Sugar Butterflies! Let Spring Begin -----

Sugar Butterflies!!!! I love this project by one of our DTCPUG members, Hannah -- I especailly love how they finish off the cupcake design! 

I had the opportunity to use Venuance Pearls and butterfly molds from Decorate the Cake. This was my first experience with any type of poured sugar, so it was definitely trial and error. The Venuance Pearls are easy to use, but just a word of caution. Poured sugar is extremely hot so be very careful when working with the pearls or any other liquid sugar.


Materials List:
Venuance Pearls
Mold of choice ( I had several differenc DTC butterfly molds)
Silicone baking mat
Silicone prep bowls
Toothpicks
Gloves There were a couple of different ways I melted the pearls. I tried melting them in the molds and the silicone prep bowls. Place them in the microwave and melt at 30 sec intervals. I found that I prefered melting the pearls in the prep bowls then pour in the molds. When I melted the pearls in the mold, the edges of the piece didn't seem as clean as when I poured the sugar into the molds from the prep bowl.


Remeber to heat the pearls at 30 sec intervals. I tried multiple times and found that if the pearls were heated well and the sugar was completely melted I got a better impression from the molds. Once the sugar is poured, rock the mold back and forth to fill all the corners.



The sugar sets up quickly. I acutally utilized a method from another DTCPUG member. I put my silicone mat on a cookie sheet that was on top of a heating pad. At first my molds were cold and the sugar set up too quickly and I wasn't able to fill the mold completely. I warmed up my molds with the heating pad first. Allow the sugar to set for a few minutes. Then gently remove from the mold.

I used a toothpick to trim up an loose pieces on the mold. Sugar pieces break easily so be careful. If the piece is still warm you can bend and shape the piece. I did this with one of the butterly molds to give dimension.

The butterfly molds made the wings separately. Once my pieces were hardened, I melted the edge on one of the wings and attached it to the other.







You can really see the details of the wings with the Venuance Pearls. Decorate the cake has some really neat butterfly molds with various shaped wings.

I put my final butterflies on cupcakes. It really added something special to them!


Happy Decorating everyone!