Decorated butterfly cakes have been popular for years, and with the availability of edible wafer paper butterflies, it’s even easier to make one.
Making a simple cake and adding a set of pink and purple edible butterflies is something that all decorators, including beginners, can do to make a centerpiece cake that impresses everyone.
I got permission from some of my former customers to show some of the pink and purple butterfly cakes, plus other colors, that they made, to give you ideas about how to arrange the butterflies on a cake to create different effects.
I wanted to show how even if a cake uses the same butterflies as other cakes, they can look completely different depending on how they’re arranged on the cake.
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Pink and Purple butterfly birthday cakes.
This pretty two-tiered butterfly birthday cake was made by Angelica, who said that they held up well on whipped cream icing.
I get questions about whether edible butterflies will hold up on whipped cream icing pretty frequently, and I always say not to take a chance, but I guess I’m wrong!
This set of butterflies is a set of purple edible butterflies in a cascade, and Angelica chose to curve them around the cake to create some visual movement.
You can buy purple wafer paper butterflies on Amazon. Click here to shop (#ad): Purple wafer paper butterflies
Kylie made this butterfly birthday cake that uses a set of purple edible butterflies, but because they’re not arranged in a cascade the look is totally different. This one has a very “enchanted forest” feeling to it, and the more I look at it the more details I see.
For an article showing a blue butterfly cake idea with a twist, click here.
The little crystal sprinkles and the oversized shell tip that was used to pipe the icing make this one look like a cake that you want to eat, not just look at! I need to go eat some icing now.
This two tier butterfly cake by Karla is really, really pretty and delicate looking…It has the same set of butterflies as the first two cakes, but again, the different arrangement and details give it a completely different mood.
I’m loving at the purple band of icing at the bottom of the tier, which is a really nice addition to the design, and the buttercream rosettes and piped snail trail around the base of the tiers. The butterflies were folded slightly to give the wings a little movement, and everything comes together to make a gorgeous little cake.
I want to point out here that the butterflies are a nice addition to these cakes, but even though they’re the same, it’s the talent of the decorators who decide on how to use them that makes the cakes look good.
This lavender butterfly cake was made by Ameerah. This is a larger tier that had some of the butterflies upright on the top of the cake, which is a nice way to display them.
Pastel butterfly birthday cakes.
This two-tiered butterfly cake that Stephanie made features the set of peach, pink and purple edible wafer paper butterflies and some pink and purple mini butterflies to round out the cascade.
This is a straight cascade on the cake, so it starts out thicker at the bottom and thins out as the butterflies “fly up” the side of the cake tiers.
This is another buttercream cake, and it also has oversized shell tip borders, which I really like. I want to say that the icing is slightly pink, but it could just be the lighting…Either way, it’s really pretty!
To get pink wafer paper butterflies on Amazon, click here (#ad).
This sweet two-tier pink and purple butterfly birthday cake by Viviana has two sets of my butterflies on it, one being the same style as the last cake in a different color, and the other being the blush monarch butterflies. I think that this is a fondant cake, and the top tier is a double barrel to give it some extra height.
This arrangement is a curved cascade, and the rose gold color of the border matches the butterflies nicely.
This arrangement is good on a taller cake because it takes advantage of the height and uses the entire tier surface to create the motion with the curving butterflies.
This cute little semi-naked butterfly cake by Melissa has the same set of edible butterflies as the previous two, but because it’s a smaller cake, the scale of them looks different.
I know that people think that naked (no icing at all) and semi-naked cakes (a little icing) are going to be a lot easier than decorating a fully-iced cake, but nooooooo.
Dealing with a naked cake takes different tricks, so this is a nicely done example of a good-looking one.
The butterflies can stick to it with a little buttercream even though it’s not fully iced, and I like the idea of using them on this style of cake.
Rainbow butterfly birthday cakes.
This cake was made by Jamie and uses the rainbow monarch edible butterflies. I like this arrangement and I wanted to show how a single-tiered cake can use the feeling of a cascade and also have flowers on the top of the cake.
The pink rosettes add color to the cake and also give the butterflies a way to stick onto the cake, but it looks like they’re landing on it, which is nice! Again, I love that people are using buttercream with the big shell tip as a choice for decorating these cakes.
To shop for rainbow wafer paper butterflies on Amazon, click here. (#ad)
Corinne made this cake using two sets of rainbow butterflies.
This cake had nuts on the ide of the tier, which is a good addition for cakes like a carrot cake. You can also cover the sides with chocolate shavings or colored sprinkles, and that makes it easier to decorate than trying to smooth out the icing would be!
This cake was made by Christina M. for her daughter’s 5th birthday cake. She used the set of 16 rainbow edible butterflies plus the mini set of rainbow wafer paper butterflies.
Michelle made this simple butterfly cake using the monarch set of rainbow wafer paper butterflies.
This birthday cake was made by Samantha for her daughter’s first birthday. The lavender butterflies matched the butterfly topper to make a pretty arrangement.
To see all of the wafer paper butterflies that are available on Amazon, click here.(#ad)
I hope that these butterfly cake ideas give you some inspiration and ideas about how to arrange the butterflies on your own cakes. Edible butterflies are a really easy way to make a pretty cake prettier, and knowing that there are different ways to use them gives you some creative freedom with your own cake decorating.
