How Do I Make Butterflies? Ri?
Decorating By mom2spunkynbug Updated 30 Jan 2007 , 1:00pm by Cake4ever
I would like to make a cake iced in BC with different butterflies on it here and there. Is royal icing the best way to go? I haven't even really gotten into gumpaste yet & fondant doesn't seem "stiff" enough. I would like the butterflies' wings to be open different ways, so I'm thinking I should pipe the wings seperately 
And then wait for them to dry/harden...but what should I use for the body? Should I pipe RI for the body & stick the wings in & prop them up at different heights? What do people use for the antennae? Can I just stick them onto the BC using BC? Or should I use RI?
Piped melted candy melts make great butterflies. You can pipe wings separately, each with two divisions, then fill each section with another color or design. I pipe them onto waxed paper over a printout of the same butterfly pattern, repeated many times.
Once the wings are dry You can pipe a body, and add the wings. I use a V-shaped piece of waxed paper- supported on the sides by whatever. Pipe the body, (make sure it isn't too hot) stick in the wings and let it set.
you can use small flower stamens for the antennae, just cut them short and stick them in the body with the wings. (or add a head, then stamens)
I just use different shapped butterfly cookie cutters to do butterflies. Just roll the gumpaste, cut, and fold the shape in half. For the details I add a little body, some litlle flower buds for the antenae, and do the details in royal. You can see them on the peach cake with the pearls in my pics.
I just did a cake this weekend with this exact thing. I piped the wings separately (outline then color flow). For the colors inside the wings, I found it was prettier to do it in color flow and swirl the colors together. Once they were very dry (24 hours), I piped the body in RI and stuck them in. Propped them up with balled-up foil. Once they were dry they were very hard and stayed in place nicely. The photo is in My Photos. Hope this helps.
I have a photo in 'my photos' of a blossom cake that has RI butterflies which I did by piping onto wax paper over a pattern that I drew freehand. I made lots and lots of wings (you need extras for this 'style' as they break easily) remembering to do left and right sides. The body was made from gumpaste rolled like a sausage and into which i made two indentations with the back end of a dinner knife (I am sure you can find something in the kitchen to work for you) making them long and wide enough to stick the part of the wing into when mounting....I eyeballed it.
I used pearl stamens trimmed to length which I just stuck straight into the gumpaste and used an 'L' shaped piece of 22 guage wire stuck under the body (insert into gumpaste) at the approximate half way mark.....as I wanted my butterflies to 'fly'.....this I then left to dry to VERY hard (about 48 hours under a light). To mount - I used a bead of RI in the 'indentation', placed the wing on either side - and supported the 'angles' with paper towel crushed to fit. P.S. When doing this part, I simply bent the 'underwire' flat out in order to have the body sit in my styro food trays (the ones from the grocery that meat comes on - I save them - cleaned of course). These were then 'placed' on the cake at the venue, as it truly has to be the VERY last thing to add to the cake - breakage was a real problem!!!! MAKE LOTS of wings, the bodies stay fine....good luck and I hope you understand all of this.....
I have a photo in 'my photos' of a blossom cake that has RI butterflies which I did by piping onto wax paper over a pattern that I drew freehand. I made lots and lots of wings (you need extras for this 'style' as they break easily) remembering to do left and right sides. The body was made from gumpaste rolled like a sausage and into which i made two indentations with the back end of a dinner knife (I am sure you can find something in the kitchen to work for you) making them long and wide enough to stick the part of the wing into when mounting....I eyeballed it.
I used pearl stamens trimmed to length which I just stuck straight into the gumpaste and used an 'L' shaped piece of 22 guage wire stuck under the body (insert into gumpaste) at the approximate half way mark.....as I wanted my butterflies to 'fly'.....this I then left to dry to VERY hard (about 48 hours under a light). To mount - I used a bead of RI in the 'indentation', placed the wing on either side - and supported the 'angles' with paper towel crushed to fit. P.S. When doing this part, I simply bent the 'underwire' flat out in order to have the body sit in my styro food trays (the ones from the grocery that meat comes on - I save them - cleaned of course). These were then 'placed' on the cake at the venue, as it truly has to be the VERY last thing to add to the cake - breakage was a real problem!!!! MAKE LOTS of wings, the bodies stay fine....good luck and I hope you understand all of this.....
I couldn't find the pictures of your butterflies?
Click on 'photos' - the last cake at the bottom of my page with the many mini blossoms (mint green in colour) is the one.....hope you can make them out - maybe the pic is not very clear....but can give you a general idea of what they look like - maybe will post a closer pic on this for you...not too familiar with how it is done....but will try.....Angie - ok just tried it, seems it did not 'attach'....sorry!! will try another route
loveQM
If you can send me your e-mail address to [email protected] - I will be able to send you a close up....seems pic is too large to attach here...keep getting ????pixels x ?? pixels.....
Angie,
Thank you so much for your mini tutorial on the butterflies. I really want to try them too. I have done flat ones before. I find that Wilton's parchment is the best for royal. It just slides right off when it's dry. Royal sticks to reguarl waxed paper.
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