I made a cake for my hubbys Nanas 80th birthday (see the anemone cake in photos).. thank goodness it was for just family, because I would have had a bigger biotch fit if it were for a client. All went well with the entire process until it came to the fragile butterflies. I will begin by stating that I made the butterflies from fondant mixed with tylose powder, and colored with americolor gel in black. I have made figurines from this combination before and they held up well.. but nothing as fragile and fine as the butterflies. I cut them on the Friday night, a combination of small ones for the cupcakes and one large 3" one for the side of the cake. I even made a body for the large one and gave it little antenna (spelling??) using stamens.. it really looked divine 
I attached it on the side of the cake on the Saturday night, the cake was for later in the afternoon on the Sunday. Well... through the night my mothers heating system switched on 
and low and behold I woke with the noise of it humming away.. not to mention the fact the room I was sleeping in became very stuffy and hot. I raced out of bed to check on my cake which was sitting in the kitchen safely in it's box. The butterflies lower wing had snapped off 
.. not a bad disaster.. and fixable.. glued back on with sugar glue and all was ok. About to walk out the door after fluffing around getting myself and my daughter ready for the party.. and NOOOOOO.. the top and half of the bottom wing fell off!! I then had a massive snarly biotch fit, gathered myself and went to work fixing it. I attached a smaller less beautiful butterfly over the areas that could not be removed and then added some small flowers that were intended for the cupcakes.. It came out looking like a small blossom branch and looks kind of ok.. but definitely not as intended. Im left feeling tormented and like a failure because the cake looks a little unbalanced and almost cluttered with that silly looking branch.
What did I do wrong? Would gumpaste have held up stronger and not snapped? Did I not make the butterfly in advance enough - maybe I should have had the large butterfly drying for at least a full week? To make matters worse.. the buttercream went uber soft on my cupcakes because of the warm day and lack of air conditioning in the function room.
Sorry for the long moaning session.. any help would be appreciated
I attached it on the side of the cake on the Saturday night, the cake was for later in the afternoon on the Sunday. Well... through the night my mothers heating system switched on and low and behold I woke with the noise of it humming away.. not to mention the fact the room I was sleeping in became very stuffy and hot. I raced out of bed to check on my cake which was sitting in the kitchen safely in it's box. The butterflies lower wing had snapped off .. not a bad disaster.. and fixable.. glued back on with sugar glue and all was ok. About to walk out the door after fluffing around getting myself and my daughter ready for the party.. and NOOOOOO.. the top and half of the bottom wing fell off!! I then had a massive snarly biotch fit, gathered myself and went to work fixing it. I attached a smaller less beautiful butterfly over the areas that could not be removed and then added some small flowers that were intended for the cupcakes.. It came out looking like a small blossom branch and looks kind of ok.. but definitely not as intended. Im left feeling tormented and like a failure because the cake looks a little unbalanced and almost cluttered with that silly looking branch.What did I do wrong? Would gumpaste have held up stronger and not snapped? Did I not make the butterfly in advance enough - maybe I should have had the large butterfly drying for at least a full week? To make matters worse.. the buttercream went uber soft on my cupcakes because of the warm day and lack of air conditioning in the function room.
Sorry for the long moaning session.. any help would be appreciated
just one more...
just one more...
Seriously though.. thank you so much for this advice.. they look amazing!
