Controlled electrodeposition of dendritic nano-structured gold-platinum (AuPt) alloy onto an electrochemically pretreated carbon paper substrate was conducted in an attempt to improve catalyst utilization and to secure an electronic percolation network toward formic acid (FA) fuel cell application. The AuPt catalysts were obtained by potentiostatic deposition. AuPt catalysts synthesized as bimetallic alloys with 60% Au content exhibited the highest catalytic activity towards formic acid electro-oxidation. The origin of this high activity and the role of Au were evaluated, in particular, by XPS analysis. Polarization and stability measurements with 1 mg $cm^{-2}$ AuPt catalyst (only 0.4 mg $cm^{-2}$ Pt) showed 52 mW $cm^{-2}$ and sustainable performance using 3M formic acid and dry air at $40^{circ}C$.