Making a Death Star Cake

I've had three people contact me about the Death Star cake pictured in my previous post. I honestly don't have any advice about how to go about it...I just wing it when I make cakes, but I'm happy to share the process I went through.  

This was four layers...enough to make two whole cakes. When cooled, I frosted them and stacked them up on top of each other and put it in the refrigerator to firm up.  Once chilled, I started cutting it into a sphere shape.  When that was done, I put it in the refrigerator to chill some more, while making homemade fondant. It was my 2nd time making fondant...which is ridiculously overpriced and disgusting if you purchase the stuff, but really easy and pretty tasty if you make your own out of marshmallows. I tinted mine dark.  

Once the fondant was made, I covered the sphere, used a ball (about the size of a billiards ball) to make the indentation, and then sprayed it with edible silver paint.  Then I used a paint brush and edible black paint for the decor.  I drew lines all around it, and painted them in.  Added a green candy for the laser-thingy, and it was done.  

Here are some snapshots of the process, including one with Gator and his cake, and the cake half-eaten.  Hope this helps some of you with your Birthday Jedi needs!  

(You may be interested in my all-time most popular blog post about hosting a
Star Wars Birthday Party. I get about 50 visits a day to this post.)

11-11-11 Dance

Hey you guys!  Happy 2012!

I've finally put together a little slideshow of one of the highlights from 2011: The Dance

Bunch turned 15 on 11-11-11, so I decided since it was a ONCE IN A CENTURY date, and it was a Friday, that we should totally have a dance party to celebrate.
(You can click the arrows that appear when you hover over the slideshow to zoom fwd/back or stop on a photo.)

So many wonderful people made it happen, and we had a great turnout. I'm so impressed with the quality kids that live around here and make up my daughter's peer group. They were just delightful.  My talented, generous sister-in-law came and took over 250 photos of the evening...these are just a sample of them. 

Special thanks also goes to my brother-in-law-turned DJ Extraordinaire...he was a ton of fun as he MC'd the evening. Bunch's awesome piano teacher loaned us the sound system, and several of our favorite friends came to help chaperone. My dear bestie Shelah's contributions and help were indispensable in making it special.  

Admission was a non-perishable donation to the Utah Food Bank; we collected 212 pounds of food that night, and dropped it off the next day.  It really was a magical, once-in-a-lifetime experience for Bunch, and I enjoyed everything about it. 

(Also, seriously can't believe I haven't heard from MOTY yet.  Hello?!!! ;-) )

Blue's Cakes

A major component of birthday celebrations around here is, of course, the cake. I've never studied cakerymakery, so I'm just wingin' it, but I have tried to make fun cakes every year for the kids, which are kept secret till the big moment. The looks on their faces when I bring it out is always priceless, and makes all the effort worth while.

I don't have pictures on my computer of all the cakes I've made (eg: I'm missing the awesome candy train, and the sail boat), but thought I'd share a few of them here just for fun. So I present to you, selected cakes through the years!

Bunch was our "Energizer Bunny" on her 1st birthday

Bunchs' first obsession was with tropical reef fish...hence her 2nd cake

Bunch loved butterflies...super easy cake to make (cut a 9" round in half, reverse positions & use a pipe cleaner for body)

Then came the obsession with space. She wanted to be an astronomer, and for several years
saved all her $ for NASA Space Camp.  We never actually sent her there. #SomeDreamsDieSlowly

Fairies became a huge focus and have been a huge part of our lives for years. Obviously not an original idea, but this was her fairy cake front and back.

Topsy Turvy Mad Hatter Cake. My first experience making and using fondant. Turned out pretty well.

We had a classy tea party themed birthday one year, and her cake was just an elegant "gift box"

This cake was just me letting myself create as magical an edible scene as I could. The "fairy house" with the rice crispy meadow and frosting river with KitKat bridge, rainbow sprinkle path and big frosting flowers and rocks, Junior Mint flagstones...just whatever struck me as yummy and edible.

For the record, no cake has EVER generated the massive gasps of excitement that this one did when I brought it out. The kids were DYING to dive in and eat every last shred of it.  It was awesome!

Bunch was born on 11/11, so her eleventh birthday was her Golden Birthday and we had a big "11" party. Here's her massive (you can't tell how huge it really was...three batches of cake batter in this thing) Golden Eleven cake.

Gator's School Bus cake

I used to make up bedtime stories on the fly every night for the kids, and one "series" I created was about a little red pickup truck and his sidekick "little bird".  So this was a nod to the favorite nighttime story ritual.

The obligatory Spiderman cake...didn't every boy go through a spidey phase?

This was a fun one...during the Pirate Obsession I made this treasure cake. Gator had actually noticed his dagger was missing before the party and was relieved to discover it when I revealed his cake loaded with candy necklaces, candy rings, chocolate coins and other treats.  The "lid" is just cardboard covered with aluminum foil and frosted.

The Star Wars Obsession has yet to die away, and I begin to think it never will. This was a fun, easy cake to make for my little Jedi's birthday.

Lego Star Wars. August can get hot...keeping frosting from melting can be tricky (but fondant is "kind of gross" so  I did my best)

Sushi! Made of Twinkies, green Fruit Roll-Ups and little bits of fruit snacks. My FIL is a major sushi lover...so it was perfect for him

My two kids favorite cake to eat HANDS DOWN. It's ultra tangy lemony goodness that they can't get enough of. Not the fanciest, but for taste they can't get beyond it. Suits me, too!

We have a few major chocolate lovers in the family, so I'm always on the lookout for a fun chocolate cake. This was divine!

Sometimes I like to just make fun cupcakes "just because". It's like a crafting session or something, only you get to eat the reults.

This coconut cream cake was my commemoration of the 2011 September 11th attacks.

More "just because" fun springtime cupcakes

Rich, chocolatey made-from-scratch goodness that my son says was his favorite chocolate cake ever. It was for his daddy's birthday one year.

This cake was so good it got it's own HOW TO post. Three layers of amazing topped with fresh fruit!

Doc's birthday 2010 (day before he graduated from Medical School). Seemed the appropriate thing to do.

Lindt Truffle Birthday Cake for a major chocoholic friend in 2009