star wars birthday cake with handmade fondant luke and leia cake toppers

Usually it takes me a half year (sometimes a year!) to blog about something that I've baked, but this time I wanted to get this out in time for May the Fourth (be with you)! Anyway, I'm so honored to be able to say that I've made Marni's birthday cake for her every year since she was born, including her the cake for her mama's baby shower! This year for her 6th birthday, she was going to have a Star Wars themed party with her classmate Wyatt, who is her birthday twin, so what better way to represent the birthday twins than Luke and Leia toppers that look like them!

I got start on making the toppers about a week before the party, so that they would have enough time to dry and harden completely. While I used white fondant to form the bodies, I ended up using this pack of natural skin tone fondant for the heads, just to save time on tinting my fondant with food coloring, especially since this pack had most of the colors that I would be needing (for the heads, hands, and hair)!

For Leia, I formed sleeves with white fondant, and then use a bit of black gel-based food coloring added to white fondant, to create a silver belt for her dress.

For Luke, I also formed sleeves (but less bell-shaped than Leia's sleeves), and then used the lighter brown from the fondant pack for the belt. For the belt buckle, I used the same silver fondant that I used for Leia's belt. Then I used the back of a butter knife to make impressions in Luke's clothes to mimick the fold in his robe, as well a crease to form his pants.

Then I used the skin tone from the fondant pack to form the hands, also using the back of a butter knife for form impressions for the fingers.

For Leia's hair, I used the black from the fondant pack to roll long ropes (since Marni has black hair), which I then formed into her Leia's cinnamon-roll hair buns.

Marni is also known for her signature bangs, so I made sure to include that on this version of Leia. And for Luke's hair, I used the dark brown from the fondant pack (since Wyatt has brown hair).

Then I attached the heads to the bodies with a toothpick to hold them together, and then added their eyes and smiles with an edible food marker.

We also wanted to include Marni and Wyatt's names on the cake, so I drew their names out in the Star Wars font, which I then cut out of paper to be used as a template. Then I tinted fondant with golden yellow and then rolled it out thin, before using a paring knife to cut the letters out.

When it was time to make the cake, I baked up two 8-inch cakes using my favorite vanilla cake recipe (which can be found in my book, The Hello Kitty Baking Book!), let them cool, and then cut them in half horizontally, giving me four cake layers. Then I filled each layer with freshly whipped cream and sliced fresh strawberries.

Once the cake was stacked and assembled, I whipped up a batch of Swiss meringue buttercream frosting (you can also find the recipe in my book!), and tinted it with black gel-based food coloring. Then I covered the top and sides of the cake with a quick crumb coat of frosting, let it chill in the fridge for 30 minutes, and then added a final coat of frosting before smoothing it out with an offset spatula (a bench scraper is also a nice tool for this!)

Once the cake was smooth, I used a food-safe paintbrush, dipped in a mixture of gold luster dust and water, to make gold splatter stars all over the cake. This was my first time attempting this technique, and it was so much fun!

After letting the cake chill overnight in the fridge, I was ready to decorate!

First I added my fondant letters, secured with a bit of buttercream.

Then I was ready to add my fondant toppers! Here they are ready to go on top of the cake.

I made sure to secure them to the cake with toothpicks, so that they wouldn't fall over during the drive to the party.

Wheeeeeee! I'm so happy with how this cake turned out!

I couldn't wait to Marni to see the cake!

I also made a 10-inch coffee chiffon cake (for the adults!), filled with espresso whipped cream and covered with white whipped cream, and decorate with rainbow sprinkles surrounding the number 6.

And now I leave you with some adroable pics from the party!

Happy Birthday, Marni and Wyatt!

minnie mouse cake

Sometime last fall, a friend of a friend asked me to make a strawberries and cream Minnie Mouse birthday cake for her daughter. She originally wanted a Minnie Mouse hat cake topper like the one I had made for my friend Helen, but since I had less than a week's notice I wouldn't have enough time for the fondant cap to dry. So we settled on just mouse ears and a fondant bow instead.

To make the fondant bow, I rolled out white fondant and used a ruler and a pizza cutter to cut out a few wide strips. Then I used pieces of thin cardboard, rolled into tubes, to help form the bow.

I also wanted to add polka dots to the cake, so I used the back of a large star tip to cut out little circles of fondant. And for the fondant ears, I rolled out black fondant and used a large round cookie cutter to cut out large circles, to which I inserted toothpicks into one end so that the circle ears could stand up in the cake.

For the cake, I used my favorite vanilla cake recipe (recipe in my book, The Hello Kitty Baking Book!), baking 1.5 batches of batter in two 10-inch round cake pans. 

Once cooled, I sliced each cake in half horizontally, giving me four cake layers. Then I filled each cake layer with freshly whipped cream and sliced strawberries.

After all of the layers were assembled, I made fresh buttercream and tinted it soft pink, before covering the top and sides of the cake for a quick crumb coat.

After letting the crumb coat chill in the fridge, I added a final coat of frosting, and smoothed it out with an offset spatula. Then I used a medium round tip to pipe a white beaded border around the bottom of the cake.

I let the cake chill in the fridge overnight, and the next morning I was ready to decorate!

First I added my fondant polka dots, using a bit of buttercream on each one to hold it in place.

Then I added my fondant bow ...

... and finally i added my black fondant ears (a.k.a black circles on toothpicks).

I thought the cake turned out pretty cute! Simple, clean, and perfect for a Minnie Mouse party!

elephant birthday cake

Last year for Doan's son's first birthday, I made this Circus/Carnival cake with a fondant lion topper, and this year she wanted a similar cake, but this time in green and with a fondant elephant on top!

A couple weeks before the party, I started on the fondant elephant, in order to give it enough time to dry. I used a bit of Super Black gel-based food coloring to tint my white fondant the perfect shade of gray (or so I thought), and formed the body, arms, legs, and a ball for the head. Then I use a toothpick in the center of the body, to firmly attach the head.

I also formed the trunk, and used a heart cookie cutter to cut out the shape for the ears. (I also used pink fondant and a slightly smaller heart cookie cutter for the inside of the ears). Finally, for the eyes I used an edible marker. Then I let it dry.

After a few days, I noticed a color change in my shade of gray. It was still gray-ish, but had much more of a blue tone. Hmm ...

Anyway, moving on to the cake! The night before the party, I made two 10-inch vanilla cakes, which I sliced in half horizontally to give me four layers. As with last year's cake, I filled each layer with freshly whipped cream and sliced strawberries.

After stacking all four layers, I was ready to frost!

I whipped up a batch of buttercream, and tinted the majority of it green (I left a small portion of it white, to be used later). I did a quick crumb coat on my cake, then let it chill in the fridge for 30 minutes, and then did a final smooth coat.

With the white frosting, I piped a beaded border around the bottom of the cake, and piped the birthday boy's name across the front. Then I let the entire cake chill in the fridge overnight.

The next morning, it was ready for the elephant topper! By now, the elephant had taken on a strange blue/purple tinge. But at least he was still cute. :)

Happy Birthday Roland! Hope you enjoyed your elephant cake!