• Skip to primary navigation
  • Skip to main content
  • Skip to primary sidebar

Decorated Treats

  • Home
  • Recipes
    • Cake Recipes
    • Cookies Recipes
    • Brownies & Bars
    • Bread & Dough Treats Recipes
    • Sweets & Candies
    • Jellies & Cold Dessert
    • Frostings, Fillings & Sauces
  • Designs & Tutorials
  • Tips & Techniques
    • Preparing Cakes for Decoration
    • Fondant Decorating
    • Piping Techniques for Cake Decorating
    • Gum Paste Flowers - How to Make
    • Decorating with Chocolate
    • Other Techniques
  • Submit Your Cake Photos
menu icon
go to homepage
  • Categories
  • Recipes
  • Tutorials
  • Techniques
  • Your Cakes
  • Contact Me
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
  • subscribe
    search icon
    Homepage link
    • Categories
    • Recipes
    • Tutorials
    • Techniques
    • Your Cakes
    • Contact Me
    • Facebook
    • Instagram
    • Pinterest
    • YouTube
  • ×

    Home » Fondant Decorating

    Gum Paste Butterfly Cake Decorations

    Published: Aug 21, 2020 · Modified: Aug 4, 2022 by Priya Maha

    I made these gum paste butterfly cake decorations for a butterfly wedding cake. I made lots of these decorations, in three different sizes, dusted them in violet food color, and combined them with gum paste hydrangea flowers to decorate a 3 tier wedding cake.

    A multi tier cake with violet gum paste butterflies and hydrangeas

    Though the decorations look like a lot of work, once you get into the process of making them, it will be pretty fast and the results absolutely gorgeous!


    How to Make Gum Paste Butterfly Cake Decorations

    These were the main supplies I used to make the gum paste butterflies decorations:

    • Gum paste - I used Satin Ice gum paste in white. I love using Satin Ice gum paste. It can be rolled thin and dries well, making it easy to work with. 
    • Butterfly cutters - For this particular cake decorating project, I wanted to have lots of butterflies decorations for the cake. Since it was a 3 tier cake, I decided to make the gum paste butterflies in 3 different sizes. The largest ones for the largest and bottom tier, the medium ones for the second tier and the smallest butterflies for the top tier. I have a number of butterflies cutters, and these were the ones I used for this project:
    Gum paste butterfly cutters
    • Cardboard - I am listing this as one of the supplies for making gum paste butterflies because indeed it is a crucial one. I used the cardboard to hold the butterflies' wings in a natural folded position until they are dried. 
    • Food color - This dust is used to color the butterflies. I used Squires Kitchen Violet to color the butterflies. Dark purple was the theme for the cake I was decorating. Plus, it matches the hydrangea flowers that were also used as part of the butterfly wedding cake decorations too.

    And here is how you make the butterflies:

    • First of all, prepare the cardboards for drying the butterflies. To do this, take a piece of rectangle cardboard and fold it into a "W" shape. I folded mine down the center and then folded both ends of the sides in the opposite direction to form the "W".
    A piece of paper folded into the shape of W

    Cutting the gum paste

    • Once the cardboards are ready, start on the butterflies. Roll the gum paste thin. When working with gum paste, it is always advisable to do it in batches. This will avoid the gum paste from drying out while working on it. 
    A round piece of gum paste cutout

    • Dust a little cornflour on the gum paste and placed your butterfly cutter on it. Press it firmly, and without lifting it, rub it across your work table. This is to make sure the gum paste butterfly is completely detached from the rest of the rolled paste.
    Pressing a butterfly cutter on a piece of round gum paste
    • At this point, the cutout butterfly would detach automatically from the cutter (since there is cornflour). However, should that not happen as the case below, use a needle tool to gently remove the butterfly from the cutter. To do this, I normally poke the side of the cutout and pull it out gently until a small corner of the butterfly wing is detached from the cutter. 
    Using a needle tool to remove gum paste butterfly from its cutter

    • Slide the needle tool as shown and gently remove the rest of the butterfly from the cutter. 
    Using a needle tool to remove gum paste butterfly from its cutter
    A gum paste butterfly cut out and a butterfly cutter

    Shaping and setting the butterflies

    • Once the gum paste butterfly is completely detached, gently lift the butterfly and position it on the folded cardboard. In doing this, make sure the butterfly body is positioned right in the center of the fold. Leave the butterfly aside (overnight) for it to dry completely.
    Gum paste butterfly on a piece of folded paper

    • Once the butterflies decorations are all set and firm, remove them from the cardboard for dusting.
    Gum paste butterflies

    Coloring the butterflies

    • I used a medium sized brush and violet food powder.
    A white gum paste butterfly cake decoration with a paint brush and a plate of violet dust

    • Since I wanted the color to be prominent in the middle and fade off as it moves towards the end of the wings, I dipped the brush into the color and started by dusting the butterflies' bodies. I then gradually moved towards the end of the wings.
    Using a brush to dust the center of a gum paste butterfly. In the background is a plate of violet dust

    • This was how one of the butterflies looked like with the center colored.
    Gum paste violet butterfly on a piece of folder paper

    • Next is the butterflies' outline. To do this. you can use the same brush, dip it in the dust very lightly, and gently apply the dust on the sides of the wings, as shown.
    Gum paste violet butterfly held in hand, with one hand holding a brush and dusting the butterfly in violet dust
    Gum paste violet butterfly held in hand
    • And this was how one of the butterflies looked like upon completion of the coloring process.
    Gum paste violet butterfly on a piece of folded paper

    And here are a few close up views of one of my larger butterflies:

    Gum paste violet butterfly held in hand
    Gum paste violet butterfly

    Completed gum paste butterfly cake decorations

    • Here is how the large and medium butterflies looked like after dusting:
    Gum paste violet butterflies

    Since the butterflies were not wired, I attached them to the cake with some fondant glue. You can also use shortening but I prefer fondant glue as I wanted to butterflies to be totally secured to the cake.

    Gum paste butterfly cake decorations on a white cake

    And that was how I made gum paste butterfly cake decorations for a butterfly wedding cake. 

    Hope you enjoyed reading this tutorial on how to make gum paste butterfly cake decorations.

    Happy cake decorating!

    More Decorating with Fondant

    • Heart Sugar Cookies with Fondant - How to Make
    • Cake Lettering - How to Center Letters on Cakes
    • How to Use Silicone Fondant Molds for Cake Decorating
    • 3D Fondant Guitar Cake Topper

    Reader Interactions

    Comments

    1. Cheryl

      July 07, 2021 at 11:10 am

      Thankyou so much!! I’ve been looking for the best way to make these, now I can do it with your descriptive tutorial.

      Reply

    Leave a Reply Cancel reply

    Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

    Recipe Rating




    This site uses Akismet to reduce spam. Learn how your comment data is processed.

    Primary Sidebar

    Hi there!

    I'm Priya, and I'm so excited that you dropped by :) Welcome to DECORATED TREATS, a place where I share all my cake decorating ideas & true and tried recipes for all things sweet.

    More about me →


    Currently trending

    • Chocolate Peanut Butter Sandwich Cookies
    • Banana Butter Cake (Easy & Moist)
    • How to Make Tea with Milk Powder (Milk Powder Tea)
    • Earl Grey Milk Tea - How to Make Earl Grey Tea with Milk

    As featured on:

    Footer

    ^ back to top

    SUBSCRIBE TO DECORATED TREATS

    Sign up for latest recipes and tutorials!


    Thank you for joining!

    Keep watch for my latest updates in your email.

    .

    About

    • Privacy Policy & Disclaimer
    • Conversion Chart

    Resources

    • Submit your Cakes
    • Testimonials

    Decorated Treats is a participant in the Amazon Services LLC Associates Program, an affiliate advertising program designed to provide a means for sites to earn advertising fees by advertising and linking to Amazon.com. Decorated Treats also contains other affiliate links, which if you purchase from may earn me a small commission. The full disclosure policy can be found here.

    Copyright © 2022 Decorated Treats