10 Butterfly Wedding Cake Ideas

three-tier wedding cake decorated with flowers and butterfly motifs — Courtesy of Hey There Cupcake

Famous for symbolizing new beginnings, hope, transformation, and eternal love, butterfly motifs are a meaningful accent to display when celebrating new life chapters. So when searching for a memorable way to decorate your big day—a new chapter of love—consider incorporating butterflies into the overall artwork, design, and aesthetic of your wedding cake.

Unsure how this can be achieved elegantly? Wafer paper, gum paste, and other edible products—plus detailed paintwork, printing techniques, and shaping—allow cake artists to adorn wedding confections with chic butterfly designs that add shape and texture in a modern way. Bakers can even construct dainty, customized versions of monarchs, swallowtails, and painted ladies that are so bright and intricate, they’re nearly too pretty to eat.

Ahead, we put together a roundup of 10 butterfly wedding cake ideas to help inspire your own confection. Scroll on for more.

01 of 10

Buttercream Artistry

four-tier wedding cake with a hand-painted buttercream design — Photo by Beyond Jade Photo / Cake by Sweet Heather Anne

This Sweet Heather Anne cake is truly a piece of art! Red, blue, and gold flowers, green and turquoise leaves, tiny bees, and an orange butterfly were all hand-painted onto this four-tier wedding confection for a one-of-a-kind look.

02 of 10

Pretty Pastels

four-tier wedding cake with rice paper that create the impression of butterfly wings — Photo by Jessica Rieke / Cake by Grace and Honey

Pastel-colored rice paper created the impression of butterfly wings on this abstract cake from Grace and Honey. Pale peach, plum, and sapphire shades also coordinated with the floral arrangements and the wedding’s color palette.

03 of 10

Spring Florals

Here, wafer-paper butterflies hover around a three-tiered cake draped in peach, coral, and lavender flowers from Hey There Cupcake. The tiny blooms, which match the fresh floral arrangements on the cake table, were also used on a single-tier cake with smaller butterfly accents.

04 of 10

Bold Moves

three-tier wedding cake with coffee-colored flowers and textured white decorations. — Courtesy of Hey There Cupcake

Butterflies don’t always have to be bright! Just look at these black wafer paper butterflies on this Hey There Cupcake dessert, which are a bold accent against coffee-colored flowers and textured white decorations.

05 of 10

Blue Blooms and Butterflies

A vintage blue floral toile print displayed on a wedding cake — Courtesy of Hey There Cupcake

This toile-printed, two-tiered confection is a lovely example for couples to replicate if hosting a vintage-inspired wedding. Created by Hey There Cupcake, this beautiful blue dessert is decorated with matching wafer paper butterflies printed with edible ink.

06 of 10

A Traditional Tower

Kransekake nordic wedding cake with butterfly decorations — Photo by Andrew Parsons

Want to incorporate your culture and butterflies? No problem! At a sustainable wedding in Seattle, the couple decorated their traditional Nordic wedding cake, a Kransekake, with delicate white butterflies.

07 of 10

An Abstract Look

abstract butterfly motif wedding cake — Courtesy of Jasmine Rae Cakes

For a more abstract interpretation of a butterfly theme, draw inspiration from Jasmine Rae Cakes who used rice paper—hand-colored and painted with individual veining—to mimic the look of butterfly wings. The layers of translucent edible paper blend into new hues when viewed from different angles.

08 of 10

Simple and Elegant

a clean white tiered wedding cake embellished with swirling butterflies — Photo by For The Love of It / Cake by Roobinas Cake

At a Hindu and Jewish Wedding inspired by a “moody Jurassic landscape”, the couple paid homage to the bride's reception dress—a custom gown in pale pink, embellished with 3D butterflies—by decorating their understated, all-white cake with three-dimensional butterflies.

09 of 10

Black and White Accents

four tier white wedding cake decorated with flowers and butterfly motifs — Courtesy of Nine Cakes

To coordinate with a wedding’s black-and-white color palette, Nine Cakes provided a four-tiered dessert with alternating chocolate and vanilla layers. They also opted to decorate the confection with vanilla bean buttercream and black-and-white flowers that were accented by a few patterned edible butterflies.

10 of 10

French Connection

Donut Hole Tower at Wedding Reception — Photo by 515 Photo Co.

If you don't want to serve cake, follow this couple's lead. Here, a lavish dessert table at a multicultural Vancouver wedding included a towering croquembouche, studded with delicate white butterfly accents, atop a gold-trimmed base.

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