Monday 17 March 2014

Sweetly sarcastic: the Rocket Raccoon cake

Rocket Raccoon cake
Rocket Raccoon cake (with bonus Groot)
I love baking birthday cakes for Dave and Lucas.  Lucas gives me loads of ideas throughout the year, to make it bigger and better than ever before, while Dave just lets me run wild.  (As long as there is buttercream...lots of buttercream.)

This year Dave has been really, really excited about the upcoming Guardians of the Galaxy film, and since I enjoyed the comics, too, I thought it might be cool to do a cakey version of two of his favourite characters: Rocket Raccoon and Groot.

Check out the trailer--doesn't this look awesome!


The star of the trailer has got to be Rocket Raccoon.  Now, I appreciate that not everyone reads comics, but how can anyone not instantly fall in love with the idea of an intelligent, talking raccoon who has a penchant for heavy weaponry?  He's also more than a little sarcastic--a raccoon after my own heart.  C'mon, his best buddy Groot is an intelligent tree!  Together (okay, with the rest of their team), they've saved the universe a couple of times.  You're welcome.

Rocket Raccoon & Groot, a commission for Dave.  (Dave Wachter, 2010)
So...to the cake.  As much as I wanted to reprise the awesome Dave Wachter commission that Dave got a few years back, I know my limits and constructing a PVC pipe framework to build two cakes on is just beyond me right now!  I compromised with a sort-of crouching position for Rocket and opted to make Groot in his cutting phase before he grew back into the badass tree you can see in the trailer and art!


Dave loved his cake.  I think it's fair to say that he was flabbergasted when Lucas and I heaved it onto the table in front of him!  It took him a while to cut it as he just wanted to keep looking at it, but cake is for eating so Rocket Raccoon was eventually decapitated and scoffed.

This was such a fun cake to make!  The only trouble is that it has raised Lucas's expectations for his own birthday cake, so I'm half-expecting him to ask for a Transformers cake that can actually transform... at least I've got until October to plan the next extravaganza!

Cake Notes

Should you ever want to make an almost life-sized raccoon cake, here are a few notes!  This was a three-stage cake; sculpting the head, baking the cakes, and finally construction/decoration.

I started on Monday with the head which I made out of Rice Krispie treats--marshmallows melted with a little butter, and Rice Krispies stirred in--smooshed together to create the right shape and size.  Once it had set in the fridge, I covered it in a thin layer of fondant and then started adding small sections of fondant in ivory, several shades of brown fondant (light, medium, dark) to create the dark markings around his eyes.  I used a blunt knife, actually one of Lucas's weaning cutlery set, to slash and flick at the fondant to create a fur texture.  It's hard to describe, so watch this amazing video by Elisa Strauss.


The cake itself was built out of three chocolate cakes; a deep 8" round and two deep 7" rounds.  I cut internal boards out of foam core to roughly the shape I thought the body would be once carved and used those between the smaller rounds.  For support I used hollow plastic dowels which would easily take all the weight pressing down on the base layer.

I used salted caramel buttercream to fill each of the layers.  You can buy a little bottle of natural concentrated salted caramel flavouring at Waitrose (just caramel, water and salt) which worked beautifully.  It doesn't have a long shelf life once opened, so I'm tossing the rest in hot chocolate and pretending I'm at Starbucks!

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16 comments

  1. You've done it again! My birthday is in October too, do you think Lucas would mind sharing whatever masterpiece you make next? :)

    xx

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    1. How do you feel about a Godzilla movie tie-in cake, Chelsea? That's what he's leaning towards today. (I am terrified.) And thank-you!!

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  2. Angela this is amazing! :) I can't believe you make these!

    www.gingerbreadsmiles.co.uk
    xox

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    1. I can't quite believe it either, Danni! Thank-you!

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  3. This looks amazing! I'm so amazed by what people can do with cakes, I'm already satisfied with an okay-buttercream on top of my cupcakes. Great job! :)

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    1. Thanks so much, Saskia! I went above and beyond with Lucas's first birthday cake, and since then I've had to go bigger and better every year :)

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  4. The eyes are awesome! Not sure how you've captured 'quiet, saviour of the world, determination' but bravo, an icing triumph. Your boys are lucky, lucky fellows.
    M x

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    1. I wanted to make the face fiercer, but Lucas insisted that he should be smiling. I think the eyes follow on from that :) Thanks, M! xx

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  5. This is FREAKING AWESOME! You are a seriously talented lady! (Come and make me a cake please?) ;)

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    1. Thanks so much, Rosie! I'd love to make you a cake if you lived closer :)

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  6. It's awesome! You've done such an amazing job! x

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  7. OH MY GOSH! It looks amazing, almost too good to eat - but I bet it tastes yummy too! <3

    Jennie xo | sailorjennie.com

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    1. We managed to bring ourselves to eat it--there's just one slice left for Lucas. (Admittedly it is a bit of a mammoth slice!)

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  8. That cake is amazing! You have so much more patience than me, I love the baking bit but never have the concentration to do the decorating bit properly. Shame my birthday's not til December! ;-) xx

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  9. This is insane. You are ridiculously talented and deserve your own TV show!

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