Star Wars Sweets
August 15, 2010 John and I are having a blast at the Star Wars Celebration here in Orlando this weekend, so I figured I'd keep the theme going with today's Sweets. (Although I'll try to keep the Admiral Ackbar jokes to a minimum.)
Major props to Donna for actually sculpting these LEGO minifigs out of gumpaste, instead of taking the easy route and plopping on some toys. :)
More fantastic figures on this sweet wedding cake:
Somebody watch the droids, though; I hear R2 is a bit of a lush.
Some of the sweetest Star Wars cookies you'll ever see:
You might think a light saber cake would be easy to make, but believe me: it's not. That's why I'm so impressed with this fondant-free gem:
Hold on to your blasters, old-school icing purists, because I have another completely fondant-free sweet for you:
Sub'd by Angela H., made by Mondelli's Bake ShopThe background is airbrushed, but the ship is all piping. Now that's using the force.
Here's an engineering marvel you won't believe is actually cake:
But it is!
See?
How amazing is this?!? Lots more pics and details on Lien's blog here.
This perfect R2* has me seeing red:
Sub'd by Amelie M., made by Mark Joseph Cakes. Go here for a step-by-step photo guide. The detail on the legs is especially amazing.
Here's the best possible use for the Wilton bear pan:
And finally, we have a new contender for the Coolest Baby Shower Cake Ever:
Sub'd By Abby G., made by Irma RodeC'mon, baby Vader with a pacifier, PLUS a baby R2? This just might be better than our last Vader shower cake. Even if it doesn't make any more sense. Heh.
Oh, and if you like Star Wars, you're going to love my pictures from this weekend over on Epbot. Srsly. Check out the craziness here.
*We think this may actually be R4-P17. We think this because people who seem to know these things told us so. We could be wrong. Who really knows?
PS - Hey, Jane F. in Berkeley: Epi Burf Day!! May your day's forecast include lots of sprinkles.
Reader Comments (96)
Kudos to all today's featured cake artists, and thanks to Jen, John, and all involved in sharing them with us.
One note: The Luke/Leia wedding cake topper made me do a double take, but my second thought was...what if the GROOM was blonde, and the bride really does resemble Leia? Anyone know?
In any event, yes, I think dressing the groom to look like Han Solo would've been a better choice, even if he is blonde...
Awesome skills though.
~~Swan
I'm another one whose jaw dropped at Luke and Leia on a wedding cake. Yikes. Perhaps there's something about the bride and groom we would rather not know. . .
Oh Amazing! I just brought my boys over to see cause they love Star Wars...I even made my oldest a Star Wars cake for his last party, and it was cool, but not half (ok...not even a tenth) as cool as these. (You can see if here...http://texifornia.blogspot.com/2010/03/star-wars-party.html...it's the cupcake tie fighter idea, only I just used one on a regular cake cause one took quite enough time. And yeah, if I'm gonna use yellow icing on black I SHOULD do star wars lettering, but though I can do florishy stuff, I suck at geometrical, and that's too geometrical for me).
Anyways...my boys did want to inform you that the R2D2 cake is actually R3SX. Rocks either way! (Rice Crispy Feet! Aweseomeness!)
I, too, noticed that is Luke and Leia on the wedding cake. Except for that flub they are awesome cakes. I'm a Star Wars nut, too, so this is right up my alley. I just wish they had put Han on the wedding cake........incest is not cool.
All awesome!
Although.... the wedding cake is a little iffy to me since it's Luke and Leia on top of it. I'm guessing the baker didn't really watch the movies or hear that they were brother and sister. I wonder if the bride and groom noticed.
The figures on that Luke and Leia wedding cake ARE adorable...but a little creepy...and made me think of this:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=b5eVGyCVxAM
Poor Jen. Little did she know that a simple cutline about R2 would lead to a repeat of the EPCOT incident.
Yeah, that's a nice R2-type cake (though on Google I found a nicer one,) but there's one problem: they paid someone else to make it.
This is possibly the worst-looking R2D2 cake ever made (don't go making it a "wreck," please,) but this kid's mother made it with him, and that's probably what's going to be the best thing that he remembers about that birthday, not, "Daddy spent a lot of money on me.")
http://www.easy-birthday-cakes.com/r2d2-birthday-cake.html
Oh, there's another problem: instead of the ugly block the center is sitting on, he could have put in the R2's center leg: http://planetbizzle.blogspot.com/2009/06/star-wars-cakes.html
Ah, one more thing regarding the Luke and Leia cake. Before Chapter 5 came out, Lucas authorized a book by Alan Dean Foster called, "Splinter of the Mind's Eye," in which there is a lot of romantic stuff between the two. They even kiss. I bought it when it first came out.
loved the baby light-sabers all over the last one!
W.V. craven i.e. "...Who gave out the parts for this? Miss Craven? The Gargoyle?..." - Hilary Booth (Remember WENN)
The baby Vader and R2 cake was precious. I loved the little lightsabers on the side!
Ditto on the Luke/Leia wedding cake. Luke and Mara Jade or Leia and Han would have been the appropriate choice, but I don't think the baker has read the novels. And yes, I do think they are cannon even though many fans don't want to believe that.
The fondant free ones were great too. I love how the lightsaber looks like it's lit up!
Some of those were really amazing, really!
Given that, I don't want to be a downer...but why the * would you want a Star Wars wedding cake?
Sweet cakes, as always!
I'm giving the benefit of the doubt and assuming the baker of the so-called "Leia and Luke" cake did not actually intend to make a "Leia and Luke" cake, but instead was mimicking the bride and groom's hair colors, which made it appear to be a "Leia and Luke" cake. I have to believe this - the other explanation is...gross.
I just feel the need to point out that Luke & Leia on a wedding cake together is wrong on so many levels... otherwise, gorgeous geekery!
The *MOVIE* R4-P17 is a red droid with a red head, trimmed in silver, the opposite of this droid. (In games it has the cake's color).
I'd have to agree with those who say "R2-M5" or "R2-KT" (which has a real-world story behind it).
The Force is strong in Irma Rode.
Why am I seeing naked little Darths astride carrots????
I don't know if it's just me or not but Luke on the 2nd cake looks like Steve Irwin!
I love the wedding cake. Simple yet beautiful.
I love all of these cakes but is that a Luke and Leia substitution for the bride and groom on that wedding cake? Lol..that is pretty funny if not a bit wrong.
I'm so tired of nerd cakes every Sunday.
Jeebers crisp, that's detail! I always would have thought May 4th to 5th to be the best Star Wars days, but there you go.
I can think of how to make a light saber cake in structure but the icing is another question, as is the detail. Any attempt will appear as a failure upon this site. No matter!
May the frosting be with you, and do not turn to the dark side of the whisk.
Hey Jessica,
Two weeks ago, we had flowers.
Before that was sports.
If you have an idea for Sunday Sweets, please let us know.
john
the Star Wars cupcakes that Crupbs and Doilies baked & blogged are also amazing
http://www.crumbsanddoilies.co.uk/blog.php?id=431462636537382278
I love the happy birthday text cupcake!
yes Jessica...
Anyway - I have an idea! I want to see some nice international cakes, celebrating things found only in other countries... whaddya say?
best best
best
Actually screw it - Mah jong cakes - just google it you'll see what I mean!!!!!
I love the "nerd cakes". Keep them coming. My kids (junior nerds) are big fans of Sunday Sweets. They ask to see first thing on Sunday mornings and seriously were looking forward to Star Wars cakes all week.
BTW, my son made a cool R2 and an R4 out of Perler beads last week. I thought Jen might like to see them.
http://malinate.blogspot.com/2010/08/rediscovered.html
I love that there are about 70 other people who had the same reaction to that wedding cake that I did.
I totally squealed out loud when I saw that Ewok cake. LOVE!!!
So my icky feeling about Luke and Leia? Glad to see I'm not alone!
And I know it will be my third baby, and you usually don't have baby showers for #3, but I need a Darth Vader baby shower cake!
Isn't it inappropriate to have luke and leia on top of a cake.Brother and sister as bride and groom. Hmmm. Cake Wreck!
You know why I love coming here? Because I wasn't the only person who noticed Luke and Leia on a wedding cake and thought it was creepy. <3
Well, this has to be the first non-geeky star wars thing to ever exist!
http://www.danoah.com" rel="nofollow">Single Dad Laughing
Cool cakes...however, I feel the need to point out something about the comment concerning making figures out of gum paste instead of doing the "easy" thing and plopping some plastic characters around it.
As cute and amazing as those cakes are, they are probably illegal. Unless a cake baker writes to the company (in this case, LucasFilm...you know, small company... folks who surely don't care too much about licensing...) and pays lotsa $$ for the rights to create the images, a baker cannot *legally* create any licensed image that will be sold to someone else-- even if that something is consummable, like cake.
So please give us cake bakers a break here and don't issue blanket statements that sound like not shelling out thousands of dollars for the right to sell a cake with a licensed image is the "easy" way. I know we see cakes with characters on them all over the place all the time..some amazing, like these, and some.....well, not so amazing. If the cake you see a photo of was sold for money (in other words, not made by mom herself and eaten in her own house), then the cake is illegal, and the cake baker is risking losing everything they have over a little cake. Most people do it anyway, thinking no one cares, and no one will find out about THEIR little small potato cake shop anyway... until their photo gets posted on the internet by some website... ;) Suddenly Disney et. all. comes knocking on their door with a $50,000 law suit. (And yes, it's happening, with increasing frequency lately.) Unless you're someone like Duff who can afford to apply for the licensing fees because your minimum order is thousands of dollars per cake, it's just not feasible for us small guys.
Haha, Hilarious collection of cakes. How did you get all these or did you bake them?
Debbie,
I don't know quite what to say. I think you took what was an incredibly harmless statement and turned it into far more than was ever intended. Placing a plastic figurine on a cake is indeed easier than sculpting a figure by hand. That's all that was meant I assure you.
Regarding the issue of legality, you are correct. I would love to argue about fair use and parody, about the technicalities and incredibly vague language involved in copyright law but, in the end, it's always safer to not use any image you don't own the rights to. I do have to say, though, that one is far more likely to receive a cease and desist order than for a corporation to go through the time and incredible expense to sue a small bakery. Just saying...
As always, no offense was meant by this post.
*I can't believe I'm saying this about a Sweets post*
john
I love the cakes, but I also love all the comments where people complain about it being Leia and Luke instead of Han. Good to know I'm far from the only one who caught that.
Oh, no worry, no offense taken. :) I just see these as opportunities to get the word out a little, because LITERALLY I get requests several times a week for character cakes, and I have to write back the same "not legally allowed to do that, yeah, I know you see those cakes all over the place, blah, blah, blah, yeah, you can likely call the next baker on your list and she'll make that cake for you, but it's still illegal, blah blah blah..." But that next baker doesn't happen to be married to a lawyer who happens to have lunch with a patent attorney friend who happens to be one who is involved in patent suits. Sooooooo....I'm well versed in what I can and cannot legally do as a cake business. :-)
And I really agree about right of fair use..it ticks me off every time I think about it. Especially the issue of using those shaped Wilton character cake pans, which are not supposed to be used for anything other than "home use" either. If I BUY that cake pan, shouldn't I do with it what I want, if I make it according to the prescribed directions and not make Mickey Mouse giving an obscene gesture?
Love your website BTW. :)
I find it completely and totally squicky that a *wedding* cake has Luke and Leia on top of it. Dude. Are you seriously from West Virginia, or what? A brother & sister should not be sitting together on top of a wedding cake. Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwww
Um can I just say it's SUPER creepy that the one wedding cake is topped with Luke and Leia?! Um, ew.
the cake with r2-d2 is actually r4, r2 is blue, r4 is red.
Star Wars geek has said her piece and is now done.
Awww, baby! :D
And I'm loving the Ewok cake. Do want.
Best cakes of my life!!
So impressed right now.
I am, however, a wee bit creeped out that the wedding cake had Luke and Leia, who are siblings...
WOW!!!
Those are fantastic!!!
The AT-AT is amazing!
Speaking of Ace of Cakes, they also did an amazing R2 Unit (I think it was the real R2-D2, but I'll leave it to the true Star Wars experts to confirm) for LucasFilms. It was related to the Clone Wars animated series.
Here's one link about it:
http://www.starwars.com/fans/rocks/aceofcakes2010/index.html" rel="nofollow">http://www.starwars.com/fans/rocks/aceofcakes2010/index.html
I feel left out! I guess it could have been worse and been included as a wreck!
Kris
http://krazykakebakers.com/wp-content/gallery/r2-d2_cake/r2-d2_cake011.jpg