Making the Lego Cake

The subject of my last post was my daughter's homemade Lego birthday cake. It was nothing fancy, but it helped our family cut our a lot of expense that our family deemed unnecessary (that may or may not ring true for your family about cake.) Last year's cake cost more than $50, and I had to drive more than 60 miles round trip to get it. This year's cake cost less than $12. Yes, there was a major difference in the professional appearance of the tasty treat, but with a savings of more than $38, I decided that was a sacrifice I was willing to make.

Here's how I made a delicious three layered birthday cake:

I bought cake mixes on sale for $1 per box. I prefer golden yellow cake and a lovely chocolate layered together. I also bought four containers of pre-made icing, one chocolate and two cream cheese flavored white icing.

I baked the cakes per the directions on the back of the boxes with the following exceptions:
I used jumbo  farm fresh eggs instead of large eggs.
I used melted butter in place of oil.
I topped the yellow cakes with sprinkles before they went into the oven.

The batter from each cake went into 8 1/2" round cake pans that I got from the Dollar Tree, two for $1. At one time, I had four round cakes baking nicely. After they tested "done", I let them cool completely. Not almost. Completely.

Once cooled, I turned the first yellow cake out on to the round cake board and topped it with about half of the container of chocolate frosting. I smoothed it with an offset spatula and created a level spot for the chocolate cake. I turned the chocolate cake out into my hands and placed it carefully on top of the chocolate frosting pillow I had just created. Chocolate frosting went on top of this layer too. Next, I turned the last yellow cake out into my hands and centered it on top of the other two carefully.

Once the layers were together, I took some bamboo skewers, cut them to the appropriate height, and I pushed them down through the center of the cake to act as reinforcements. You could use drinking straws too. Be sure to get them back out before serving your cake!

Next, I cleaned of the excess chocolate icing that was trying to push its' way out the sides of the cake. You can do what you want with this icing. I may or may not have licked mine and had to wash the spatula before I could continue.

The pre-made icing wanted to be a bit cantankerous with me, so I stirred it really good before I tried to spread it on this delicate cake. I started with about half of one jar across the top. The crumbs really wanted to come off and make the cake look all crumbly, even though it isn't. So I gently spread the icing across the top and sides of the cake until it was all covered in white, leaving about a half of  a container to pipe on with a piping bag. I wish I had a bit more icing to do another layer to completely cover the cake again, so I learned something for next time.

Next, I filled a piping bag fitted with a star tip with white icing, and I began adding a bead of icing at the base where the cake met the board it was sitting on. I iced it all the way around. Then I did the same thing around the top edge. I am not good at this part.

Next I made some Lego Movie accessories out of stickers from this book to put on top of the cake.

I sandwiched toothpicks between Lego Movie stickers and construction paper to create little accessories. 

Next, I used scissors to cut them out. Then I went into my kids' playroom, grabbed some of the Lego people we already owned, washed my kids' germs off of them, and placed them on top of the cake. I went back and built a number 6 out of blocks too and placed the pieces on top of the cake.

I piped her name on the front of the cake using some leftover black sparkly gel from my post titled Lego Birthday on a Budget. Not too shabby results for saving more than $38 on party cake.

The best part is that my daughter loved it. The second best part was that our guests loved the flavor of the cake.

As a side note: I baked four round cakes but only used three for this layered recipe. I had planned to ice the other one and have it on hand if we ran short on cake, but life happens. My daughters found it on the counter, reached up and grabbed hands full of cake, and ate it as quickly as possible while running away from the scene of the crime leaving a trail of chocolate evidence on their path.

Teach me to do thy will; for thou art my God...

Psalm 143:10