Standing Up Butterfly? -- How?
Decorating By Suzanne515 Updated 14 Sep 2008 , 2:53am by bobwonderbuns
I need to make butterflies for a buttercream iced cake. I need to have the butterflies "sit" on the cake so that their wings are standing up (not lying flat on the cake). Do I use fondant? gumpaste? a mixture? How do I do it? (I did buy Wilton's small butterfly cutter.) If I make them Thursday evening, will they be ready to put on the cake on Saturday afternoon for Sunday noon delivery? Any help will be GREATLY appreciated!!!!! Thanks, Suzanne
. . . if you use a cookie cutter and gumpaste like this one . . . http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1255772 (or the one in my gallery) . . . you will have plenty of time to make them . . . gumpaste dries quickly . . . you will just need to find something with the correct angle that you want the wings to dry . . . that could be a piece of wood perhaps (covered in foil or something so the bfly isn't in contact with the wood directly) . . . how quickly it dries will depend somewhat on what size (thickness) it is, but bflies are pretty thin as a rule so it won't need alot of time (but don't get too anxious, if you move them before they are ready you run the risk of breakage - plan for some breakage anyway - sometimes you will need to "glue" them back together) . . . over night should do the trick . . . then you can decorate them as you like . . . HTH
I recently made some gumpaste butterflies. I made them the night before and they were ready the next day. I did not use any cutter or template because I was in a hurry, but it wasn't too difficult. I attached the 2 wings together first and then attached the body. I was so pressed for time that on some of the butterflies I just lay the "body" directly on top of the wings after I placed it on the cake (so the body isn't glued to the wings). It seemed to work out fine, too. Here is a link to the photo of my butterfly cake: http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1260272
Please keep in mind this is my 1st effort making butterflies and I didn't have much time. 
I would use gumpaste, then let them dry overnight in a "V" made from foil.
I did stained glass butterflies on two cakes in my pix. Here's the instructions for how I did them: http://forum.cakecentral.com/how-to-make-stained-glass-ftopicp-2786563.html#2786563
Thanks for all of the suggestions. I'm off to play and see what will work!!! I'll post a picture as soon as I can. 
You can also use rice paper for butterflies and use an edible ink printer or markers. Another option is to use a laminated picture of a real butterfly. Then it could be kept as a keepsake... Good luck with your cake & happy decorating!
I have a few butterfly cakes in my pics, I just used gumpaste and put them in the wilton flower formers and they dried with the wings up! Very easy!!! If you look in my pics you will see them, there is a few in there even one huge one a customer wanted.
Hope that helps
Jessica
Oh in one of my cakes, I did use rice paper and royal for the butterflies. That was really easy as well! I left them white because that was the effect I wanted but you can always color them!
Jessica
Hey Jess, how do you do rice paper butterflies? I've always wondered about that... 
I made rice paper butterflies for the Mid-Atlantic Cake Show. I traced the outlines of the butterfly on white paper, the laid the rice paper on top and traced. Try not to touch the rice paper with your hands to much, it sort of melts. Then I used edible coloring pens and colored to what ever you want. Only do sections at a time and let them dry. Put a book on top of wax paper, on top of the rice paper, to keep it from curling. Pretty easy.
Hey Jess, how do you do rice paper butterflies? I've always wondered about that...
Well i just cut the wing shape out of the rice paper with my exacto knife. You can use scissors as well. On a sheet of wax paper, I piped the body of the butterfly with stiff RI then popped in the flower stamens. Then popped in the rice paper wings and left to dry. Very Very easy!!! That was the way i did it, but there are several ways. That just was the easiest for me.
HTH
Jessica
. . . here is Jackie's tutorial . . . http://www.cakecentral.com/article16-How-To-Make-Realistic-Edible-Butterflies.html
Speaking of butterflies, I just did a cake for a friend's mom's birthday with gelatin butterflies. Can you say "there must be a better way???" Take a look, let me know what you think. http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1265096
Speaking of butterflies, I just did a cake for a friend's mom's birthday with gelatin butterflies. Can you say "there must be a better way???"
Take a look, let me know what you think. http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1265096
. . . those are really cool . . . 
. . . can you explain the recipe, and what the veining sheets were made of (looked like)???
The recipe is basically 1 Tbsp unflavored gelatin (like Knox) with 2 1/2 Tbsp water. Let bloom for 5 minutes, nuke for 10 seconds and add a drop (and I do mean A DROP) of color. Paint onto the veining sheets and let dry. They peel off by themselves. Then go ahead and trim with scissors and use piping gel and disco dust to embellish. The veining sheets I bought from Michaelle Stidham and Diane Simmons. They are a plastic sheet with slight impressions of butterflies to give it a slightly veined look. Hope that helps!
I don't know why my entire message isn't being posted. Anyway, you use piping gel and disco dust to embellish and pipe a royal icing body. The veining sheets are a thin plastic sheet with some butterfly veining on them and I bought them from Michaelle Stidham and Diane Simmons. They are also on sale at another website which is not popular among some here at CC so it shall remain nameless. Anyway I hope that helps!
I'm sorry, I keep losing this after disco dust...
I'm sorry, I don't know why I cannot get an entire response posted here. I'll try again later. Sorry!
. . . I expect you are losing it after "DD" because it is a link that goes "nowhere" . . . some kind of glitch of some kind . . . can you just type the message and forget using the "DD" reference and maybe get your entire message out . . . 
Okay, let's try this again, this time with feeling... You paint the gelatin mixture onto the veining sheets, which are plastic sheets with slight impressing to look like butterfly wings, then let them dry. They peel off by themselves. Use piping gel to adhere "that stuff" you are going to embellish with 
and there you have it! I bought the sheets from Diane Simmons but I've also seen it on sale at s*g*rcr*ft.c*m. Hope that helps!
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