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

Lego Birthday on a Budget

Making Lego Pops and Budgeting a Celebration

Our oldest child is turning six, and she wants to have a Lego Movie birthday party. Birthday parties can get expensive very quickly, but we cannot justify an elaborate, expensive party for each of our three kids every year. In previous years, I have been sucked into the idea of buying all the designer plates with matching cups, napkins, cupcake holders, banners, shirts, and trash can liners. Ok, so maybe they don't actually sell trash can liners, but I do think people might buy them. But we don't do that anymore! So I ask my kids what kind of party they want, spend some time cruising around Pinterest with them, select a few cool things to try to make together, and plan out a party on a conservative budget. These Lego head pops were an item that she liked the looks of, and I thought I could possible make them without breaking the bank for this year's party.

Lego Pops

I gathered the following items: 

a piece of foam

marshmallows

yellow melting wafers

lollipop sticks

black icing

clear lollipop wrappers 

small round candies

Begin by melting the yellow wafers in a double boiler. I bought my wafers in bulk from a bulk foods store. I did see a similar kind from a party supply store, but the cost was considerably higher by the pound. Since I am going for cost-savings, you can guess which ones I picked.

While the wafers are melting in your very slowly simmering double boiler, take the marshmallows and press the end of a lollipop stick into each one until it is stable.

These are just lollipop sticks that I got from the same bulk foods store. They have a lovely section with specialty items for cake decorating and baking. I could totally ruin our monthly budget in that store if I was left there too long. You'll be glad to know I got what I was looking for, and I got out! These 40 sticks cost about $2 for the pack.

Keep stirring your wafers until they are melted. In the mean time, gather your small round candies. I used candy-coated chocolates. If you choose to do the same thing, I suggest getting all yellow ones. I didn't have quite enough yellow and white candies to complete this task, so a few of mine have green or orange candies on top, and the colored wafer coating didn't cover them as nicely as I had hoped. These pieces become the little knob on top of the Lego character's head.

Here is what my wafers turned into after about seven or eight minutes of very gentle stirring in the upper portion of my double boiler with a gentle simmer below in the pan. It should be very smooth and easy to dip items.

Take your marshmallows one by one and dip them into the yellow candy coating. Tap it on the side of the dish to allow excess to drip back in to the pan.

From this point, you will need to take one of your candies and place it on the top. Add a small dollop of melted candy coating and swirl it around with a spoon until the coating and color looks uniform. The candy is going to want to slide around a bit, so you will need to be able to place this quickly into the styrofoam to allow it to dry upright and level.

Here is one that has just had the stick pressed into the foam.

I used a styrofoam ball because that's all I had on hand, and I didn't want to spend any more money, but a rectangular shaped piece would work much better! I had to shove a metal cookie cutter into the bottom of my round piece of foam to keep it from sliding all around. Even so, it tried to fall over a number of times during this process if I didn't keep the sides balanced. I think I had a couple of mini heart attacks  with each wobble! 

Once all of the pops are dipped in coating and their candy pieces are on top, put them in a cool place to set. If you can fit them in your refrigerator, this process will go faster. Once the coating is set, you can begin adding faces and a bit of personality to them. You will need a very small piping tip and black colored icing. This is a black gel that I got for around $2 already in a tube. You could save even more if you make your own icing, have your own piping bags and tips, and don't get frustrated with the process. I don't have quite enough coordination to use a piping bag yet, so I splurged for the $2 icing tube. I just sliced the end off and started adding facial features.

With each one, find a nice area on the marshmallow pop, and add two eyes. Next up is a mouth. Since this is a celebration, I only did smiles, but you can add any kind of expression you want.

Once their faces are on, place them back on the styrofoam holder and allow them to dry over night.

When morning comes, the faces should be set enough to package.

Here they all are. Don't they look happy? My kids were thoroughly impressed with these guys.

I added a clear cellophane wrapper and cinched it with a silver colored twist tie. These guys are ready to PARTY!

These little guys will be the favor for each child, and the whole process budget is below.

Lego Pops Cost Analysis:

$4.37 yellow wafers -(I have A LOT left over... I might use the left over for something at Easter)

$1.99 lollipop sticks- 40 count

$1.00 cellophane wraps and twist ties- 40 count

$1.19 marshmallows 

$0.59 round candies 

$1.99 black gel icing

__________________

$11.13 for 26 Lego Pops = $0.43 EACH!

So each child will get one of these as a parting gift for the party, and there's probably enough for many of the adults to snack on one too! I didn't get any of these items discounted or on sale or the cost would be even lower. I cannot justify spending several dollars per child or guest for a favor or parting gift; it's not in the budget. But these guys are fun and budget friendly, not to mention totally customized to work with our Lego Movie theme. I couldn't even purchase pre-made items like this from the store if I wanted to! 

Other Cost-Saving Measures

Invitations

I usually make some kind of cute (and borderline cheesy) invitation in the shape and size of a postcard to save on postage, and usually spend less than $10 total on invites and their postage. I keep an eye out year round for different types of paper and card stock that is on sale in stores or available at garage, yard, or estate sales. I always have a variety of types and colors of paper on hand that I got for a great price!

Cake

I push myself each year to find something cool and make it happen in the cake department; I plan to make a round, layered cake with Lego characters of the top, and in the interest of time and sanity, I will make a boxed cake mix extra jazzed up like this one.  If I purchased a bakery cake for about 35 people that would cost me more than $50! If I went with a professional chef that did super fancy creations, the sky is the limit for cost. I can usually make a nice layered and decorated cake for less than $10!

Decorations

Because my daughter has chosen such an unpopular theme and stores don't even carry items emblazoned with its' logo, I must be creative and make my own decorations. So far, I have built several items out of blocks.

First is the number 6 to decorate her food table. The castle creation will hold forks in the center as it has an opening designed to keep forks or other silverware held upright.

                           

I plan to make some other creations using Legos that we already own. I will probably even print some Happy Birthday banners as well. 

Celebration!

We want our children to feel special and to know that we celebrate their life each year at their birthday, but they know we have limited resources. Our kids love to be a part of the process of making things for their party. Instead of being completely surprised and overwhelmed on the day of their party, our kids look at their decorations and favors and know that their mom worked extra creatively to make things special instead of spending money that could be used instead to get our family out of debt.

Jeremiah 1:5 Before I formed you in the womb, I knew you...