Royal Icing Butterflies

I've noticed a theme recently in my blogging. Cupcakes. Sorry. It's a hobby I've become fond of. And seriously, who doesn't like looking at cupcakes? Don't pretend you're suffering, it's not all THAT bad!

Yesterday I attempted to make royal icing butterflies. I'd never made or used royal icing before. The first batch I tried turned out really thick and pasty and the butterflies were horrendous, so I decided to add a little bit of water and they ended up looking a little more decent. I think they would have looked even better had I made the wings 3-D rather than flush with the body, but since it was my first rodeo with royal icing I figured I'd better take the easy route first. They turned out okay, not professional, but okay. I AM starting to get a lot better at the traditional 1M swirl though when it comes to piping, so that was encouraging.

I used a store bought black buttercream (out of a can that looks like cheeze-whiz. gasp!) for the bodies as I didn't have black food coloring when I made the royal icing and initially just did them blue like the wings. So today, having 15 royal icing butterflies on hand, I of course had to do what any cupcake lovin' gal would do, and gave them a cupcake home!

Cupcake specs:

• Chocolate-fudge cake
• D-E-L-I-C-I-O-U-S cream cheese frosting ( got the recipe from Wilton's website & colored it yellow. I love Wilton).
• Party Sprinkles

Outcome:

• Rich, creamy, and delectable

Mmmmm! Are you hungry yet? Stop by, I'd love to indulge your belly with cupcakes!