I was asked to make a cake for a young man who is a fan of Star Wars. I started picturing light sabres and Death Stars, but since his favourite character was Darth Vader, I asked whether he would like his cake to look like Darth Vader's mask. For the first week after it was decided that this was what I would do, I was excited about the challenge. Then I started thinking about how I was actually going to make the cake, every second day I came up with a whole new plan. I looked on the internet to see what other people had done, but strangely, there don't seem to be very many life-sized Darth Vader head cakes out there. By the time I actually started making the cake, I was winging it, making it up as I went along. Half way through, disaster struck and I practically had to start from scratch (except for the baking). The day before it was due, I was having visions of calling my client up and telling them that there would be no cake! Somehow, I figured it out and it all came together. I was going to say that I will never tackle a cake like this again, but then I realised that I now know how to tackle a cake like this. So bring it on!
For those of you with a dislike of black icing, I'm with you there! There is no black icing on this cake. It was all sculpted with white fondant, and then sprayed black. I find that this tastes a whole bunch better, and reduces staining of mouths tremendously. The cake is dark chocolate sponge with vanilla buttercream icing. And just so that you can see just how big it is, here is my daughter with it.
Very well done. Looks fantastic!!!!
ReplyDeleteThank you Kylie :)
DeleteThis cake looks awesome! Can I ask if it's sculpted or did you use RCT for the 'face'? Thanks!
ReplyDeleteThank you Melinda!
DeleteThis one is entirely sculpted cake. I carved the basic structural shape from a sturdy (but tasty) pound cake and covered in crusting buttercream and left it to "harden" overnight. Then the details are all added in fondant. The hardest part of this cake was the helmet 'skirt'.
Are you able to do a tutorial on how you made it? thanks :)
ReplyDeleteHi Priya. I probably could, but I am actually having a problem with my right arm at the moment, and so am not able to make cakes for a while. When were you needing the tutorial for?
DeleteHi, hope you are feeling better now. Did you managed to put together the tutorial for this cake? I would be really interested on getting it. or if you have any pictures of the process, I can use them. Will you post them to my e-mail address please? mmgallegos2@yahoo.com
ReplyDeleteBest regards.
My arm has only recently, finally improved (though still not 100%). I may do a tutorial for this cake at some point, I'll just have to see where I can fit it in! As soon as I do do it however, I will post the link on this blog post, and I'd be happy to email you too.
DeleteHow did you make the helmet skirt?
ReplyDeleteHi Rosanna. I cut the shape out of gum paste, then wrapped it around a polystyrene form (the right size for the top of the skirt - where it attaches to the helmet), resting the bottom of the skirt on the counter top and carefully adjusting it so that it curved neatly. I kept it on a piece of parchment paper, making it easier to handle, and allowing me to pin the top of the skirt to the polystyrene form. I then left it to set for about two days, peeled the parchment paper off, and left it for a further two days. When I carved and covered the cake, I measured very, very carefully to make sure the skirt would fit snugly. When finally putting the skirt in place, I rested it on some spice boxes (you can see that in the photo with my daughter, above) and attached it to the cake with royal icing and a strip of fondant (which I then blended carefully in). I sprayed the back of the cake and inside of the skirt black before attaching it - but leaving the attachment points I sprayed, as that would weaken the join. I made sure that this was done a good 24 hours before the cake was collected, and put the spice boxes back under the skirt for transport.
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