Superhero Birthday Cake

My sister-in-law and I have a tradition of baking cakes for my nephew’s birthday. This year, life took over and she had to sit this one out. She suggested we could just buy a cake, but I couldn’t let that happen! Initially my nephew requested a chocolate cake with lemon and strawberry and I said I’d make it work, but after the funfetti cake from Easter, he changed his mind!

So, Superman, Batman, Spiderman and Iron Man on a funfetti cake with lemon icing it was!

Since I’d originally planned on making this cake with my SIL, my approach was a little different from the typical piping-heavy cakes I normally reach for. First, I frosted both cakes in a bright blue. Then, to make a night skyline, I rolled black fondant, cut out various rectangular shapes, and glued extra-thin squares of light yellow fondant onto them with vodka. To make the characters, I drew them onto rice paper using edible markers, cut them out, and glued them to white fondant using vodka.

I wasn’t very happy with how Batman came out because the black and grey were terrible to work with, but the rest of the characters looked AWESOME! If you are doing a superhero themed cake using this method and your little superhero fan isn’t huge into Batman, save yourself the trouble! 🙂

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Superhero Birthday Cake

Ingredients

• Cake
• 1 and 2/3 cup ultragrain flour
• 1/2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/4 teaspoon baking soda
• 1/2 teaspoon salt
• 1/2 cup unsalted butter melted
• 3/4 cup granulated sugar
• 1/4 cup light brown sugar packed
• 1 large egg
• 1/4 cup sour cream
• 3/4 cup milk
• 1 tablespoon vanilla extract
• 1/2 cup sprinkles

Instructions

1. Preheat oven to 350. Line the bottoms of two 6"x3" round pans with parchment paper, then grease bottom and sides. Set aside. Combine dry ingredients and set aside. Melt butter, then whisk together with sugars. Add egg, sour cream, milk, and vanilla and mix until combined. Slowly add dry ingredients and mix until no lumps remain. Add sprinkles, stir gently, being careful not to overmix. Pour evenly into prepared pans. Bake for 25-30 minutes or until cakes test done with a toothpick. Cool completely before frosting.
2. Note - To make a layer cake as pictured, double recipe.

Sources

Icing
Fran’s Buttercream
Satin Ice Fondant

Embellishments
Wilton FoodWriter Markers
Wilton Jumbo Stars Sprinkles
Wilton Mini Stars Sprinkles
Rice Paper

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