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    Decorated Treats » Designs & Tutorials

    Elegant Butterflies Wedding Cake (How to Make)

    Published: Sep 13, 2020 · Modified: Aug 4, 2022 by Priya Maha

    Learn how to make a cascading butterflies wedding cake with this easy tutorial. This is a 3 tier cake covered in white fondant and decorated with handmade gum paste hydrangea flowers and pretty gum paste butterflies.

    A 3 tier white wedding cake decorated with cascading gum paste hydrangea and butterflies in purple.

    With the flowers and butterflies made in advance, this a fairly quick and easy wedding cake to make.

    Jump to:
    • 🧾Supplies Required
    • 👩‍🍳How to Make
    • ❤️More Cake Designs You Will Love

    🧾Supplies Required

    • Cake - This was a 3 tier cake, measuring 12 inches, 9 inches, and 6 inches in diameter. Each tier was approximately 6 inches high. The cake itself was made using my butter pound cake recipe and since the height was 6 inches instead of my normal 4 inches, I multiplied my recipe for each tier by 1.5 times.
    • Buttercream - Each cake was layered and sandwiched with buttercream. I also used buttercream to crumb coat the cake.
    • Fondant - the entire covered was in white fondant. I also covered the cake board with fondant. I used Satin Ice white fondant.
    • Gold ribbon - I purchased this ribbon from a local craft shop and is non-edible.
    • Gum paste hydrangea - I made these a few days in advance with white Satin Ice gum paste. I dusted them with violet food dust in the centers to match the overall theme color for the wedding cake. Click here for step by step tutorial on how I made these hydrangea flowers.
    • Gum paste butterflies - I made these butterflies in advance and in 3 sizes - large, medium, and small. They were made using white gum paste and then dusted with violet food dust once they were dried. Click here for step by step tutorial on how I made these gum paste butterflies.
    • Fondant glue - I used fondant glue to adhere the flowers and butterflies to the cake. This is so that the butterflies and flowers were totally secured to the cake.

    👩‍🍳How to Make

    Step 1: Make the Gum Paste Butterflies

    I made these a few days in advance to give the butterflies sufficient time to set.

    A gum paste butterfly cut out and a butterfly cutter.

    I rolled my gum paste thin and cut out the butterflies with butterfly cutters.

    Gum paste butterfly on a piece of folded paper.

    And then I placed the butterflies in a 'w' folded paper and let them set in that position.

    Gum paste violet butterfly held in hand, with one hand holding a brush and dusting the butterfly in violet dust.

    Once set, I dusted the butterflies with violet petal dust.

    Gum paste violet butterflies.

    I made the butterflies in 2 different sizes and also made some extras to allow for breakages.

    Step 2: Make the Gum Paste Hydrangea

    Similar to the butterflies, I made these flowers in advance so that they free up my time to assemble the cake.

    Hydrangea petal cutter with a gum paste petal cut out.

    I cut the flower petals in thinly rolled gum paste.

    Silicone hydrangea formers with a gum paste hydrangea flower in the background.

    And then I veined the petals with a hydrangea flower veiner.

    Gum paste hydrangea flowers on a paint palette.

    I placed the flowers in a painting palette to allow them to set in a naturally rounded shapes.

    White hydrangea flower with a white painting pallete in the background filled with dark purple petal dust.

    Once completely set, I dusted the centers with the same violet petal dust used for the butterflies.

    2 purple hydrangea flowers without any centers.

    I only dusted the centers.

    2 purple hydrangea flowers with white centers.

    And then I formed tiny white gum paste balls and attached them to the flower centers with fondant glue.

    Step 3: Bake and Stack the Cakes

    Once the cakes were baked and completely cooled, each tier was leveled, sandwiched, crumb coated, and covered in fondant separately. I then stacked them and used bubble straws as support (here's my guide on how to make tiered cakes).

    I also covered the cake board with fondant and then attached a gold ribbon around the base and the cake board. The ribbon was attached around the cakes with fondant glue and on the cake board with hot glue.  

    3 tier white cake with gold ribbon border.

    Step 4: Attach the Flowers

    Once that was done, I used white fondant, rolled it into thin strips and attached it to the stacked wedding cake with some shortening. The strips were not meant to be seen after all the flowers and butterflies have been attached to the wedding cake.

    They were purely a guide for me to position the flowers and butterflies so that I get them all in a consistent curve around the cake.

    3 tier white cake with gold ribbon border.

    Once I was happy with the guide line, I started with the flowers. 

    Gum paste hydrangeas in flowers formers next to a cake.

    I attached the flowers with fondant glue close to the fondant strips earlier, and in doing that trying as much as possible to cover the strips so that they are not visible once the flowers were all attached.

    Attaching gum paste hydrangeas on a white cake.
    Gum paste hydrangeas in purple on a white cake.

    I then added more flowers on the sides such that I get a wider arrangement at the bottom of the cake and a gradually narrower arrangement as it reaches the topmost cake layer.

    Gum paste hydrangeas in purple on a white cake.

    This was the arrangement on the second layer:

    Gum paste hydrangeas in purple on a white cake.

    And this was the arrangement on the top cake. I ended the flowers right on top of the cake.

    Gum paste hydrangeas in purple on a white cake.

    And here was how the completed hydrangea flowers arrangement on the wedding cake looked like:

    A three tier cake with cascading gum paste hydrangea flowers.

    Step 5: Attach the Gum Paste Butterflies

    Once the flowers were all put on the cake, the next step was to attach the butterflies. As I have mentioned above, I had the butterflies in 3 sizes. I used the largest ones for the bottom layer, the medium-sized ones for the middle layer, and the smallest for the top layer. 

    Gum paste butterflies dusted in dark purple on a gold cake board.

    I started with the bottom layer and attached each butterfly to the cake with fondant glue.

    Gum paste butterflies and hydrangea in purple on a white cake with gold ribbon border.

    Here was how the bottom 2 tiers looked like with butterflies attached:

    Gum paste butterflies and hydrangea in purple on a white cake with gold ribbon border.
    Gum paste butterflies and hydrangea in purple on a white cake with gold ribbon border.

    And I used the smallest sized butterflies for the top most tier.

    Gum paste butterflies and hydrangea in purple on a white cake with gold ribbon border.
    A 3 tier white wedding cake decorated with cascading gum paste hydrangea and butterflies in purple.

    Finally, I attached one large butterfly on the cake board, on the right side of the cake.

    A 3 tier white wedding cake decorated with cascading gum paste hydrangea and butterflies in purple.

    And that was how I made my butterflies wedding cake. 

    ❤️More Cake Designs You Will Love

    • A5 tier wedding cake decorated with orange and yellow roses and fondant lace.
      Elegant 5 Tier Wedding Cake
    • A 2 tier cake with the second tier covered in purple hydrangeas. Cake topper is a gold Mr & Mrs Birds paper pick.
      2 Tier Hydrangea Wedding Cake
    • A 3 tier cake decorated in blue and turquoise and plumeria and hibiscus, with and Mr and Mrs cake topper.
      Tropical Sea Cake for Wedding
    • A 3 tier square cake in white fondant and gold lace and white gum paste flowers.
      Gold Lace Square Wedding Cake

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    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.

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    A 3 tier white wedding cake decorated with cascading gum paste hydrangea and butterflies in purple.