Chocolate Butterfly Cake

How do you take a boring boxed cake mix and make it into something special?  Add some chocolate butterflies!  I made a chocolate cake with a box of cake mix and store bought frosting.  I wanted to add something to make it look special and I remembered this pin for making chocolate butterflies I'd seen on Pinterest.

I quickly found some clip art online, copied and pasted it into a Word document, and changed the size to make small, medium, and large images.  I printed two copies and placed waxed paper on top.  I melted some white chocolate and spooned the melted chocolate into a piping bag.  Then I just traced the butterflies with the chocolate.

You can tell I didn't worry too much about tracing every line or making perfect butterflies.  I carefully placed the wax paper on a cookie sheet to make it easier to move in and out of the freezer.  I left the chocolate butterflies in the freezer for about ten minutes to harden.

When the cookie sheet comes out of the freezer, gently remove the butterflies from the waxed paper and place them on the cake.  Some of the butterflies were one piece and they laid flat.  Some butterflies I made in two pieces and I placed them so that the wings stuck up on the cake.

This technique would work for any kind of design, not just butterflies.  You could make other shapes, designs, or even letters.

Is it just me, or do those butterflies look like they're flying around in a glass terrarium?  It reminds me of this butterfly project.

I know I'm not supposed to call attention to the background in the picture, but I'm going to anyway because I just love how my new backdrop did in it's first photo shoot!  I love that rustic and cracked paint finish!  You can find the directions for making DIY wood photo backgrounds here.

Inspired by these pins for chocolate molding technique and chocolate butterflies.