LEGO Star Wars Clone/Storm Trooper Birthday Cake

Last week was my son’s 8th birthday and when I asked him what kind of birthday cake he would like, he excitedly told me he wanted a LEGO Star Warsclone/storm trooper cake!  In all honesty, I was not very excited to make a LEGO Star Wars clone/storm trooper birthday cake. Last year I made him a fort and cannon cake and a sunny sunflower cake  for my daughter. Those cakes were really fun cakes to make. I wasn’t so sure this was going to be quite as fun.

I searched the internet to find some detailed instructions on how to make a storm trooper cake  but I was not very successful.  I found a few blogs with some vague instructions but nothing was really helpful. Unfortunately, I didn’t take any pictures while I was constructing this cake so I’m not going to be able to give you detailed pictures on assembling the cake.

At first, I was not able to decide what size cake pan I should use.  I settled with a 10x15x2″ pan. I greased and floured the pan really well so it would come out like it should.  I baked it and let it rest for 10 minutes after it baked before trying to flip the cake out.  It worked perfectly!  I was doing all this at 10:30pm so I’m never sure how things are going to turn out at that time of night.  I let the cake cool all night and the next morning I started the decorating.

I personally think that the  most intensive part of this cake was carving it so it looked like it was supposed to.  I put the cake in the freezer for about 45 minutes.  Somewhere online I read that a cake was easier to carve if it was slightly frozen.  To make the arms, I used the rounded-off head pieces.

The cake is covered in a basic fondant recipe.  This was the first time I had ever made fondant and I didn’t know how well it would work. For the most part, it was like working with pie crust. The most important this is to make sure your counter is well dusted with powdered sugar so it doesn’t stick.  I had this gorgeous piece of fondant all rolled out and ready to place on top of the cake when it stuck and ripped as I was lifting it to the cake.  Let me tell you, that did not make me very happy. I ended up using two pieces on the fondant to cover the cake. I pieced it together just underneath the neck and shoulders.

Some web sites said that when you work with fondant, it is easier to put a thin layer of regular frosting on the cake before placing the fondant. That way you can move the fondant around on the cake.  I forgot that step and didn’t have a problem with the fondant.  It probably depends on what type of project you are making.

To make the brown fondant, I kneaded in a lot of cocoa powder. And when I went to roll it out, I rolled it out in cocoa instead of powdered sugar.  There was no exact pattern for the brown fondant, but I just used my imagination and the LEGO mini-figure clone/storm trooper that my son has for my pattern

Overall, the cake was not that hard to make and the clean up was far easier than butter-cream frosting.  I don’t think it will be one of my favorite cakes that I have made, but my son loved it.