Super Mario Bros.™ Star Power Cake

image source:
http://www.mariowiki.com/File:StarMK8.png

For my son's 4th birthday, I wanted him to have a Super Mario Bros.™ themed cake and decided to make it on my own.  I opted for the easiest one which is the star cake, since it was my very first time to ever bake a birthday cake.  It was supposed to be just a cake, then one thing led to another and suddenly a party was inevitable (which I will talk about on a separate blog post).

I ended up making several batches trying out different recipes and though it never really turned out as perfectly as I wished it would, it did taste good!  In addition, I was able to figure out a creative way to use up the "rejects" by making my own version of the Bob-omb cake pops that I found on Nerdy Nummies YouTube channel, where I also got the idea about this star cake.

Here's what I did:

First thing I did was my favorite part: shopping!!!

I found most of the stuff I need from Michael's®, Target®, and Amazon®. I used a Wilton® Star-Shaped Cake Pan and placed an upside down Wilton® Flower Nail in the middle of the pan to help conduct heat making the center cook faster.  I baked the cake following the instructions from the box of Betty Crocker™ Lemon Super Moist cake mix and after letting it cool down and chilled in the fridge for a couple of hours, I frosted it with Betty Crocker™ Lemon frosting using Wilton® Decorator Preferred 15" serrated spatula which made frosting easier. For the eyes, I used a black decorating gel pen by, also by Wilton®, and used a little bit from the leftover frosting for the small white portion of the eyes..

Baking with a Flower Nail

A friend of mine suggested to a add a cup of sour cream to my cake batter and do a 2-layer cake with added frosting in the middle but when I tried it, it was a disaster.  It must have been because I didn't use a cake leveler (because I didn't have one) and I thought that the frosting was enough to do the job.  Well, it wasn't.  When the cake started to slope on the edges, the frosting was not enough to hold it in place and so the cake cracked (check out the photo below)

Tips: 
1. I think you'll have a better outcome if you use an aluminum pan to make this cake.
2. Try using a cake leveler if you want to do a layered cake.
3. Be sure to chill the cake prior to frosting.
4. When frosting, have another bowl ready to scrape off crumbs on your spatula.
5. Using proper tools will not only make it easier, it also helps make it look better. 

Frosted using the back of a knife.

Frosted using a 15" spatula.

If you would like to try making this on your own, please leave a comment on how it turned out.




Happy Baking!!!

Copyright © YarnsAndYummies.  All rights reserved.

Super Mario Bros.™ Bob-omb Cake Pops

My son recently turned 4 years old and we threw a Super Mario Bros.™ themed party for him.  Growing up in the 80's, I myself was a big fan of the franchise, so I had lots of fun researching and planning all the details. The Bob-omb cake pops, though, was not supposed to be a part of it.  It all started with the Super Mario Bros.™ Star Power Cake and after a few trials & errors, I found a way to make use of the rejects.  I got the design from Nerdy Nummies YouTube channel with a few tweaks of my own.

Here's what I did:

First, I baked the cake following the directions from the box of a Betty Crocker™ Lemon Super Moist cake mix.  Then after chilling it in the fridge for about an hour, I crumbled and mixed it with a tub of Betty Crocker™ cream cheese frosting (which I should've added a little bit at a time because it got too moist), then shaped it into little bite-sized balls and stick each one with a toothpick.  I used Reynold's® Cut-Rite® Wax paper to line my cookie sheet so it wouldn't stick then placed it in the freezer for about 4 hours before dipping in melted black Wilton® Candy Melts. 

To hold it up and let it dry, I used a FloraCraft™ Styrofoam™ cake form foam block. The sloped edge of a plate came in handy to keep it in place as the melted candy dried up to glue the decorations together. I used blue mini M&M's® and Strawberry Sour Punch Twists® for the wick and yellow regular M&M's® for the feet. The crank at the back are baby pretzels from Gardetto's® snack mix and I just think they're the cutest, have I mentioned that I love little tiny things? And lastly, I had a tick-tock moment and skipped the eyes because I ran out of time :)

Tips:

1. You can add the eyes by shaping white fondant and use the melted candy to stick it on.

2. Another option is using a piping bag with some white icing to add the eyes.

3. If you don't have a piping bag, you can use a Ziploc® bag and cutting off a small part of the corner tip with scissors. 

4. If you're planning on making a lot, try dipping in batches to prevent balls from premature defrosting.

If you'd like to try making this on your own, please leave a comment on how it turned out.

Happy Baking!!!

Copyright © YarnsAndYummies. All rights reserved.