How To Make a Millenium Falcon Star Wars Cake

Birthdays are a huge deal for our kids. We go all out, every year, giving them one day to feel really special, like the king, or queen, of our little world. We start discussing and planning for the next one pretty much as soon as the party is over.  Although a lot of the talk is devoted to the type of party to have, the most involved discussions are about the cake.

I started out making my kids' birthday cakes when my oldest turned one. That first birthday was celebrated with ballet slipper pink and baby blue frosted cupcakes. The next year was our first foray into the world of character cakes with a cheery Elmo cake, a tradition that has continued ever since. Last year was the first year I abandoned the structure of Wilton cake pans to go free-form with a pirate cake for Jack. I was scared, but with the help of so many great websites filled with ideas, the cake was easy to make and so much fun to decorate.

This year, Jack kicked things up a notch by requesting a Star Wars cake. After browsing through a bunch of different concepts at Coolest-Birthday-Cakes.com, I decided to make a Millenium Falcon spaceship and decorate it with some Star Wars figurines. Another Google search directed me to the delightful Josh and Amy blog where Josh had carefully documented how he made a Millenium Falcon cake for his wife. His advice was invaluable.

I started out with two boxes of basic white cake mix courtesy of Betty Crocker and two containers of Betty Crocker Rich and Creamy Vanilla frosting (they are the sponsors* of this post and the awesome giveaway down below). I used to make my kids' cakes from scratch with my favorite cake recipe, but they just didn't like the taste. They like vanilla confetti cake and they like vanilla icing, and that's what they want for their birthday and they're not shy about telling me to not get fancy. So now I give them what they want, and save my favorite cake recipe for my own birthday and my husband's. Plus I get to spend the time I save not whipping up my own frosting on decorating.

So without further ado, here is the recipe and step by step directions to make my Star Wars Birthday Cake.


Millenium Falcon Star Wars Cake Directions
Ingredients
2 boxes Betty Crocker® SuperMoist® white cake mix
2 1/2 cups water
2/3 cup vegetable oil
6 egg whites
2 bottles  Betty Crocker® Decors rainbow mix candy sprinkles
2 containers Betty Crocker® Rich & Creamy vanilla frosting
1 Can of black Betty Crocker® decorating icing (with assorted decorating tips)
1 package of Kit Kat candy
1 package of Rollo candy
assorted Star Wars figurines

Preheat oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease two 9 by 12 inch baking pans.

 In large bowl, beat cake mix, water, oil and egg whites with electric mixer on low speed 30 seconds. Beat on medium speed 2 minutes, scraping bowl occasionally. Stir sprinkles into batter. Pour into pans.

Bake about 25 minutes, or until toothpick inserted in center comes out clean. Cool 10 minutes. Run knife around sides of pans to loosen cakes; remove from pans to cooling racks. Cool completely, about 1 hour.

Print up image of Millenium Falcon to trace. Place on top of cake and cut cake along outer perimeter of drawing. As you can see above, my drawing was a little small, so I just used it as a guide but cut my cake to be large enough to feed 15 hungry boys.

 

• Cut the top section from the second cake. To make it easier to manipulate, I divided mine into different blocks. The center circle I then cut out again from the remaining cake to make it a high tower on top of the cake. You don't see that in the picture.

• Cut the edge of the top pieces on a bias to give your top layer a domed look. I promise that you are now done with the scary cutting portion of the project, and can now move on to the fun frosting and doling out of cake.

• Mix about a half a teaspoon of the black decorating icing into a tub of the white icing. Mix thoroughly and add more black if you have not reached your desired shade of gray.

• Apply a layer of frosting on the circular part of your cake. Lay the second layer pieces on top. Spread a little more frosting on the circle in the middle and lay on your top tower. Lastly, affix the gun to the left part of the ship, making sure to put plenty of frosting as glue so the gun doesn't fall off. The gun is not in the picture, but it is what is jutting out of the black and white drawing on the left. Belo

• Cover the entire cake with gray frosting. Decorate with additional black decorating icing to highlight ship details. I was afraid to use the black accents, but in hindsight, looking at the pictures, I wish I had used more. Then finish with candy pieces and Star Wars figurines.

To those of you with Star Wars purists out there, please don't take issue with the fact that this is Han Solo's ship and a young Anakin Skywalker is standing on it, years before the ship was probably built. My little birthday boy is much more concerned with the color of light sabers than actual Star Wars lore.

* Please note that as sponsorship of this post and giveway, Betty Crocker provided me with a Flip camera, a $100 gift card to purchase party supplies, as well as Betty Crocker product coupons via MyBlogSpark.

*** The winner has now been selected by random.org. Comment #49 was randomly selected and Sarah is our winner. Congrats Sarah and check out her blog, Solutions Sleuth, to read how she used her supplies! ***

Mexican Chocolate Yule Tide Log

I'm a butter lover. Look deep inside my fridge and you'll find nearly half a shelf devoted to butter in all shapes and sizes. There's European style butter, unsalted butter, and salted butter. There's store brand butter, local butter, and French fleur de sel butter. Each of these has a purpose, a place in my life, whether it's perfecting a piece of toast, creaming with sugar for chocolate chip cookies, or melting atop a sirloin steak. No doubt about it, I'm a butter girl, and proud of it.

So when the Challenge Dairy butter PR agency contacted me to complement me on my noodle kugel recipe and invite me to participate in holiday recipe contest using their butter, I was happy to sign on. They assigned me to the dessert category. A few weeks later, I received a nice refrigerated shipment of Challenge Dairy butter (European Style and regular unsalted), jars of Spice Islands Vanilla Extract, Cinnamon, and Nutmeg, and a few cooking utensils. And then I began brainstorming on the perfect holiday dessert recipe.

Challenge Dairy Butter is only available in the West right now, but they do have an amazing sweepstakes going on through December 31to win a trip for a family of four for 7 days and 6 nights at the Mountain Sky Guest Ranch just North of Yellowstone National State Park. Right about now a seven day vacation sounds pretty great, especially such a luxurious one worth $17,000!

In addition to being a butter lover, I'm also a master procrastinator. And so it wasn't until today, with just 10 days left to go until Christmas eve, that I got to work on my recipe. Every year, for our big Christmas eve feast, my sisters and I prepare some yule tide logs. But I didn't want to showcase just any old recipe for this challenge. I wanted something new, something a little different, something a little exotic. So I varied our traditional dessert a bit, and created this Mexican chocolate Yule Tide Log.

This is definitely an adult dessert, a symphony of dark chocolate and lightly sweetened mascarpone. The cake is a very light jelly roll (gateau roule), made light and fluffy by beaten egg whites and egg yolks. And the chocolate is a traditional ganache jazzed up with some cinnamon, vanilla and nutmeg. I added a little butter to increase its shine. To keep the chocolate from being too overpowering, I paired it with a layer of mascarpone. The cake looks elegant, and even though it is intensely chocolaty, it is also light, the perfect conclusion to a big meal.

Mexican Chocolate Yule Tide Log
Ingredients: For the Jelly Roll Cake
1/4 cups of sugar
5/8 cups of flour
1 1/2 TBSPs of butter
3 egg whites
4 egg yolks
1 extra TBSP of sugar
For the Fillings:
8 oz of semisweet chocolate
1 cup of heavy cream
1 TBSP of cinnamon
1 pinch of nutmeg
2 teaspoons of vanilla extract
one package of 8 3/4 oz of mascarpone
1/2 cups of sugar
To make jelly roll cake:

1. Preheat oven to 450 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Melt the butter in microwave.
3. Beat the egg yolks and the sugar together at medium speed until creamy and pale yellow. At least 5 minutes. Stop the beaters and incorporate the flour with a spatula, mixing until just barely incorporated.
4. Beat the egg whites until stiff. About halfway through, throw in the extra tablespoon of sugar to help the egg whites hold their stiffness.
5. Simultaneously pour the egg whites and the butter on the egg yolk mixture. Mix it all together very delicately, to preserve as much of the air as possible while still incorporating everything.
6. Spread the batter in a large rectangle on a silpat or a sheet of wax paper atop a cookie sheet. You don't need your dough to be more than 1/2 inch thick.
7. Cook for 7 minutes, making sure you don't burn the cake.
8. Remove from oven and let cool to room temperature.

To make ganache and mascarpone fillings:

1. Chop up your chocolate into little chunks.
2. Bring the heavy cream to a boil in a medium saucepan.
   
3. Turn the heat off and pour in the chocolate, stirring until completely melted and gorgeous. Add in the butter, vanilla, cinnamon and nutmeg.
4. Divide the ganache in half. Place half in the fridge for 5 minutes to cool and stiffen. Keep the other half in the saucepan.
   
5. Pour the mascarpone and sugar into a bowl, beat for 2-3 minutes on medium speed.
6. Remove the chilled half from the fridge. Beat for 3 to 5 minutes to thicken.
   

To assemble yule tide log:

1. Carefully detach the jelly roll from the silpat or wax paper.
   
2. Spread the whipped chilled ganache over the entire surface.
3. Cover the ganache with the sweetened mascarpone.
4. Carefully roll the cake up and transfer to a serving platter.
5. Pour the ganache still in the saucepan on top as a shiny chocolate glaze.
6. Cake can be served immediately, or kept chilled overnight. The ganache will set over time, especially if kept in the fridge.
   

The Concorde: my Most Requested Thanksgiving Dessert

Dessert is a serious Thanksgiving affair in our family. The turkey, stuffing and sides are nothing but a prelude to the orgy of desserts to follow. Every year, our list of desserts grows, covering every inch of the dining room table.
This year, contributing to Thanksgiving dinner was hard. I didn't want to disturb my mother in law in her final preparations in her kitchen, but I didn't know how I could keep things cold for the nine hour drive. I ended up baking carrot souffle, pecan pie, and pumpkin pie in Ohio and keeping them in insulated bags with plenty of ice packs for the ride. Nine hours later, the ice was still cold and the pies were still looking good.

But there was one dessert that would not travel, and it just happened to be my most popular contribution. My family talks about this dessert all year long, and I make it year after year, even though it is a huge undertaking. My brother in law calls me to make sure I'm making it weeks in advance of Thanksgiving, and I'm a total sucker for a request.

The cake is called the Concorde. It is intensely chocolaty yet very light because it is made up of layers of chocolate meringue and chocolate mousse. The recipe below is from the first cookbook I ever owned, a French pastry cookbook by Gaston Lenotre. I am translating it into English and have adjusted the measurements to American units, but you will need a scale to make this cake.


This year, my husband's cousin turned to me, one bite into the cake and said, "this sounds like something I should be eating at a really fancy five-star restaurant, not here in the middle of New Jersey."

Concorde
Ingredients
For the French chocolate meringue
5 egg whites
150 grams (5 oz) of powdered sugar
35 grams (1 oz) of cocoa powder
150 grams (5 oz) of granulated sugar

For the chocolate mousse
9 egg whites
60 grams (2 oz) of granulated sugar
375 grams (13 oz) of bittersweet chocolate
6 egg yolks
225 grams of butter
150 grams (5 oz) of powdered sugar

To make the meringues:

1. Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.
2. Mix the cocoa powder and the powdered sugar.
3. Whip the egg whites until stiff (about 5 minutes). Halfway through, add 60 grams of granulated sugar to help them keep their shape.
4. When stiff, add the remainder of the granulated sugar at low speed.
   
5. Fold in the cocoa sugar mixture with a spatula gently.
6. Prepare two cookie sheets with silpats or wax paper.
7. Spoon half of your meringue batter into a pastry bag or a ziploc bag with the corner cut off.
   
8. Pipe your meringue batter onto a cookie sheet in three ovals 6 inch long and 4 inch wide.
   
9. Fill the other cookie sheet with long straight lines of meringue batter.
10. Cook in the oven for 40 to 50 minutes, until the meringue is hard but not burnt. Check the meringue frequently to ensure it does not burn.
11. Remove from the oven, and when cool, cut the long strips into one inch long pieces.

To make the mousse:

1. Melt the chocolate in a water bath.
2. Remove from the heat and beat in the butter (room temperature, not melted). The consistency should be like pudding. Fold in the powdered sugar.
   
3. Add the egg yolks, making sure the mixture is relatively cool so that it is ready to be mixed with the egg whites.
4. Beat the egg whites until stiff, adding 20 grams of sugar half-way through to keep them firm.
5. Pour the chocolate mixture on top of the egg whites, and fold it carefully together, rotating the bowl a quarter turn after every fold. You want to be very gently to maintain as much of the air as possible.
6. Put the mousse in the fridge for an hour to chill.

To assemble the cake:

1. On a serving dish, lay one oval meringue disk.
2. Cover the meringue disk with chocolate mousse.
3. Lay another meringue disk on top of the mousse.
4. Cover it with more mousse and repeat with the last meringue disk.
5. Cover the entire cake with chocolate mousse and then decorate it to fully cover most of the mousse with the inch-long meringue pieces.
   
6. Dust with a little powdered sugar.
7. Refrigerate before serving. The cake tastes best if made the day before.
   

Chocolate Flourless Cake: a Passover Dessert You'll Crave

Chefdruck's Tasty Tuesday

Soon after I started dating Steve, I attended my first Passover Seder at his parents' house. I was charmed by the tradition of retelling the history of the exodus of the Jews from Egypt. Everyone takes turns reading from the Haggadah, in our family's case a thick stack of photocopied readings, history, and maps about Passover that Steve's dad has cobbled together over decades of holding Passover seders. Sitting around the table loaded with ornate china and silver, I imagined a very young Steve reading the same words that I was reading out loud.

I was a little put off by some of the food on the table like the gefilte fish and the chopped liver, but I put on my game face and dug right in. Our first year together, I even tried to "keep" Passover with Steve by abstaining from all things made with wheat that was allowed to rise (bread, pasta, or cereal) and substituting copious amounts of Matza (unleavened bread). After a week, I was painfully constipated and very grumpy from having unsatisfying breakfasts. I decided to show my support for Steve by making Passover a week full of delicious meals, instead of a time to be endured.

This decadently rich chocolate fondant cake is Kosher for Passover because it does not contain any flour. However it is so delicious that it should not be saved for Passover alone. It's like the offspring of a brownie and fudge. And it's so easy to make that it's almost embarrassing.

Chocolate Fondant Cake
14 ounces of bittersweet chocolate
8 eggs
2 sticks of butter
1 cup of sugar

1) Preheat the oven to 300 degrees Fahrenheit.

2) Melt the chocolate and the butter at very low heat.

3) Beat the eggs.

4) Fold in the egg mixture into the chocolate mixture.

5) Add the sugar.
6) Butter and sugar a round pan. Pour in mixture.
7) Cook for about an hour – begin testing with knife at 45 minutes.

A Sugar Induced Rambling Gloat

I have to gloat. I'm sorry, I know it's obnoxious, but I just can't help it. And if I can't gloat on this blog, then what's the point?

I go a little nuts with my kids' birthday cakes. Everyone has one thing they're anal about, and for me it's birthday cakes. I start to plan way ahead of time, thinking of concepts, and proposing them to the birthday child. I've even been known to do practice cakes! In the past, I've done character cakes using Wilton molds and many little bowls of colored icing. Getting the face of Cinderella (no picture sorry as this was pre-blogging) to not look terrifying was back-breaking.

Tomorrow, we're having Jack's 5-year birthday party. It's a pirate theme. I flew solo on this cake. No mold. I got some great ideas from this amazing site which is aptly named Coolest Birthday Cakes. I had such a great time letting my creativity flow, instead of stressing over getting the shade of my frosting to match the character drawing. I used candy and cookies to decorate... and just had so much fun with it. There's a pirate walking the plank, another one marooned on a dessert desert island, and two more on deck guarding a huge pile of gold coins. The sea is filled with dangerous red fish and multicolored snakes. The Pirouette canons are ready to fire from all sides of the ship. I do believe that Willie Wonka would be proud. I also believe that I'm on a serious sugar high from all the frosting, candy, cake and cookies I sampled while assembling this creation.

I know I'm rambling, but it's late, and I just can't wait to see Jack's face in the morning.

Best Vanilla Birthday Cake Recipe

Chefdruck's Tasty Tuesday

I called my blog Chefdruck Musings because food is one of my biggest passions. I love to cook, to bake, and especially love to dine out. I've posted about food, shared recipes, restaurant reviews, but I still didn't feel like I was devoting enough time on this blog to talking about food. I read a great article on blogging a few months ago on Five Minutes for Mom by Scribbit - she discussed the ebbs and flows of traffic and dedicating certain days of the week to a certain type of post.

That's why today I'm launching Tasty Tuesday, a weekly blog post about food. Every tuesday I'll be sharing a recipe of something I've made or eaten that I really liked. I'm also going to invite you all to do the same on your blogs and share your links with me. I want to try your favorite recipes and anything you love to eat.

So if you have a post about food you want to share, please leave it in a comment to this Chefdruck's Tasty Tuesday post. It doesn't have to be a Tuesday post for you, or a post about something you've cooked, just anything about a food you love. Then I'll give you some link love in next Tuesday's post by featuring a recap of the previous week's food comments.

Bon Appetit!

Today's Tasty Tuesday feature is about birthday cakes. I have a delicious recipe for a vanilla sour cream cake. I used it for Bella's and Juliette's parties during the last two weeks. It works well for cupcakes, character cakes, and sheet cakes. It will be moist on the day of the party and hold up well for a few days after.

I got the recipe from a Williams Sonoma train cake pan, but I doctored it a bit. My latest additions this time were to add sprinkles and chocolate chips to the batter.

Vanilla Cake Recipe

2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour

1 3/4 cups sugar

2 tsp baking powder

3/4 tsp baking soda

1 tsp kosher salt

16 tbsps (2 sticks) of melted unsalted butter

1 cup sour cream

4 eggs

2 tbsps vanilla extract

1/2 cup colored sprinkles

3/4 cups chocolate chips

1) Have all the ingredients at room temperature.

2) Preheat oven to 350 degrees farenheit. Grease your pan.

3) Place the dry ingredients: flour, sugar, baking powder, baking soda, and salt into a bowl and mix.

4) In a mixer, cream together the melted butter, sour cream, eggs, and vanilla until combined. Then fit your mixer with a flat beater and add the dry mixture until just mixed. Do not overbeat or your cake will be tough.

5) Pour into your pan or cupcake pan - do not fill much more than halfway as this cake will rise a lot.

6) Bake until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, between 15 to 30 minutes - depending on your type of cake. Cupcakes will cook quicker than a sheet or character cake.