The Bake More

My nephew, Jason, is a big Star Wars fan, so for his birthday he wanted a Yoda cake. He didn't specify what "kind" of Yoda, so I made him a Yoda Minion! Who doesn't love those Minions??? Well, apparently 36 year old men don't really care about Minions!!

There were a lot of pieces parts to this cake, but nothing too involved. Including the baking of the cakes, it took about 12 hours of work. That may sound like a lot, but for me 12 hours is quick!

I made the goggle, light saber, and ears first because they needed extra time to dry. For the goggle I mixed a little Gum-Tex in some gray fondant, and then used circle cutters to make the shape. I cut the outside and then used a slightly smaller circle to cut out the inside. Kind of like a very narrow donut. I used a stitching tool to put some markings on the outer edge; keeping the inner circle cutter in place so the soft fondant would hold is shape.

Next I added some fondant balls to the top of the goggle and pressed them down with the end of a tool. As a final step I added some little rectangular pieces to the sides, and put some score lines on them. I kept the inner cookie cutter in place while the goggle dried.

For the light saber I cut out some small gray fondant circles and put them on a long bamboo skewer. For the bottom "gear" looking piece I cut out a larger circle, and then used the edge of a smaller circle to cut out the arcs.

For the "light" part of the light saber I wanted to use rock candy, but I couldn't find any so I just glued coarse sanding sugar to the bamboo. I coated the stick with glue and then just sprinkled the sugar on top of it. The glue is not exactly edible, but, hey, neither is the skewer.

I don't show it here, but after the fondant of the goggle and light saber dried, I sprayed the gray portion with some Silver Luster Mist. This made them nice and metallic looking.

To make Yoda's ears I started with a fat teardrop piece of fondant, and used a tool to hollow out the inside and form the cupped sections of the ears.

While the fondant was still soft I inserted two skewers in each ear.

The minion character I modeled this cake on was tall and thin so I used 6 inch cakes, and to get the height I wanted I used three 2-layer cakes. There is a board under each of the three cakes, and for support I used plastic Boba straws. The straws are so much easier to cut and they are just as strong as the wooden dowels. I put eight straws in the bottom tier, and four in the middle.

And I didn't worry about smoothing the sides of the cake because Yoda is very wrinkly. I covered the top tier with fondant, and trimmed the fondant at the location of the first cake board. This line would later be covered with the band of the goggle.

To cover the center tier I rolled out a rectangular 4" x 19" piece of fondant and wrapped it around the center of the cake. (Math Note: To get the circumference of the cake multiple the diameter of the cake by Pi (~3.14) So 6" x 3.14 = 18.85". My middle school math teacher would be proud of me.)

Next step was to use my trusty circle cutter and mark where the goggle would go. Then I cut a strip of black fondant and placed it on the seam between the top and middle tier. You can't see it in the picture, but I scored the black strip with my stitching tool just to give it a textured look. The brown "shirt" went on next. I had some Choco-Pan chocolate fondant hanging around so I just used that.

My trusty circle cutter was used to form the grumpy mouth.

Next the shoes... Just blobs of black fondant with marks on the bottom to look like soles.

The tan/yellow robe came next. I cut rectangular pieces of yellow fondant and draped them to look like folds in fabric. Side note: On the top of Yoda's head I scored some lines to represent his wrinkles. You can't see it here, but I also stuck two long skewers through the entire height of the cake and into the cake drum below. Can't have too much internal support.

After the robe was in place, I added a strip of black to represent the belt.

I added some do-dads to the front of Yoda's shirt.

Next I put on the sleeves and then rolled some green fondant around skewers and pushed them into the sleeves. Don't they look like little Yoda arms?

Next came the eye. Time for the circle cutters again. I layered the pieces of the eye together and then used the cookie cutter to make sure it was the exact fit for the inside of the goggle. Then I put the eye inside of the goggle and stuck them both onto the cake using a little vodka. The goggle was still a little soft, so it stuck to the cake like glue.

The gloved hands went on next. One to holds the birthday candle...

... and one holds the light saber. Before I attached the second hand, I pushed the bamboo skewer of the light saber into the cardboard cake drum to hold it in place. Once the light saber was secure, I then wrapped the gloved hand around the shaft of the light saber. I added some Minion hair on the top of Yoda's head too. In fact two strands of hair are hiding where the bamboo skewers stick out from the cake.

The most nerve-racking step was pushing the ears into the cake. For added holding power I dabbed a little bit of melted white chocolate where the ear came in contact with the head. I was so afraid they would fall off, but thankfully they didn't move one bit.