Holly Jolly Sarlac - Easy

Several people shared Yummy Crumble's AMAZING Star Wars Sarlac Bundt Cake with me last fall.  http://yummycrumble.com/star-wars-sarlacc-bundt-cake/ 

Such a great idea!  I decided to do a holiday version for some of our friends - hence the Holly Jolly Sarlac!

I just made a standard bundt cake using a box mix.  I also made a batch of snickerdoodles (see my recipes) and shaped the sarlac bits our of dough.  (I made the "tentacles" kind of big, so that they would be good to eat as cookies.)  

Ymmy Crumble has teeth in the sarlac's mouth, but that's not canon.  To be more accurate, I used almond slivers around the cake's center hole.  I covered the whole cake in crushed Biscoff cookies, then added a little fondant santa hat, red nose and candy cane!  Happy Holiday!  

Peace on Endor - Medium

I made this cake for my Star Wars friends for our annual Life Day Party:  Peace on Endor!  Good Will to All Beings!

I made the fondant figures in advance:  Jawas untangling a box of Christmas lights, a Wookie and Ewok family decorating a tree with imperial helmets...

 

The wookie looked like he might have been in the eggnog.  (Plus he was a little tipsy on the cake!)

Secure the standing figures to the cake with skewers or toothpicks.  (The baby ewok is just sitting on the cake, with her candy cane, as is the kneeling jawa.  The standing jawa is built on a part of a sugar cone, so very stable.  I used orange nonpareils for the eyes.)

I baked a 14" round cake plus the small paisley cake.  I used 3 box mixes across the 2 pans.  Let cool and cover with white buttercream.

To make the tree, cover a plain sugar cone with green stars (using #16 Wilton tip and a tube of green icing) - pull the stars a bit as you release, to make "branches."  Decorate with small lights from a craft store, candies, and helmets.  Affix Lego helmets with a bit of green icing.  

On the top layer, we had Darth "I find your lack of Festivus disturbing" Vader with a Festivus pole. 

Just because.  Happy Holidays!  (And may the Force be with you, throughout the year!)

Reindeer Cake - Easy and Very Fun

For the holidays!

This cake is made using the Wilton "Rudy Reindeer" pan, which is discontinued but still available on eBay.  (Note - Wilton has instructions for all the pans online, so if you find an old pan, you can get the instructions easily!)   Even without the pan, you can put the reindeer on any large sheet cake.

To make this version:  frost the cake with white buttercream.  Outline the ear, mouth, chin and eye using a tube of chocolate icing.  Reserve a bit of white buttercream for the bottom stars.

Tint the buttercream tan for the ears and antlers.  Use a #16 tip (small open star) for the ears and around the eye.  Pull the stars a bit to create a feathered look at the top of the ear.  Use a serrated basketweave tip (such as #47) to make the antlers. (Don't worry if the lines overlap.)  Make sure you pipe with the serrated edge up, to create the ridges on the antlers.

Tint the tan buttercream a darker brown and use a larger open star tip (such as #18) for the rest of the deer.  Using black icing from tube, pipe the eye, with a round tip (#3).  Accent with green icing from a tube (also using a round tip, #2).  Let the black set for a few minutes, then pat it smooth with a very clean,very dry finger.  Add the white accent with a #2 tip.

Using red icing from a tube, outline the bow (#3 tip) then fill in with stars.  (You can also make the bow green if you prefer, or mix red and green.)

Using the green tube (#2 tip), pipe a "cord" around the antlers, then add colored spice drops for lights.  I usually pipe a "plug" (like a filled in 1/2 circle with prongs) on the back.  Add the red nose - a sour cherry ball.

Finish with white stars on the bottom, add red/green M&Ms if desired.

Holidays On Hoth - Difficult

I made this cake for a Life Day party.  I'm not sure I can provide good instructions, as there were lots of details, but you can look at the pictures for ideas.  Overall it's not really a difficult cake if you have mastered fondant figures.  It did take a fair bit of time! 

1.  In advance, make fondant figures:  wampas and taun tauns, as needed for the scenes on your cake.  I also made the packages snowman and other decorations (candy cane, red part of the Santa hat, ice cave roof) - everything except the Christmas tree.  See my page on Working with Fondant.  You have to made the ice cave roof in advance, so it dries very hard - otherwise it would sag in the middle.  To make the wampas furry, I scored the fondant with fork.

2.  I made the base cake in the Wilton large paisley pan.   I also made 2 cakes using the small paisley pan.  I made one other cake, using a cathedral-style Bundt pan.

3.  I stacked the 2 small paisley cakes on the large cake, then added a section of the cathedral cake.  I frosted everything with Buttercream, using open stars to create texture on the cathedral section.

4.  I covered the open space between the top of the cathedral section and the paisley top with a thin peice rolled white fondant that I had rolled in advance for the ice cave roof..   I used buttercream open stars to attach this to the cake.  This created the ice cave.  I dusted the top with a bit of powered sugar to make it look snowy.


5. Once the icing holding the ice cave roof was set, I very carefully affixed a Lego mini-figure Luke to the roof with buttercream icing.   I positioned Luke's Lego light saber on the floor of the cave.  (Be sure to snag the Legos before you eat the cake, esp the light saber!)   I also added some iciles to the front of the roof, using a  Wilton No. 2 tip.

6.  I covered a green sugar-style ice cream cone with open stars (using a No. 16 Wilton tip).  I used a tube of kelly green icing.  Pull the stars a bit before you stop squeezing the tube to make "branches" on the tree.  I decorated the tree with a fondant star (cut using a little star cookie cutter) and with candy beads.  Apply the beads with tweezers.   

7.  Once the icing on the tree was set, I carefully positioned it on the very top of the cake, and positioned the taun tauns around it.  I added some small open stars with gray icing to make the taun taun fur. The lights were a decoration off a Christmas card and are not edible - you can find similar lights for crafts in your local craft store at the holidays.

8.  I positioned the wampas in the front, so they looked like they were awaiting the arrival of a friend.  I attached the Santa hat using white icing and a very small open start tip. (Wilton No. 13 or 14)  The arriving wampa's gift is also from the craft store.

9.  I positioned the remaining 2 taun tauns on the back, with the snowman and some little white fondant snowballs.  I piped the menorah on the back using tube icing and a Wilton No. 2 tip.  I used a No. 1 tip to make the candle flames.

10.  I finished the cake with a row of open stars along the base. 

 Wampa arriving for the gift exchange. Gift is not edible - from craft store.

  Taun tauns decorating a Christmas tree.  And having a snowball fight below.

You can see Luke in the ice cave.