A peek behind the curtain...

I've always been an artist. I've always played with my food. It was only natural I should find a way to combine the two. Though, I'll admit...I was a little conflicted when Jacob requested a Millennium Falcon cake for his birthday. I figured I could pull something off...but could I pull it off while remaining true to the Geek within?

Google "Millennium Falcon cake"...an overwhelming barrage of pictures pops up immediately--filling the entire spectrum from Truly Suck to OMG Is That Really Cake? Since I'm not a professional and everything I know I've taught myself, I was aiming for somewhere in the middle.

Armed with a vague idea of construction, two delicious cake recipes (Better Homes & Gardens red cookbook) and a set of blue prints for the fastest ship in the galaxy (google...I love it)...I set out to make my most challenging cake yet...

One chocolate cake baked in a 10 inch round pan and one yellow cake baked in a 9 inch loaf pan. I usually use a special strip around the cake pan that helps it cook evenly and prevents it from doming up. I left that off this time since the dome actually worked to my advantage. And, despite my best efforts (Crisco and parchment paper), the loaf cake did not want to cooperate. It was the one being carved up anyway. Yeah...that'll show it.

I sliced the round cake in half and filled it with vast amounts of chocolate buttercream to give it some height. Then used the rest of the icing for mortar.

Thin crumb coat of icing and then into the 'fridge to firm up. Only so much decorating can be done with free roaming munchkins! So I cleaned up and made the marshmallow fondant (melted mini marshmallows, water and powdered sugar--it's really that simple). I've discovered it works better if it sits overnight.

Saturday evening...kiddos bathed and tucked into bed...Sean pulls out the birthday boy's bike to assemble and I start rolling marshmallow fondant. (Earlier in the day I had made the sensor dish, the top quad laser cannon and the cone shape for the cockpit so they could have a chance to harden.) There were a few final adjustments on the shape...the Geek inside would not shut up about the shape of the forward mandibles.

For the dark bits I simply added more black food coloring, rolled it out super thin and cut circles.

Once I started piping on the pipes and lines I kept asking Sean to come in and check--I have a habit of going too far, several curse words past when I should have set the piping bag down and walked away. We both agreed it should appear to be in flight. Which also gave me another color to use for the words. Sweet!

So there you have it. Not so difficult when broken down into bits, is it? Just imagine the possibilities!