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This past spring I brought three dozen mini-cupcakes to a spring picnic. What better illustrates "Spring" than butterflies? I came up with the idea of making the butterflies three-dimensional using melted chocolate and this Instructable will detail how I went about doing it. Since that picnic I've had 2 people request my butterfly cupcake services. The pink/yellow/white butterflies were for my originals for the picnic. The 5 dozen blue/violet/red butterflies were commissioned for a first birthday party and that's when I decided I needed to share my methods. It took me about 5 hours to complete these from start to finish. I spread it out over 3 days: Day 1-Wings, Day 2- Cupcakes, Day 3- Frost and Assemble. I found that to be much more manageable.
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Signing UpStep 1Gather Your Supplies
Here's what you will need...
For the wings: Chocolate chips (for the body and outline), Candy melts in whatever colors you desire (available at JoAnn Fabrics, Michael's Crafts, Candy & Cake Decorating Supply Stores or online) cereal bag liners, plastic baggies or pastry bags, decorator tip and coupler.
**Note: If your desired color is not available, don't despair! Here's what you'll need to do, find your nearest candy supply store if you are in a rush or if you are not in a hurry, you can search online, get candy melts or almond bark in a color close to what you are looking for, then get OIL-BASED food coloring to add to the chocolate. This is important! If you use water based or gel based colorant to color your chocolate, it will seize (ball up and look like cottage cheese) because water and chocolate do not mix. If you can not find oil-based colorant (like I couldn't with the purple) you can use a water/gel based dye BUT you MUST add Paramount Crystals to the chocolate to prevent seizing. That is the bag of white flakes in the picture. They also work great as a thinning medium to extend the cooling time. They do not change the flavor of the chocolate but they will allow resolidification. More on that later.
For the cupcakes: I made mini-cupcakes, but you can do whatever size you want. For fool-proofness and ease I used a boxed cake mix because I knew I would already be spending a considerable amount of time on the wings. For the yellow/pink set I used a confetti flavor and for the red/purple commission she wanted vanilla flavor. You'll need to follow the directions on the box, usually you will also need eggs, oil, water, pans and cupcake liners if desired.
For the frosting: I always make my frostings from scratch. I think they taste so much better and they don't have the preservatives in them. You can also make it whatever flavor or color you'd like. You will need confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar), milk, butter, flavoring, food dye.
For the wings: Chocolate chips (for the body and outline), Candy melts in whatever colors you desire (available at JoAnn Fabrics, Michael's Crafts, Candy & Cake Decorating Supply Stores or online) cereal bag liners, plastic baggies or pastry bags, decorator tip and coupler.
**Note: If your desired color is not available, don't despair! Here's what you'll need to do, find your nearest candy supply store if you are in a rush or if you are not in a hurry, you can search online, get candy melts or almond bark in a color close to what you are looking for, then get OIL-BASED food coloring to add to the chocolate. This is important! If you use water based or gel based colorant to color your chocolate, it will seize (ball up and look like cottage cheese) because water and chocolate do not mix. If you can not find oil-based colorant (like I couldn't with the purple) you can use a water/gel based dye BUT you MUST add Paramount Crystals to the chocolate to prevent seizing. That is the bag of white flakes in the picture. They also work great as a thinning medium to extend the cooling time. They do not change the flavor of the chocolate but they will allow resolidification. More on that later.
For the cupcakes: I made mini-cupcakes, but you can do whatever size you want. For fool-proofness and ease I used a boxed cake mix because I knew I would already be spending a considerable amount of time on the wings. For the yellow/pink set I used a confetti flavor and for the red/purple commission she wanted vanilla flavor. You'll need to follow the directions on the box, usually you will also need eggs, oil, water, pans and cupcake liners if desired.
For the frosting: I always make my frostings from scratch. I think they taste so much better and they don't have the preservatives in them. You can also make it whatever flavor or color you'd like. You will need confectioner's sugar (powdered sugar), milk, butter, flavoring, food dye.
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