Decorating A Cake With Candy

Decorating a cake with candy is a fast, simple way to put a cake together. Every time I make a cake, the kids want to help, and I feel bad not being able to let them. (You know what a disaster that can be)! Making this butterfly cake is a great way to let the kids have a good time cake decorating.
Supplies for Decorating A Cake With Candy:
- rectangular cake board
- 1 - 12" cake
- knife
- buttercream icing
- Skittles candy
- M&M's candy
- Twizzlers multi-colored licorice
- Food coloring paste, pink & black
- 1/4 lb. pre-made fondant
- Cake decorating tips #2,16
- black pipe cleaner
1. Cut 12" cake in half.
2. Lay one half of the cake on top of the other so the two cut sides are aligned. Cut a triangle out of the center of the cut sides. Now place both halves on the cake board so the rounded sides are touching, as shown. |
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3. Crumb coat the cake with thinned buttercream icing. 4. Pipe a #16 tip shell border around the top and bottom sides of the cake. |
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5. Pinch off a small piece of fondant and put it aside to make the eyes. Tint the remaining fondant with black food color paste. | |
6. Make a 1" ball of black fondant for the butterfly's head, a 2" long oval piece for the middle of the body, and another 1-1/2" oval piece for the bottom of the body. 7. Cut off about 1/3 of the black pipe cleaner. Fold the remaining piece in half to form a "V" shape. Curl both ends with your finger to form the antennas. Stick the antennas into the head. Arrange all the butterfly body parts on the cake, as shown. |
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8. Form 2 pea-sized balls with the white fondant to make the eyes. Stick them on the head of the butterfly by wetting the backs of them with a dab of water. Create 2 little black fondant dots for the pupils of the eyes and attach to the whites with water. | ![]() |
9. Switch the cake decorating tip on the pastry bag to #2 to pipe a pink mouth.
Cake decorating with candy lends itself quite naturally to family fun. Here's where I just let the kids' imaginations take over the design of the cake. They sorted out the various colors of candies and used 1 color at a time to create each row. Candy is placed in this order on the wings, but feel free to create your own unique design: |
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10. To begin decorating a cake with candy, all rows begin from the outer edge of the cake. Top part of wings:1st row - white M&M's 2nd row - orange Twizzlers cut into 1/2" pieces with orange Skittles between each piece 3rd row - yellow jelly beans center - red Twizzler & green jelly beans Bottom part of wings:1st row - white M&M's 2nd row - yellow 1/2" Twizzler pieces with yellow Skittles in between each piece 3rd row - pink jelly beans center - green Twizzlers |
Decorating a cake with candy is easy enough to do with any number of cake themes. You can even let your child design his/her own birthday cake this way.
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