Butterfly or Flutterby

Either way you say it a smile comes to your face.  I created a butterfly cake this week for my neighbor’s daughter’s birthday.  We kept the cake a secret from the Birthday Girl.  The request was for an almond cake with chocolate icing between the layers but those were the only directions I received from them.  Oh, and the Birthday Girl is obsessed with butterflies

I had a couple weeks notice so I could really think about what I wanted to do, order any necessary tools and make a really cool cake.  I decided to do my first stacked cake.  That was the easy part.  I spent a little time with color flow (or flooding as the Europeans call it) but decided that wasn’t the way to go.  The images were flat and although colorful, just wasn’t what I had imagined.  I decided to play with gumpaste – it’s like Play-Doh for cake decorators.  I’ve made gumpaste roses but gumpaste butterflies were a new experience.  I ordered a cutter and veiner for butterflies online.  One evening I colored, cut, veined and shaped the butterflies.  The next evening I attached the wires and applied pearl dust.  The pearl dust gave them a shimmery effect that brought them to life.  Personally, I think its magic dust.

Well, did the birthday girl like it?  YES!  I was in the yard checking the garden and playing with our dog when she ran out of her house, icing all over her face, screaming “I really like the cake!!!”  That’s all I needed to hear.  I was pleased with the finished product but when you make a kid happy your heart just warms.

Here’s a my favorite butterfly.

Deah