Happy Birthday Adrian!

Adrian's first birthday cake was based on the partyware that her mom used at her party. I found butterfly cutters from Global Sugar Art, and thought they would be easy to use! Well, turns out I need to practice a few more times to get the hang of how these cutters. The butterflies that I did make turned out quite well and I did like the final look of them.

I had originally planned to stack the cakes with the square on the bottom. But as I was decorating, I decided to go with them separate and then elevate the round one on a cake stands. I am not all the pleased with the way the border turned out, but think I can remedy that problem next time by layering them instead of putting one directly on top of the other...to me it makes it look sloppy. Adding the dots really gave it that little extra something it was needing.

The butterflies were made with Satin Ice Fondant. I bought a small tub at our local cake store to try it out. I find it stickier that my MMF, with a slightly different taste. When using the patchwork brand of cutters, they recommend Mexican paste, but I just didn't have the time to make it. I needed to just get them made so they could dry and be ready for me to paint them. I used wilton color gels (like you would use for coloring buttercream & fondant), and painted them a few days later. After the painted was set up and drying I dusted them with Wilton pearl dust. This final step really helped them come to life and blend the colors well.

The cakes are both covered and decorated in Marshmallow Fondant (MMF). The dots are the only part I did in buttercream.
Complete Butterfly Cakes:


Border of round cake:
Butterflies:
Top of the square cake:
More butterflies:
Set up at the party. The small cake is for the birthday girl, topped with little butterfly confetti decorations.