Lego Cake

I was asked to make a Lego themed cake for a sweet little girl who lives in Hawaii. She came to California last summer to spend time with her grandma and my girls had the pleasure of spending time with her. For her birthday this year she wanted to come back to California and spend time with her grandma as well as some of her friends that she made over the summer. This loving little girl asked that her cake be safe for ALL of her friends to eat. That meant no gluten and no possible peanut contamination. I was up for the challenge and excited to start planning this cake.

I made a gluten free chocolate cake by Betty Crocker because it would be peanut safe. Everything else I made from scratch. I frosted the cake with chocolate buttercream and then covered the top with my homemade Lego bricks. I started in the center and worked my way out with the Legos, but I would recommend doing the opposite. I ended up with awkward spaces on the outside and had to cut some of the bricks to fit. I think it would have been easier to work towards the middle. I used strips of colored fondant to cover the sides of the cake. This was to give the illusion that the whole cake was actually made of Lego bricks. I used a very small amount of water and a pastry brush to attach the strips to the side.

My first mold

The key to this cake was preparation. About two weeks before I had to make the cake, I made a mold for the Lego bricks out of gum paste. Having all of that time to dry was crucial. This mold held up through the whole process and I still have it. Unfortunately,I determined it was too deep. It was hard to get the Lego bricks out of it without stretching them. So, I made another mold.

My second mold 😦

It did not have much time to dry and this is what happened to it as I started using it. Lesson learned. I went back to using the first mold.

I used marshmallow fondant to make these bricks and they turned out so yummy! It has been a while since i have linked to the fondant recipe I used, so here you go! Marshmallow fondat is always a crowd pleaser. I used a lot of corn starch to keep it from sticking in my mold and then used a pastry brush to clean all of the bricks off before I put them on the cake. The bricks looked pretty cool as they were piling up. I made way too many because I didn’t want to run out, but they came in handy for decorating cupcakes. All of the left overs were put in a container and passed around at the party like candy, which of course they are!

Hand drawn Logo

Another “plan ahead” aspect of this cake was the Logo. I drew the name of the birthday girl

Royal Icing Logo

on a piece of paper in bubble letters and then used royal icing to pipe the design onto wax paper using the Lego logo colors. This is a fun technique that I have used before to make logos. I have more detailed instructions on my previous post: Flooding Take One.

I also made a batch of cupcakes since the main cake was not going to be enough to feed everyone. I put them on my cupcake tree and topped them with some of my leftover bricks. I loved they way they turned out. They were simple, but so cute!

To infinity… and beyond!

Since the majority of my cake decorating has revolved around my two daughters I haven’t done many boy themes.  This was my first superhero cake and it was a lot of fun!  I was asked to make a Buzz Lightyear cake for a little boy’s third birthday party.  His mom sent me a picture of a cake very similar to this one and I copied the design.  It’s a simple two-tier cake with marshmallow fondant covering and decorations.  The wings are made of gum paste and covered with fondant.

Showing off his wings!

One of the big requirements for the cake was my marshmallow fondant.  I have talked to a lot of people about how much they hate the taste of fondant.  I don’t know why people bother with the store bought stuff.  It’s expensive, hard to work with and nobody will eat it.  I make marshmallow fondant, which is cheap, easy to work with and tasty!

Here’s how you do it:

Dump a bag of marshmallows into a microwave safe bowl with about 2 tbs of water

Heat for 30 second intervals- stirring in between- until the marshmallows are melted

Start pouring powder sugar into the bowl and stir until the mixture pulls together like bread dough

Dump the whole mess onto a greased surface, coat your hands with Crisco and start kneading

Add sugar as needed- you may use up to 2 lbs for the batch

Once the fondant is mixed and no longer sticky you can color it or use it as is.  It will be warm and pliable.  It does not tear easily because the marshmallow give it an elastic quality.  You can also make it a day or two in an advance and store it in a resealable bag.

If you cover your cake with fondant and want to add fondant decorations like the stars on this cake all you do is brush some water on the decoration and gently press it to the cake.  Don’t use too much water or it will run!  I use a damp pastry brush and the fondant gets very sticky.

I would love to hear from others who have tips and suggestions about working with fondant.

Front view