Millennium Falcon - Very Difficult

I made this cake several years ago, and it was well beyond my ability at the time.  It's one of the few cakes that I was not happy with, but the boys LOVED it.  Boys at the party immediately recognized it, and apparently that was what mattered.  I still pretty much hate the cake, but it's here for posterity.  And I guess it proves that even if you do something that's beyond you, the kids will still love it.  So shoot for the moon!  Or hyperspace, as the case may be.

In advance, make the satellite dish out of fondant.  Roll fondant, cut a circle, gently score with lines, and place in mini-cupcake pan to get shape.  Let set.  Make a big cone for the base and a small cone for the middle.  Use a bit of toothpick to assemble. 

Also have a good picture handy to help with decorating, esp. for the back.

1. Bake a 14” round layer using a Wilton pan – see pan direction for number of cups of cake batter needed. 

2. Use another mix to make a regular square cake, plus some cupcakes. 

3. Cut the square cake to make the front part of the ship.  Use gray-tinted icing to attach it to the round layer.  Crumb coat the whole cake with Buttercream. 

4. Roll a strip of fondant to lay across the top of round part to make the raised area in the middle.  Can also cut a strip of cake for this, but it is harder to get it to look right.  I think I also added a cupcake top in the middle, for extra height.

5. To make cake pictured, cover the whole cake with gray-tinted rolled fondant.  See: http://www.wilton.com/decorating/fondant/rolled-fondant.cfm  (See my Rolled Fondant Page - do not use Wilton fondant, use a soft, stretchy, high quality fondant.)    This is very tricky to do on the large, odd shape, so it may take some practice.  Be sure the icing is dry before you lay the fondant on it.  Alternative: frost smooth with gray icing.

6. Trim 3 cupcakes so that you have a “tube.” A skewer helps hold them together.  Frost and lay on side of cake.  

7. Decorate with yellow, black, red and gray icing as shown or per your picture.  Decorate back panel with black icing per picture or model.  Finish by adding the satellite dish on top.