Transformers cake, HELP

[mamapotomus]

Caleb will be 6 this month and has requested that I make him a Transformers birthday cake :hunh. All I have ever made before are regular rectangle and circle cakes with maybe a "happy birthday" on it. He has specified that he wants an optimus prime cake that looks like a toy he has http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj277/cmsullivan_2008/th_008.jpg (http://s274.photobucket.com/albums/jj277/cmsullivan_2008/?action=view&current=008.jpg)
http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj277/cmsullivan_2008/th_007.jpg (http://s274.photobucket.com/albums/jj277/cmsullivan_2008/?action=view&current=007.jpg)

I think oreos will work for the wheels, and the base can be half of a rectangle cake pan then stack the rest accordingly to get the cab of the truck. Anyone ever done something like this and have any ideas?

[littlemama]

I'd make a big sheet cake. Decorate it with a road and some grass. The put that truck on the top. :giggle

When I did my ds' Transformer's cake I made the Autobot's logo out of fondant.

http://img.photobucket.com/albums/v141/teachinmama/M4thbirthday.jpg

I've made a lot of cakes but I'm not brave enough to attempt to replicate Optimus as his truck-self. LOL!

[Chaos Coordinator]

i was goign to suggest cupcake picks :shrug3 you're brave, mama :)

[Aerynne]

I would totally make a sheet cake and put transformers on it. Possibly even new transformers if having new transformers would make that more agreeable for him. I would tell my kid "sorry- I can't make a cake shaped like a transformer. It would just look like a giant mess and you would be disappointed. I love you and I want you to enjoy your birthday and if I make a cake with a transformer on top, it will actually look good, so that is what I am going to do." End of discussion.

I did once make a train cake, though, and I think it turned out pretty good. Well my 3yo liked it anyway. Optimus Prime just seems harder somehow. Maybe all that silver.

http://i30.photobucket.com/albums/c343/erinolson/DSCN4927.jpg

I made it out of purchased mini pound cakes (def recommend this option) and I froze them first (freezing helps the crumbs not come off when you frost. If you are going to go with a shaped cake, I would definitely freeze it before frosting it!)

[klpmommy]

I'd do a sheet cake and decorate with at least one new transformer toy. :yes

[mamapotomus]

:think I like the putting toys on top of the cake idea a lot :yes I shall have to think about this some more, I still have a couple of weeks :)

[StumblinMama]

I couldn't resist googling :shifty http://www.jessicagreen.com/wordpress/?p=492

[mamapotomus]

That looks awesome! I wouldn't use fondant tho...maybe a little but not for the whole thing. I helped a friend make a couple of cakes and she used fondant...it looks nice but it doesn't taste good (imo) and takes fooorrreeeever!

[bliss]

:yes Chiming in on the "sheet cake w/transformers on top" notion. I've done that several years in a row, starting with the "Lego Indiana Jones" cake for the 5th bday :giggle. Make sure you spray the toy with a teensy bit of Pam before you stick him on there, just on his feet, then he'll rinse right off and be ready for fun :yes.

[JustMandy]

If he'll go for the toys on a cake idea :rockon if not, it doesn't look too hard.

Bake a cake in a 9x13 pan. When it's completely cool (like the next day) cut it in half long ways so you have 2 long rectangles. the nicest one is the bottom of the truck. Cut a square out of the other one and stack it on (with icing to glue it together) so it is off center for the cab. Then cut a smaller rectangle for the hood and "glue" it on. (It is important to have the toy on the counter for size/placement reference.) Then if you want to get fancy trim some of the edges to give it a rounded effect where necessary.

Next ice the whole thing with plain icing, it will be crummy and weird. That's okay, you won't see it...think of it like primer. As that's drying, mix up your blue and orange icing. I would use either white or gray for the silver parts and blue for the black parts. The windows I would make gray.

Heat up some gray icing a little bit (not a lot!) and dip pretzel rods in it for some of the details like the exhaust. You can do the same thing with graham crackers for the windows if you don't want to pipe on icing there.

When the primer icing is dry enough to touch and not be mushy, ice the whole cab blue, the hood and fenders orange, the back part white or gray with blue on top. Pipe on a few flames. You don't need as many or as small as they are on the toy. One on each side and a couple on the top of the hood is plenty. "Glue" the dry pretzel rods and oreo wheals on and you should be done.

What's important at this point is to remember this is a cake. It will be awesome if it looks even kinda good. You will need to lose a bunch of details and thats okay.

---------- Post added at 02:39 PM ---------- Previous post was at 02:36 PM ----------

I really like to build cakes. I made this last month.

http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac209/justmandyCDs/th_june2011031-1.jpg (http://s900.photobucket.com/albums/ac209/justmandyCDs/?action=view&current=june2011031-1.jpg)

with the "primer"

http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac209/justmandyCDs/th_june2011032.jpg (http://s900.photobucket.com/albums/ac209/justmandyCDs/?action=view&current=june2011032.jpg)

All done (the details are totally wrong but no one noticed. :giggle)

http://i900.photobucket.com/albums/ac209/justmandyCDs/th_june2011033.jpg (http://s900.photobucket.com/albums/ac209/justmandyCDs/?action=view&current=june2011033.jpg)

[littlemama]

That looks awesome! I wouldn't use fondant tho...maybe a little but not for the whole thing. I helped a friend make a couple of cakes and she used fondant...it looks nice but it doesn't taste good (imo) and takes fooorrreeeever!

Fontant isn't icky if you make marshmallow fondant (http://candy.about.com/od/fondantcandyrecipes/r/mm_fondant.htm). ;)

That's what the decorations on my ds' cake is made of. :) My kids flock around the table when I make it because there are always leftovers and they think it's candy. :lol

It is VERY messy to make. If you do try it, make sure you grease your work surface VERY well.

[Earthmummy07]

My mom used to make some fantastic 'built' cakes for us when we were little. I handed over the flag of Toby's birthday cakes for her, because she is better at it than me. When I make cakes, they get a (homemade) square tray-bake kind of dealy with something pretty on top and some very wobbly letters.

Not that there's anything wrong with tray bakes with pretty things on top. But there is something very, very wrong with my icing skills :giggle

[Barefoot]

I like marshmallow fondant too

http://sites.google.com/site/michellebomgaars/DCP_5176.JPG

http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1251809

[KnittingHappy]

I made a Transformer cake a few years ago for Nicholas. It was a sheet cake. He wanted the desert scene from I think, the first movie. I dont think I even have a picture of the cake, but I know I have a pic of me standing there working on it. Let me go see if I can find it.

When do you need this? I'd be more than happy to help if I'm home by then.

---------- Post added at 08:09 AM ---------- Previous post was at 07:56 AM ----------

I can't find the pic. Anyway, it was a desert scene with the Transformer that looks like a Scorpion and the little tiny dudes who came with that toy. I had a whole battle scene. I made sand colored icing and then sprinkled with with finely crushed graham cracker crumbs and raw sugar to make it look sandy. The toy that I put on the cake was part of his present. I wish I had a picture of it!! :hissyfit

[mamapotomus]

His birthday is the 19th, so I was thinking of making it for CW on the 20th. So a couple weeks from now. Will you be back by then, I have missed you SOOOOOOO much!!!!!!!!! :heart

---------- Post added at 08:39 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:36 AM ----------

I like marshmallow fondant too

http://sites.google.com/site/michellebomgaars/DCP_5176.JPG

http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1251809

That looks awesome!!!!!! I"m really thinking this is a possibility :yes

[KnittingHappy]

His birthday is the 19th, so I was thinking of making it for CW on the 20th. So a couple weeks from now. Will you be back by then, I have missed you SOOOOOOO much!!!!!!!!! :heart

---------- Post added at 08:39 AM ---------- Previous post was at 08:36 AM ----------



That looks awesome!!!!!! I"m really thinking this is a possibility :yes

:shrug3 I have no clue when I'll be back. It all depends on things that are way out of my control. :sigh

[mamapotomus]

:shrug3 I have no clue when I'll be back. It all depends on things that are way out of my control. :sigh

:hug we'll just see you when we see you :hug