting relax in an air tight container for about two hours and then roll it out like sugar cookie dough to make toppers (see below).
Make bath bomb cupcakes & toppers first
Make your toppers and bath bomb cupcakes on one day and then frost them on the second day.
Use Mini Cookie Cutters for Fondant
Cut the fondant into adorable shapes with Mini Cookie Cutters . Cookiecutter.com has almost 250 different shapes to choose from! You can find something for any holiday or occasion.
Roll it out, texture, and then cut with a mini cookie cutter.
Embed frosting chunks for spinning bath bombs
Later, you can embed chunks of left-over frosting in bath bombs for attractive designs. The frosting will give your bath bombs light bubbles and slight buoyancy. You can use it to make a floating bath bomb spin.
Starry Night Butter Bath Bomb. Fizzy frosting adds buoyancy and light bubbling.
The following bath bombs were decorated or enhanced with this fizzy frosting recipe.
Pumpkin bath bomb cupcake. The mini pumpkins were rolled out of fondant and the white frosting was piped.
Santa’s floating bath bomb cupcake. The green tree was made from fondant that was textured with a rolling pin and dusted with shimmer.
Embed colorful fondant hearts in this bath bomb recipe.
Fizzy Frosting is Awesome
So cool, right? I was the owner of FizzButter Bath Bakery and I invented this fizzy frosting recipe. I wanted a frosting that was activated by water.
It took some trial and error but this frosting recipe takes any bath treat recipe to the next level.
For Best Results: Measure Ingredients by Weight
This recipe is more technical than most so be as precise as you can with your measurements. The best way to do this is by using a kitchen scale and convert this recipe to weight.
I use this exact Kitchen Scale from Amazon for measuring ounces and grams.
Get my favorite Kitchen scale from Amazon
Be a bath bomb wizard!
It’s very easy to measure by weight so do not be intimidated. It will also help you to really get to know these ingredients and become a real bath treat wizard.
The first time you make this recipe, record the weight of each ingredient and then use weight measurements instead of cups and tablespoons on subsequent batches.
Fizzy Frosting Recipe / Bubble Fondant Recipe
Recipe author: FizzButter
Frosting Yield: Frost around 15 large Wilton hearts.
Fondant Yield: 40 to 50 small toppers.
NOTE: INGREDIENT NAMES ARE LINKED TO AMAZON FOR EASY PURCHASE.
IMPORTANT: make your fondant toppers the day before you plan to frost cupcakes.
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STEP 1: Before you begin.
You will need a hand mixer, Wilton 12-inch bags and one or two Wilton 1M star tips. Never add fragrance to this recipe or your frosting will not rise correctly.
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STEP 2: Put the following ingredients in a bowl in this order:
- 1/3 cup SLSA Coarse
- 4 TBSP Wilton Meringue Powder
- 1/4 cup powdered sugar
- 46 grams water / Wilton gel color solution – (approximately 5 grams colorant + 41 grams cool water)
Mix ingredients in a medium-sized mixing bowl. If ingredients stick to the bowl, scrape off and re-mix. Mix just enough to get everything evenly distributed and move on.
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STEP 3: Add two more ingredients & mix
- 3/4 cup Baking Soda
- 1/8 teaspoon Cream of Tartar
- Mix in baking soda and cream of tartar. Note: this is a regular kitchen cream of tartar and not tartaric acid.
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STEP 4: Add final two ingredients
- 3 TBSP Corn starch
- 4 TBSP citric acid (fine grain works best…like Milliard)
Once you add the citric acid to this mix, it is activated and must be worked with immediately!
Now, use this mixture to either frost cupcakes or make bubble fondant for toppers.
Let’s make fizzy frosting:
Fill your Wilton bag halfway, twist to hold, and pipe it on your cupcake. On a heart, I liked to do a half circle swirl on each side and then do fill the middle. It will depend on the shape of your bath cupcake.
Just remember, the frosting will rise about 60% so don’t put too much on the cupcake. When that happens, it will slide too far off the sides and look less attractive.
After you pipe all your cupcakes, place your favorite topper on each cupcake while it is still wet. We used fondant Christmas Tree’s, Pumpkins, Hearts and lemons. This company has almost 250 different kinds of Mini Cookie Cutters so you can do something for every holiday or theme.
Do you have Leftover frosting?
Just pipe it directly onto wax paper, let it dry, break it into chunks and you can use it to embed in bath bombs. It will add color, bubbles, and buoyancy to any bath bomb. Once it dries you can store it for over a year in a ziplock bag.
For bubble fondant toppers:
Roll your frosting into a ball and place it in a tupperware container. You have to use a pretty big container because the frosting will rise so much it may lift off the lid.
Let the fondant rest for about two hours. You can tell it’s done when it stops rising like crazy. Please note: it’s better to use the fondant too early vs. too late. Once it dries out, it is a useless substance and you will have to throw it away.
Test your fondant
Take a walnut sized piece to test. Roll it out to 1/4 inch and finish with a texture roller. Does it hold the texture?
When the fondant is just right, it acts and feels just like sugar cookie dough or fondant. It holds impressions and you can use a cookie cutter to cut out shape.
Make Toppers from Fondant
Lightly ‘flour’ your work surface with baking soda. Take an orange sized piece of fondant mixture and roll it out to 1/4 inch with your plain rolling pin.
Next, use a textured rolling pin and add creative texture to your topper. Have fun
Finally, cut out your shapes with mini cookie cutters.
Make adorable toppers out of this bubble fondant. Use different rolling pins to get different textures.
Topper Making Tips
Try to cut the toppers as close as possible. In addition, I like to have around six mini cutters because they start to stick after a about 10 uses. When you are starting out, use a less intricate design with fewer corners.
After you cut out your first set of toppers, add a little bit of new fondant to the unused fondant that was left around your cuts and roll it out again. You can usually do this a few times but if the old mix starts to get brittle, just throw it out and use only new fondant.
Troubleshooting Fondant
If your batch is too wet, it will severely stick to the mini cookie cutter and it won’t hold a rolling pin texture (it will rise out of shape).
If this happens, simply add about a 1/2 tablespoon of baking soda and work it through your apple sized ball.
Now re-roll it out, add texture, and then cut toppers.
I like to use a flat knife to move the cut-out pieces to dry on wax paper.
The extra fondant mixture will dry out quickly so be sure to re-wrap it between use.
Air dry these in a low humidity area and store in sealed ziplock bags. These will last for over a year if they are kept dry.
Rolling Pin Tips and Tricks
First, you’ll want to use a smooth rolling pin like this 9-inch Wilton fondant rolling pin from Amazon. Wilton makes a longer rolling pin but this size works well with the small sections of fondant we will roll out at once (so it doesn’t dry out).
Next, use the smooth pin to get a 1/4 inch thickness on your bubble fondant. It is nice to have more than one 9-inch pin on hand if you are planning to work with multiple colors or do a large job. Please note: Never use this mixture with an aluminum rolling pin.
Now, we get to have some serious fun!
There are a wide assortment of textured rolling pins to jazz up your toppers.
We used the purple textured rolling pin in the image below on our Santa’s Cupcake above.
Plastic textured rolling pins from Amazon..
Never put these plastic rolling pins in the dishwasher. They have seams along the sides that allow water to get inside of them.
Overall, small textures work best.
We really liked this Wilton Fabric roller from Amazon because it catches shimmers exceptionally well.
Note: Buy two of these if you plan to make a lot of toppers because it will start to stick and it’s very hard to wash and get all the way dry in the middle of a project.
Troubleshooting your Fizzy Frosting
Have I added too much water?
If your frosting rises over 100% and flattens out about 5 minutes after it is piped, you have added too much water. This is when you will be happy you weighed all the ingredients because it makes it very simple to adjust. Re-do your batch and you will usually want to take out a gram or two of water at a time.
Also, you don’t have to throw away your work. RECOVER EVERYTHING! You can use this failed mix to make toppers.
Remove the frosting from the cupcakes as soon as you see it has flattened. Next, roll the fizzy frosting into a ball, and then store it in inside a sealed tupperware container. Once it settles and dries a little bit, you can roll it out like fondant. This usually takes and hour and half to two hours.
Have I used enough water?
If the mix doesn’t rise very much and is impossible to pipe through the bag, it does not have enough water. It is not too late to fix this. Put the mix back in the bowl, add a gram of water and mix. Try to re-pipe.
Is storage important?
YES!!!!! Humidity will cause this mixture to mold. All toppers and cupcakes must be cured and stored in low-humidity (under 30%).
The good news is that your little toppers have a shelf life of over one year if they are stored in a sealed ziplock bag.
Cupcakes should be used immediately after opening.