Butterfly cake toppers
(Image credit: Future)

These butterfly cake toppers are made with both white and dark chocolate. This recipe makes 12 toppers.

Delicately pipe dark chocolate wings and fill with white chocolate coloured with pink petal dust. Leave to set to create impressive and edible butterfly wings, perfect for popping on top of cupcakes. These butterfly cake toppers would be great on top of birthday cakes or special occasion bakes too.

How to make butterfly cake toppers

Ingredients

  • 200g of dark chocolate (50% cocoa solid)
  • 200g of white chocolate (cook’s Belgium white choc from Sainsbury’s)
  • Pink petal dust

Butterfly cake toppers: Step 1

Make up a batch of our basic cupcakes and allow to cool.





Butterfly cake toppers: Step 2

Melt 200g of dark chocolate in the microwave on 20 second bursts until its smooth.



Butterfly cake toppers: Step 3

Place a piece of greaseproof paper on top of a chopping board and draw on butterfly wings. You can use an edible food ink pen to do this, if you have one.



Butterfly cake toppers: Step 4

Add the melted dark chocolate to a small piping bag, cut a tiny hole in the end of the bag and pipe the outline of the wings. Make sure you pipe them quite thick or they will break, you need to apply quite a lot of pressure to get a thick outline. Pop the wings in the fridge/freezer for 15 minutes to set.



Butterfly cake toppers: Step 5

Melt the white chocolate in the microwave on 20 second bursts until smooth and add the rose pink petal dust. Mix until the colour is even and add it to the piping bag.



Butterfly cake toppers: Step 6

Butterfly cake toppers

Cut a tiny hole in the end of the bag, remove the wings from the fridge/freezer and fill in the centres. Use a tooth pick to get to the edges by swirling it in small circles. Once all the wings are filled in, give the chopping board a couple of taps on the work surface to even out the chocolate.



Butterfly cake toppers: Step 7

Butterfly cake toppers

Using the dark chocolate again, add detail in the pink chocolate. If the chocolate has set in the bag, just pop it in the microwave for 10 seconds to melt it again (make sure your bag is microwave safe first). Pop the wings back in the fridge/freezer to set - this should take about an hour.



Butterfly cake toppers: Step 8

Butterfly cake toppers

Make an ‘M’ shape by folding tin foil. Remove the wings from the fridge/freezer and place in the centre of the tin foil ‘M’ one wing on each side meeting in the middle.

Using the dark chocolate, pipe large pearls all the way down the centre of where the wings meet and pop them back in the fridge/freezer.



Butterfly cake toppers: Step 9

While the wings are setting, whip up our classic vanilla buttercream and either pipe a swirl onto the cakes or spread a layer with a palette knife.

To create this swirl, use a Wilton 1M nozzle. Start in the centre, working your way out to the paper applying quite a lot of pressure as you pipe. Pipe 3 times around and stop in the centre, releasing the pressure, pushing down slightly, and then pulling up quickly.



Butterfly cake toppers: Step 10

Butterfly cake toppers

(Image credit: Future)

After 30 minutes add a butterfly topper to each iced cake.

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Butterfly cakes

Victoria Threader
Recipes Writer

Victoria Threader is 'the queen of cupcakes' and a contributing Recipe Writer at GoodTo. Not only can she bake delicious cupcakes, she can decorate them too - with each of Victoria’s cupcakes topped with handmade edible toppers. Some of her most popular cupcakes include: rainbow cupcakes, hidden shape cupcakes and even giant cupcakes.