Friendly Butterfly Cake - cooking recipe

Ingredients

2 packs vanilla sponge cake mix
None None Confectioners' sugar, for dusting
3 lbs ready-made white fondant
None None Yellow, green, orange, pink and purple food coloring
1/2 cup apricot jam, warmed, sieved
2 None pink M&M's or other round candies
2 None yellow pipe cleaners

Preparation

Preheat oven to 350\u00b0F. Grease two 7-inch heart-shaped cake pans and line with parchment. Line four cups of 12-cup muffin pan with paper liners. Make cakes according to package directions. Place 3 tbsp cake mixture into each muffin cup and divide remaining cake mixture between heart pans. Bake cupcakes for 20 mins and heart cakes for 35 mins, or until a skewer comes out clean. Cool in pans for 5 mins, then turn on to wire racks to cool completely.
On a work surface dusted with sifted confectioners' sugar, knead 12 oz fondant until smooth. Knead yellow coloring into fondant; roll out to 1/8-inch thick. Using a 3-inch-round cutter, cut four rounds from fondant. Brush tops of cupcakes with one-quarter of the jam, top with rounds of fondant. Wrap yellow trimmings in plastic wrap.
On surface dusted with sifted confectioners' sugar, knead 1 lb fondant until smooth. Knead green coloring into fondant; roll out to 1/4-inch thick. Brush top and sides of one heart cake with half the remaining jam. Using a rolling pin, lift fondant over cake, then neatly trim excess at base of cake with a sharp-pointed knife. Using hands dusted with confectioners' sugar, gently mold fondant around cake. Repeat with another 1 lb fondant, green coloring, and remaining jam and heart cake.
Arrange yellow cupcakes in a line along the center of a cake platter to make the butterfly's body and position the heart cakes as wings.
On a work surface dusted with sifted confectioners' sugar, knead remaining fondant until smooth. Divide into 3 portions and wrap 2 portions in plastic wrap. Knead orange coloring into remaining portion and roll out to 1/8-inch thick. Using cutters or a sharp-pointed knife, cut heart and star shapes from icing. Position on butterfly wings with a little dab of water. Repeat with reserved yellow trimmings and remaining fondant portions, one portion tinted pink and one tinted purple.
Using tiny scraps of leftover fondant, position M&M's for eyes on butterfly. Shape a small piece of leftover pink fondant into a mouth; position on butterfly.
Twist tops of pipe cleaners into curls; position on cake for antennae.