Some insect collections rely on enticing the unsuspecting creatures into jars of formaldehyde—known as killing jars! But butterflies can damage their fragile wings trying to escape, so are suffocated by crushing the thorax. Such is the cruel price of natural beauty.
• tracing paper and pencil
• butterfly and frame templates
• airbrush
• paintbrushes and palette, for mixing paint
• scissors
• sheet of stiff paper
• small Styrofoam block
• 12 in. (30 cm) square wooden cake board, 1/2 in. (1 cm) thick, covered with black self-adhesive shelf paper
• large piping bag with quick-ice tip
• spatula
• rolling pin
• ridged vinyl mat
• ruler
• craft knife
• 2 black decorator’s flower stamens, for antennae
• 2 sheets edible wafer paper
• black edible marker
• sky blue airbrush color
• piping gel
• peacock blue and silver luster dust
• 1 strand thin spaghetti
• 4 oz. (110 g) black fondant
• vodka or lemon extract
• 1 recipe cake batter of choice, baked in 10 in. (25 cm) square pan
• 2 cups (470 ml) decorator’s buttercream icing
• 1 lb. (450 g) ivory fondant
• 8 oz. (225 g) gray fondant
• confectioner’s glaze
Make a tracing of the butterfly template, or photocopy it. Color in your tracing, if you wish, or find a photograph of a real butterfly to use as a guide.
Lay a sheet of wafer paper over butterfly tracing. With a black edible marker, trace butterfly outline onto wafer paper. Using light coats, fill in the black areas around wings with the marker. Leave to dry.
Airbrush a light coat of sky blue over butterfly drawing on wafer paper. Be careful not to oversaturate the paper as it will weaken it and may cause it to disintegrate. Let dry.
When fully dry, flip over butterfly painting onto a clean surface. Brush over a thin coat of piping gel. Fix another sheet of wafer paper to back of butterfly and smooth together. Let dry. Cut out butterfly shape with scissors. Take care with butterfly tails, as they will be fragile.
Fold a stiff piece of paper down the center to create a raised ridge. Rest the butterfly over ridge to dry, with wings slightly bent down. Leave for 2–3 hours, until gel has set and wings have stiffened.
With a soft paintbrush, carefully brush dry peacock blue luster dust over the blue portions of the wings to create the powdery sheen that is often seen on the wings of butterflies.
Break off a 3 in. (7.5 cm) length of spaghetti. Insert into Styrofoam block. Roll small ball of black fondant and fix on top of spaghetti. Mix silver luster dust and vodka or lemon extract into a thick paint. Use to paint spaghetti and fondant ball.
Attach chilled cake in position on covered cake board using a dab of buttercream. Pipe buttercream over the top and sides of cake using the large piping bag and quick-ice tip. Smooth icing with a spatula.
Roll out ivory fondant onto dusted surface. Press ridged vinyl mat onto fondant to add texture. Using a ruler and craft knife, cut out a square of fondant large enough to cover top of cake. Apply to iced cake. Trim off any excess.
Roll out black fondant onto dusted surface. Using a ruler and craft knife, cut out four 10 x 2 in. (25 x 5 cm) strips to form the black framing mount around butterfly. Use water to fix around top edges of cake.
Roll out gray fondant. Use frame template to cut out four mitered pieces. Fix to top edges of cake with water. Cut four 10 x 2 in. (25 x 5 cm) gray fondant strips. Use water to fix to sides of cake. Brush frame with confectioner’s glaze.
Fix butterfly on cake with piping gel. Prop up wings with balls of ivory fondant, if needed. Roll out small rope of black fondant, narrowing at one end. Fix on center of butterfly. Insert stamens as antennae. Push prepared pin into butterfly.
