Coolest Darth Vader Birthday Cake 19

by Nikki L.
(Andover, MN)

Darth Vader Birthday Cake

I made this Darth Vader Birthday Cake for my son, Brady's, 7th birthday party. I got the idea and the inspiration from a cake I saw here on coolest birthday cakes from another posting. I made three batches of chocolate cake and used three 9" pans, a loaf pan and a stainless steel bowl to make the cake components.

I stacked the 9" cakes on top of each other to make a three layer cake (using made from scratch peanutbutter chocolate frosting in between the layers) and placed the bowl shaped cake on top, using supports in the bottom layers and a cardboard round under the bowl cake to help hold up the weight of the cake.

I carved the front of the cakes for the mask and used a triangular shape of cake, cut from the loaf pan, to make the mouth part of the mask. Once the cake was compiled and carved, I buttercreamed everything and began to fondant the mask.

I used chocolate fondant, colored with black gel food coloring. The eyes were made with oval balls of fondant placed into the cake. The mouth grate was made with a triangle of the black fondant, scored with a knife in a criss-cross pattern and then painted with a silver glaze. For the rest of the helmet, I used some gumpaste at the base of the cakes to add the flair to the bottom of the helmet. This could be done by using cake as well.

Then I covered the helmet with the same black fondant and added all the rest of the details. To shine up the fondant, I used a food paint brush and brushed it lightly with water. At the birthday party, while I was cutting into the head, there were four little boys chanting, "Kill Darth, kill Darth!"