4 Tiers of Nerd Cake Delight

I was asked to make a surprise birthday cake for a guy turning 40. All I knew was that it had to be 4 tiers and also had to be superhero themed. I decided the easiest way to incorporate a large number of characters would be to just make the logos for each of them and put them on the cake instead of figures. The only figure I made was the Spider-Man on top (more about him in a bit).

So, here is a breakdown of this “Nerd Delight”, lol.

First, I baked all the cakes…8 total. Each cake tier was made up of two cakes and a buttercream icing filling. I cut and filled and then crumb coated all the tiers. Then, it was time to start the background fondant. I covered each tier seperatly  and then stacked them all. Each tier was supported with 10-12 plastic drinking straws, placed in the cake below it. I designed each tier to represent a certain genre of superheroes as well.

So, the top tier was covered in black fondant and then I handout the Batman logo for the front. The easiest way to make the Batman logo look authentic was to print out a copy of the logo and use that as a template to cut the fondant. I also draped a piece of black fondant down the side to look like Batmans cape. The Spider-Man on top is actually 1/2 Spider-Man and 1/2 Venom. I was happy I only had to make the top half of him …it’s more stable that way. I used an edible marker to draw the black lines on him and then a toothpick and white edible color for the marks on Venom.

The second tier down was the Avengers tier. I covered it in yellow fondant and then cutout logos for Hulk, Iron Man, The Avengers, Thor and Captain America. Again, on the more difficult logos, printing a template was the way to go.

The third tier was Superman…pretty self-explanatory with the red cape…and the bottom tier was X-Men.

The hardest part really on the cake was getting Wolverines claws to stay attached. It was very stressful delivering this one! Haha! Many times, after we deliver a cake, we don’t hear anything from the customer about whether they loved or hated it. This time, however, the birthday boy sent me a great thank you message and photo. They were able to pull off the surprise and he LOVED the cake!

This was definitely one of my favorite cakes…mostly because my family and I are self-proclaimed nerds. Of courser, that has it’s downfalls too because I ended up with 4  “consultants” in my kitchen, analyzing each and every detail I put on the cake, lol. I just looked at it as more quality family time …plus I had my dishwashers on hand already.

4 Tiers of Nerd Cake Delight

4 Tiers of Nerd Cake Delight

4 Tiers of Nerd Cake Delight

4 Tiers of Nerd Cake Delight

4 Tiers of Nerd Cake Delight

4 Tiers of Nerd Cake Delight


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