I decided the sizes of the blocks would be 2”x 4”, 3”x 6”, 4” x 4”, and 4”x 8”. I made a few templates of the block sizes and decided what size sheet cakes to make so I could maximize the amount of blocks cut from each one. Each block was made of 2 layers of chocolate cake with raspberry filling, frosted with vanilla buttercream and covered with fondant. I attempted to cut small circles of cake and cover with fondant for the “buttons” but that didn’t work out very good, so I ended up just cutting 1” circles of fondant. It took about 3-4 hours to cut, fill, frost, and cover the 6 blocks.
Now when I was ready to stack the blocks I made a very rookie mistake, maybe because it was almost midnight by that point. The buttercream under the fondant was at room temperature (that means very soft and I added a little more than normal because the birthday girl loves frosting), when I stacked the blocks they just “squashed” the bottom cakes and were totally unstable. OK, time to take a break. The cakes went into the fridge to firm up and I sat down to watch an episode of CSI: NY.
After about 30 minutes, it came to me! Dowel rods! Duh. Luckily I had some in my big box of cake stuff. I cut them to the thickness of the cake, and because each cake was on its own cardboard base I could use the dowels to support the weight of the upper blocks. I’ll never make that mistake again! I must have been very tired, because honestly it didn’t even cross my mind :) The cake is now stacked and stored in the fridge. The small red block is hanging over the front of the cake, because of course once you add buttercream and fondant it is wider than its original measurements. Another duh. Next time I’ll have to remember to take this into account. Time for bed. I’ll add the finishing touches in the morning.
The next morning I pull out the cake. The red block that’s hanging over is bothering me. I ask Doug his opinion and of course he says I should fix it. He’s right. So I remove the red block, pull off the fondant, cut it shorter, frost the end and cover with new fondant. There now it fits perfectly! I add the Happy Birthday and some candy blocks around the base of the cake. Done!
Happy Birthday Colleen!
Did you know? – There is no plural for LEGO, LEGO should be used as an adjective not a noun.
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This is absolutely great! I am making one very similar for my great-nephew's first birthday. I always have problems with covering the cakes with fondant. There always seems to be wrinkles and creases. Do you have any suggestions or tricks to share?
ReplyDeleteSome suggestions...
ReplyDelete- Make sure your surface is smooth and free of bumps before applying fondant
- I like to use crisco to roll out my fondant instead of powdered sugar or cornstarch
- play around with the thickness of fondant that you use
- work slowly to smooth the fondant as you work down and around the cake, don't try to do it all in one pass
-be sure to remove excess fondant at the bottom as you cover your cake to prevent pulling and cracking
Hope those help. Good Luck!
Thanks for the tips. Have you found that one brand of fondant works better than the others? I started decorating my cakes with Wilton fondant and have had some disappointments. I have recently bought Satin Ice and Choco Pan fondant hoping that I would have better results than I have with the Wilton fondant. I have also used the Ace of Cakes brand and really like the way it works.
ReplyDeleteI typically use Wilton for covering cakes because it is readily available in my area (and cheap with a 40% off Michaels coupon). I have ordered Satin Ice in colors and it was easy to use as well (but shipping just makes it too expensive). I have never tried to cover a whole cake with Duff's fondant but I do like it for covering RKT figures. You can more easily smooth seams and "polish" the surface. I have noticed it doesn't dry like the Wilton or Satin Ice and I find the softer version works better for some things. I keep Duff's black and red on hand. I think the taste is sweeter than Wilton.
ReplyDeleteHow much icing/fondant in weight did you need of each colour, I am just about to order mine on line and want to make sure I get enough
ReplyDeleteI'm sorry I don't remember how much fondant I used.
ReplyDeleteDoing this cake today, I don't understand in what way you used the dowel rods can you explain in more details, how big (diameter) there were and exactly how you located them please
ReplyDeleteSorry Rachel and the Doula is the same person!
ReplyDeleteI used 1/4 round wooden dowels for this cake. Trying to remember exactly what I did...I think there are two under the small red lego. Four under the yellow lego (two on each end). There are probably 4 under the green and blue blue ones too. I just cut the dowels to the height of the cake they are going into and push them into the bottom cake, add some buttercream to use as a "glue" and place the next block on top. Just imagine a dowel under each corner of the block you are adding to the cake. As I said they were each on their own cardboard bases so the dowels helped support the weight.
ReplyDelete