diff --git a/cmd/clusterctl/client/cluster/cert_manager.go b/cmd/clusterctl/client/cluster/cert_manager.go
index c5366c64dc33..c3679424fd10 100644
--- a/cmd/clusterctl/client/cluster/cert_manager.go
+++ b/cmd/clusterctl/client/cluster/cert_manager.go
@@ -27,6 +27,7 @@ import (
 	manifests "sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api/cmd/clusterctl/config"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api/cmd/clusterctl/internal/util"
 	logf "sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api/cmd/clusterctl/log"
+	utilyaml "sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api/util/yaml"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/client"
 )
 
@@ -180,7 +181,7 @@ func (cm *certManagerClient) getManifestObjs() ([]unstructured.Unstructured, err
 		return nil, err
 	}
 
-	objs, err := util.ToUnstructured(yaml)
+	objs, err := utilyaml.ToUnstructured(yaml)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "failed to parse yaml for cert-manager manifest")
 	}
diff --git a/cmd/clusterctl/client/cluster/inventory.go b/cmd/clusterctl/client/cluster/inventory.go
index 67f8663d970f..3b6a0ae7bf99 100644
--- a/cmd/clusterctl/client/cluster/inventory.go
+++ b/cmd/clusterctl/client/cluster/inventory.go
@@ -27,8 +27,8 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/sets"
 	clusterctlv1 "sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api/cmd/clusterctl/api/v1alpha3"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api/cmd/clusterctl/config"
-	"sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api/cmd/clusterctl/internal/util"
 	logf "sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api/cmd/clusterctl/log"
+	utilyaml "sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api/util/yaml"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/controller-runtime/pkg/client"
 )
 
@@ -129,7 +129,7 @@ func (p *inventoryClient) EnsureCustomResourceDefinitions() error {
 	}
 
 	// Transform the yaml in a list of objects.
-	objs, err := util.ToUnstructured(yaml)
+	objs, err := utilyaml.ToUnstructured(yaml)
 	if err != nil {
 		return errors.Wrap(err, "failed to parse yaml for clusterctl inventory CRDs")
 	}
diff --git a/cmd/clusterctl/client/repository/components.go b/cmd/clusterctl/client/repository/components.go
index 422fb66fff9c..5927aac2e391 100644
--- a/cmd/clusterctl/client/repository/components.go
+++ b/cmd/clusterctl/client/repository/components.go
@@ -33,6 +33,7 @@ import (
 	"sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api/cmd/clusterctl/client/config"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api/cmd/clusterctl/internal/scheme"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api/cmd/clusterctl/internal/util"
+	utilyaml "sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api/util/yaml"
 )
 
 const (
@@ -204,7 +205,7 @@ func NewComponents(provider config.Provider, configClient config.Client, rawyaml
 	}
 
 	// Transform the yaml in a list of objects, so following transformation can work on typed objects (instead of working on a string/slice of bytes)
-	objs, err := util.ToUnstructured(yaml)
+	objs, err := utilyaml.ToUnstructured(yaml)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "failed to parse yaml")
 	}
diff --git a/cmd/clusterctl/client/repository/template.go b/cmd/clusterctl/client/repository/template.go
index 08d08f49d265..c36c2cb647ff 100644
--- a/cmd/clusterctl/client/repository/template.go
+++ b/cmd/clusterctl/client/repository/template.go
@@ -21,6 +21,7 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1/unstructured"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api/cmd/clusterctl/client/config"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api/cmd/clusterctl/internal/util"
+	utilyaml "sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api/util/yaml"
 )
 
 // Template wraps a YAML file that defines the cluster objects (Cluster, Machines etc.).
@@ -86,7 +87,7 @@ func NewTemplate(rawYaml []byte, configVariablesClient config.VariablesClient, t
 	}
 
 	// Transform the yaml in a list of objects, so following transformation can work on typed objects (instead of working on a string/slice of bytes).
-	objs, err := util.ToUnstructured(yaml)
+	objs, err := utilyaml.ToUnstructured(yaml)
 	if err != nil {
 		return nil, errors.Wrap(err, "failed to parse yaml")
 	}
diff --git a/cmd/clusterctl/internal/util/yaml.go b/cmd/clusterctl/internal/util/yaml.go
index 5db3731555e3..2892daf00303 100644
--- a/cmd/clusterctl/internal/util/yaml.go
+++ b/cmd/clusterctl/internal/util/yaml.go
@@ -17,14 +17,9 @@ limitations under the License.
 package util
 
 import (
-	"bufio"
 	"bytes"
-	"io"
-
 	"github.com/pkg/errors"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1/unstructured"
-	utilyaml "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/yaml"
-	"sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api/util"
 	"sigs.k8s.io/yaml"
 )
 
@@ -53,46 +48,6 @@ func JoinYaml(yamls ...[]byte) []byte {
 	return r
 }
 
-// ToUnstructured takes a YAML and converts it to a list of Unstructured objects
-func ToUnstructured(rawyaml []byte) ([]unstructured.Unstructured, error) {
-	var ret []unstructured.Unstructured //nolint
-
-	reader := utilyaml.NewYAMLReader(bufio.NewReader(bytes.NewReader(rawyaml)))
-	count := 1
-	for {
-		// Read one YAML document at a time, until io.EOF is returned
-		b, err := reader.Read()
-		if err != nil {
-			if err == io.EOF {
-				break
-			}
-			return nil, errors.Wrapf(err, "failed to read yaml")
-		}
-		if len(b) == 0 {
-			break
-		}
-
-		var m map[string]interface{}
-		if err := yaml.Unmarshal(b, &m); err != nil {
-			return nil, errors.Wrapf(err, "failed to unmarshal the %s yaml document: %q", util.Ordinalize(count), string(b))
-		}
-
-		var u unstructured.Unstructured
-		u.SetUnstructuredContent(m)
-
-		// Ignore empty objects.
-		// Empty objects are generated if there are weird things in manifest files like e.g. two --- in a row without a yaml doc in the middle
-		if u.Object == nil {
-			continue
-		}
-
-		ret = append(ret, u)
-		count++
-	}
-
-	return ret, nil
-}
-
 // FromUnstructured takes a list of Unstructured objects and converts it into a YAML
 func FromUnstructured(objs []unstructured.Unstructured) ([]byte, error) {
 	var ret [][]byte //nolint
diff --git a/cmd/clusterctl/internal/util/yaml_test.go b/cmd/clusterctl/internal/util/yaml_test.go
index f08026a1c014..8b929bb1f8ce 100644
--- a/cmd/clusterctl/internal/util/yaml_test.go
+++ b/cmd/clusterctl/internal/util/yaml_test.go
@@ -20,138 +20,23 @@ import (
 	"testing"
 
 	. "github.com/onsi/gomega"
+
+	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/apis/meta/v1/unstructured"
 )
 
-func TestToUnstructured(t *testing.T) {
-	type args struct {
-		rawyaml []byte
-	}
-	tests := []struct {
-		name          string
-		args          args
-		wantObjsCount int
-		wantErr       bool
-		err           string
-	}{
-		{
-			name: "single object",
-			args: args{
-				rawyaml: []byte("apiVersion: v1\n" +
-					"kind: ConfigMap\n"),
-			},
-			wantObjsCount: 1,
-			wantErr:       false,
-		},
-		{
-			name: "multiple objects are detected",
-			args: args{
-				rawyaml: []byte("apiVersion: v1\n" +
-					"kind: ConfigMap\n" +
-					"---\n" +
-					"apiVersion: v1\n" +
-					"kind: Secret\n"),
-			},
-			wantObjsCount: 2,
-			wantErr:       false,
-		},
-		{
-			name: "empty object are dropped",
-			args: args{
-				rawyaml: []byte("---\n" + //empty objects before
-					"---\n" +
-					"---\n" +
-					"apiVersion: v1\n" +
-					"kind: ConfigMap\n" +
-					"---\n" + // empty objects in the middle
-					"---\n" +
-					"---\n" +
-					"apiVersion: v1\n" +
-					"kind: Secret\n" +
-					"---\n" + //empty objects after
-					"---\n" +
-					"---\n"),
-			},
-			wantObjsCount: 2,
-			wantErr:       false,
-		},
-		{
-			name: "--- in the middle of objects are ignored",
-			args: args{
-				[]byte("apiVersion: v1\n" +
-					"kind: ConfigMap\n" +
-					"data: \n" +
-					" key: |\n" +
-					"  ··Several lines of text,\n" +
-					"  ··with some --- \n" +
-					"  ---\n" +
-					"  ··in the middle\n" +
-					"---\n" +
-					"apiVersion: v1\n" +
-					"kind: Secret\n"),
-			},
-			wantObjsCount: 2,
-			wantErr:       false,
-		},
-		{
-			name: "returns error for invalid yaml",
-			args: args{
-				rawyaml: []byte("apiVersion: v1\n" +
-					"kind: ConfigMap\n" +
-					"---\n" +
-					"apiVersion: v1\n" +
-					"foobar\n" +
-					"kind: Secret\n"),
-			},
-			wantErr: true,
-			err:     "failed to unmarshal the 2nd yaml document",
-		},
-		{
-			name: "returns error for invalid yaml",
-			args: args{
-				rawyaml: []byte("apiVersion: v1\n" +
-					"kind: ConfigMap\n" +
-					"---\n" +
-					"apiVersion: v1\n" +
-					"kind: Pod\n" +
-					"---\n" +
-					"apiVersion: v1\n" +
-					"kind: Deployment\n" +
-					"---\n" +
-					"apiVersion: v1\n" +
-					"foobar\n" +
-					"kind: ConfigMap\n"),
-			},
-			wantErr: true,
-			err:     "failed to unmarshal the 4th yaml document",
-		},
-		{
-			name: "returns error for invalid yaml",
-			args: args{
-				rawyaml: []byte("apiVersion: v1\n" +
-					"foobar\n" +
-					"kind: ConfigMap\n" +
-					"---\n" +
-					"apiVersion: v1\n" +
-					"kind: Secret\n"),
-			},
-			wantErr: true,
-			err:     "failed to unmarshal the 1st yaml document",
+func TestFromUnstructured(t *testing.T) {
+	rawyaml := []byte("apiVersion: v1\n" +
+		"kind: ConfigMap")
+
+	unstructuredObj := unstructured.Unstructured{
+		Object: map[string]interface{}{
+			"apiVersion": "v1",
+			"kind":       "ConfigMap",
 		},
 	}
-	for _, tt := range tests {
-		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
-			g := NewWithT(t)
 
-			got, err := ToUnstructured(tt.args.rawyaml)
-			if tt.wantErr {
-				g.Expect(err).To(HaveOccurred())
-				if len(tt.err) != 0 {
-					g.Expect(err.Error()).To(ContainSubstring(tt.err))
-				}
-				return
-			}
-			g.Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
-			g.Expect(got).To(HaveLen(tt.wantObjsCount))
-		})
-	}
+	convertedyaml, err := FromUnstructured([]unstructured.Unstructured{unstructuredObj})
+	g := NewWithT(t)
+	g.Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
+	g.Expect(string(rawyaml)).To(Equal(string(convertedyaml)))
 }
diff --git a/util/yaml/yaml.go b/util/yaml/yaml.go
index d897d1dd91b2..f19a45881981 100644
--- a/util/yaml/yaml.go
+++ b/util/yaml/yaml.go
@@ -28,9 +28,11 @@ import (
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime/schema"
 	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/runtime/serializer/streaming"
-	"k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/yaml"
+	utilyaml "k8s.io/apimachinery/pkg/util/yaml"
 	"k8s.io/client-go/kubernetes/scheme"
 	clusterv1 "sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api/api/v1alpha3"
+	"sigs.k8s.io/cluster-api/util"
+	"sigs.k8s.io/yaml"
 )
 
 func ExtractClusterReferences(out *ParseOutput, c *clusterv1.Cluster) (res []*unstructured.Unstructured) {
@@ -151,7 +153,7 @@ func Parse(input ParseInput) (*ParseOutput, error) {
 }
 
 type yamlDecoder struct {
-	reader  *yaml.YAMLReader
+	reader  *utilyaml.YAMLReader
 	decoder runtime.Decoder
 	close   func() error
 }
@@ -179,8 +181,48 @@ func (d *yamlDecoder) Close() error {
 
 func NewYAMLDecoder(r io.ReadCloser) streaming.Decoder {
 	return &yamlDecoder{
-		reader:  yaml.NewYAMLReader(bufio.NewReader(r)),
+		reader:  utilyaml.NewYAMLReader(bufio.NewReader(r)),
 		decoder: scheme.Codecs.UniversalDeserializer(),
 		close:   r.Close,
 	}
 }
+
+// ToUnstructured takes a YAML and converts it to a list of Unstructured objects
+func ToUnstructured(rawyaml []byte) ([]unstructured.Unstructured, error) {
+	var ret []unstructured.Unstructured //nolint
+
+	reader := utilyaml.NewYAMLReader(bufio.NewReader(bytes.NewReader(rawyaml)))
+	count := 1
+	for {
+		// Read one YAML document at a time, until io.EOF is returned
+		b, err := reader.Read()
+		if err != nil {
+			if err == io.EOF {
+				break
+			}
+			return nil, errors.Wrapf(err, "failed to read yaml")
+		}
+		if len(b) == 0 {
+			break
+		}
+
+		var m map[string]interface{}
+		if err := yaml.Unmarshal(b, &m); err != nil {
+			return nil, errors.Wrapf(err, "failed to unmarshal the %s yaml document: %q", util.Ordinalize(count), string(b))
+		}
+
+		var u unstructured.Unstructured
+		u.SetUnstructuredContent(m)
+
+		// Ignore empty objects.
+		// Empty objects are generated if there are weird things in manifest files like e.g. two --- in a row without a yaml doc in the middle
+		if u.Object == nil {
+			continue
+		}
+
+		ret = append(ret, u)
+		count++
+	}
+
+	return ret, nil
+}
diff --git a/util/yaml/yaml_test.go b/util/yaml/yaml_test.go
index 83cd979567c7..2103ce2e3693 100644
--- a/util/yaml/yaml_test.go
+++ b/util/yaml/yaml_test.go
@@ -314,3 +314,134 @@ func createTempFile(contents string) (filename string, reterr error) {
 	_, _ = f.WriteString(contents)
 	return f.Name(), nil
 }
+
+func TestToUnstructured(t *testing.T) {
+	type args struct {
+		rawyaml []byte
+	}
+	tests := []struct {
+		name          string
+		args          args
+		wantObjsCount int
+		wantErr       bool
+		err           string
+	}{
+		{
+			name: "single object",
+			args: args{
+				rawyaml: []byte("apiVersion: v1\n" +
+					"kind: ConfigMap\n"),
+			},
+			wantObjsCount: 1,
+			wantErr:       false,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "multiple objects are detected",
+			args: args{
+				rawyaml: []byte("apiVersion: v1\n" +
+					"kind: ConfigMap\n" +
+					"---\n" +
+					"apiVersion: v1\n" +
+					"kind: Secret\n"),
+			},
+			wantObjsCount: 2,
+			wantErr:       false,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "empty object are dropped",
+			args: args{
+				rawyaml: []byte("---\n" + //empty objects before
+					"---\n" +
+					"---\n" +
+					"apiVersion: v1\n" +
+					"kind: ConfigMap\n" +
+					"---\n" + // empty objects in the middle
+					"---\n" +
+					"---\n" +
+					"apiVersion: v1\n" +
+					"kind: Secret\n" +
+					"---\n" + //empty objects after
+					"---\n" +
+					"---\n"),
+			},
+			wantObjsCount: 2,
+			wantErr:       false,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "--- in the middle of objects are ignored",
+			args: args{
+				[]byte("apiVersion: v1\n" +
+					"kind: ConfigMap\n" +
+					"data: \n" +
+					" key: |\n" +
+					"  ··Several lines of text,\n" +
+					"  ··with some --- \n" +
+					"  ---\n" +
+					"  ··in the middle\n" +
+					"---\n" +
+					"apiVersion: v1\n" +
+					"kind: Secret\n"),
+			},
+			wantObjsCount: 2,
+			wantErr:       false,
+		},
+		{
+			name: "returns error for invalid yaml",
+			args: args{
+				rawyaml: []byte("apiVersion: v1\n" +
+					"kind: ConfigMap\n" +
+					"---\n" +
+					"apiVersion: v1\n" +
+					"foobar\n" +
+					"kind: Secret\n"),
+			},
+			wantErr: true,
+			err:     "failed to unmarshal the 2nd yaml document",
+		},
+		{
+			name: "returns error for invalid yaml",
+			args: args{
+				rawyaml: []byte("apiVersion: v1\n" +
+					"kind: ConfigMap\n" +
+					"---\n" +
+					"apiVersion: v1\n" +
+					"kind: Pod\n" +
+					"---\n" +
+					"apiVersion: v1\n" +
+					"kind: Deployment\n" +
+					"---\n"),
+			},
+			wantErr: true,
+			err:     "failed to unmarshal the 4th yaml document",
+		},
+		{
+			name: "returns error for invalid yaml",
+			args: args{
+				rawyaml: []byte("apiVersion: v1\n" +
+					"foobar\n" +
+					"kind: ConfigMap\n" +
+					"---\n" +
+					"apiVersion: v1\n" +
+					"kind: Secret\n"),
+			},
+			wantErr: true,
+			err:     "failed to unmarshal the 1st yaml document",
+		},
+	}
+	for _, tt := range tests {
+		t.Run(tt.name, func(t *testing.T) {
+			g := NewWithT(t)
+
+			got, err := ToUnstructured(tt.args.rawyaml)
+			if tt.wantErr {
+				g.Expect(err).To(HaveOccurred())
+				if len(tt.err) != 0 {
+					g.Expect(err.Error()).To(ContainSubstring(tt.err))
+				}
+				return
+			}
+			g.Expect(err).ToNot(HaveOccurred())
+			g.Expect(got).To(HaveLen(tt.wantObjsCount))
+		})
+	}
+}