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Parties/celebrations

Whether you're planning a birthday or a hen do, you'll find plenty of ideas for your celebration on our Party forum.

Butterfly Birthday Cake - anyone made one before?

10 replies

lovecat · 31/01/2008 14:59

DD is 3 on the 16th and we're having a bash in the local church hall. 30 kids invited (aargh!) so I'm assuming at least half will be there, plus DH's extended family who are all good eaters, thus a cake of a decent size will be required.

In previous years I've used a 10" square cake tin to make 2 layers of madeira sandwich and just plain royal-iced it with pink piping around the edges and a pink ribbon hiding most of the crappy bits rough edges - that's about the extent of my cakemanship... This has been enough to satisfy party bags and adult attendees, and I'd planned on doing similar this year.

So... having slung that wretched Party Pieces catalogue on the recycling pile, dd spots it - and the birthday cake kits are on the back cover - so now all madam wants is a butterfly cake.

I refuse to pay £stupidamount to Kate Middleton's parents for a non-reusable cake tin and vile fondant readyroll icing (plus a questionable 'premium' cake mix), and the cheapest butterfly cake tin I can find is not only £15 but rather on the small side.

So, having looked at the Party Pieces cake again, it appears to be a bar of cake in the middle with a fondant head jammed on top, and two halves of a large round cake as the wings, the fondant icing upon it giving the shape of the butterfly wing, iyswim.

This I can manage (she says hopefully!) but they say that their cake makes 25-30 'child-sized' portions - well, that won't wash with my bunch of gannets, I need to get at least 50 pieces out of it (assuming all the tinies turn up, there are 20 relatives to cater for on top of that!) so how big do you reckon I'd need to make it?

I have a 10" square cake tin and some 9" round sandwich tins - I'd be making a double layer, sandwiched together with jam & buttercream - would that do it or do I need to think bigger, d'you reckon?

(or should I bite the bullet and buy the bleedin' cake mix?!)

OP posts:
Yorky · 31/01/2008 18:54

Don't bother with the cake mix, it won't taste as nice as proper anyway
If you want a pretty cake throw a handful of sugar strands in the mix before it goes in the tin - they melt during cooking and make it spotty
Can you make the 10" sq cake and cut in half diagonally to give bigger wings than half a 9" round? that should give you around 50 1x2" portions, not huge but adequate
I suppose two small butterflies is making extra work for the fun of it

Califrau · 31/01/2008 18:57

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Califrau · 31/01/2008 18:58

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bluecow208 · 31/01/2008 19:42

sounds pretty. you could always have a plain randonly iced spare to cut up into party bags - once it's sliced and squashed into a napkin they'll never know (or care)...........if you were feeling cunning you could even do that in advance rather than missing the party filling party bags

justabouttohavetakeawaypizza · 01/02/2008 11:41

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twelveyeargap · 01/02/2008 11:46

My nana made me one like that when I was little, only she used a square cake, cut into two rectangles, then with two corners lopped off to make a trapezium, so they looked very like wings.

lovecat · 01/02/2008 15:46

Wow, thanks!

Caulifrau, thanks so much, those are some brilliant links - I feel slightly more confident that I can bodge something together now - and Yorky, what a fab tip re. sprinkles, I shall deffo do that!

Bluecow, great idea, I did consider making another plain-iced cake and, depending on the size of the eventual butterfly, I may yet do that... mwah hah haaa....

And great liquorice and smarties tip, justabouttohave

Thanks once again to everyone who replied - I think my brain has frozen over at the sheer enormity of 20-odd toddlers running wild in a church hall in a fortnight's time, because it didn't even occur to me to google pictures of a cake [d'oh! smiley]...

If it comes out nice, I shall post up a piccy!

OP posts:
lovecat · 16/02/2008 11:11

Well, I did it!

Picture on profile....

OP posts:
marmadukescarlet · 16/02/2008 11:15

Hey, that is a great cake. I bet she (and her pals) loved it. (or is the party today?)

lovecat · 16/02/2008 12:20

Today at 4. She hasn't seen it yet, I'm hoping it'll hit the spot!

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