I went to a barbecue on Labor Day, as I imagine most people did. It was a backyard affair, but a considerable one with 20-30 kids and adults running about. Naturally, we had a lot of food; one of my shots of the grill had 20 hotdogs and 10 burgers on it, and that was just round one. The meat was further complemented with sides, salad, and ziti. This bounty continued to our dessert table, which included three pies, a fruit salad, ganache cups (mine!), a carrot cake, and a butterfly cake.

The butterfly cake was specially chosen by my mother because my late grandmother loved butterflies. She likes to include reminders of her in our celebrations, even though several years have passed. Everyone was so excited to see it unboxed. The adults called me over to take pictures of it because the children were in fact circling hungrily and impatiently. When we cut into it, we found a.. pudding cake. Instead of fruit or mousse, the cake was filled with vanilla pudding. I was really surprised – I cannot remember the last time I ate one of those. It makes sense as a party choice, though, because vanilla pudding as probably as inoffensive as it gets. It was a little boring and bland, but if one wanted flavor, the carrot cake was a-waiting.

From a photographic perspective, a red table cloth would not have been my first choice as a backdrop here because I prefer neutral tones, but it works with the yellow, green, and gold colors of the cake. I actually really like the gold airbrushing on the sides. It’s a little random — who makes gold cakes? who serves them? – but it’s a nice backdrop to the other, simpler hues.

Butterfly and ladybug cake

First things first: no, the butterfly was not edible. It is sitting in a bed of chocolate crunchies, the likes of which you find in Carvel ice-cream cakes, which were meant to be soil. The strange, plastic-like pieces strewn on the icing are so-called magic sprinkles. They are basically transparent glitter flakes, meant to add shine to your dessert, but I don’t think they were necessary here.

Butterfly in the background

The ladybugs were ‘edible’. They were hard sugar-candy (gum paste), like the flowers you find on a wedding cake, so you could eat them, but it’d be like chewing on a jawbreaker.

Ladybug closeup

I selected this side shot because I think it, along with the above ladybug picture, highlights the sheer height and texture of this buttercream icing. It was dramatically fluted, rippled, and layered on the cake in a way you rarely see; most birthday cakes stick with classic swirls, and most wedding cakes use fondant for these details.

Leaf detail

I just like this photograph. It doesn’t necessarily convey any new information about this cake, but the swirls of the yellow icing, the contrast of the green leaves, and the fading gold of the undercoat simply please my eye.

Icing leaves

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