Cake #3-John Michael's Star Wars Cake

This was a special cake for me.  My first nephew John is turning six this year and it is the first time I will be able to attend one of his birthday parties.  Unfortunately, in the past, my job kept me from being able to make the trip to New Jersey where he and my brother, Michael, his wife Angela, and my youngest nephew James live.  (Retail doesn't allow for Saturdays off, especially when you are the boss.)  So, I thought, with my new passion for this cake decorating business, this would be the perfect opportunity for me to give my nephew buddy an awesome cake!  And of course, being the son of my brother, what kind of cake did I think John would want....?

A Star Wars cake of course!  

I started by making four characters from the Star Wars movies that I was always a fan of, the classics, out of fondant.

R2D2

Chewbacca

Darth Vader

And of course, Yoda.

The Cake:

Vanilla cake with butter cream frosting.

Two 12" round pans 2" deep.

Two 8" round pans 2" deep.

I found a great recipe for Vanilla cake online that I wanted to use for John's cake.  Vanilla is his favorite, so that was what he was going to get. 

Link to vanilla cake recipe:  http://www.food.com/recipe/magnolia-bakerys-vanilla-birthday-cake-and-frosting-139518 .  (Double the ingredients for this cake.)

Once they cooled, I covered one of the 12" cakes with the butter cream frosting and place the other on tops, and did the same with the 8" cakes as well.  I frosted each stack separately over the entirety of the cake, and let them sit in the refrigerator for a while to let the frosting settle.  

For the fondant covering, I dyed each layer with blue dye, but only kneaded the fondant about half way through, creating the marbleized look.  Once I smoothed the fondant over the cake, I cut out stars of various sizes to place over the bottom tier, to give it a fun look for a six-year old's birthday cake.

To fasten the two tiers together, I used a dollop of butter cream frosting in the middle of the bottom cake, and added 3 dowels I cut to fit the height of the cake.  The dowels weren't necessary, but since I will be traveling for a bit with this cake, I didn't want to take any chances.

I added the characters to the top and sides of the cake once we arrived at the party, because I was worried they would not hold on the two hour drive.

In the end, all that really mattered was that John had a great birthday and that he liked his cake.  He was thrilled with it all.  He even ate poor Chewy's legs off.  :)