The Yoda Cake!

So, my son wanted a standing Yoda cake, and my husband was right on board with that idea. He's brilliant with design and sculpting, so he took this cake on with no complaints!! We baked 3 6-inch x 3 inch cakes first. My husband used a piece of pipe and a plastic plate (used for socket covers, found at Lowe's) to make a reinforcement piece for the center. He glued the plastic pipe to the plate (plate was for support on bottom) He cut a circle in the middle of each cake, then placed each cake over the pipe, with frosting in between the layers. About 2 inches of pipe was left sticking out (for the head, of course!)Next, he did a coat of frosting over the body and it was time to dress Yoda! He cut a large rectangle of dark brown fondant (under coat), two large pieces of tan fondant for his robe, green fondant for one of the hands and the feet (the feet were made of rice krispie treats)

Yoda's head was formed from rice krispies...one batch was enough...and made a hole in the bottom to fit over the end of the pipe sticking up from the body. He molded the head, covered with wax paper, and placed in the freezer. Once cooled, he put a layer of frosting over the head, then covered with green fondant and molded the face. Not easy!!! For the ears, he used fondant mixed with gum paste, molded then frozen...but they were very uncooperative and collapsed. He made cardboard ears, instead, and covered with fondant. He waited until right before the party to put the head on top of the body and to add the ears! At the last minute, the ears kept sagging, so he inserted pieces of wire hanger on each side of the head and hooked the ears on....hey...whatever works, right??

To finish off Yoda, he used a dowel covered with brown fondant for a walking stick and a green light saber. This was a tough cake...lots of detail...and many lessons learned. If we'd thought about it, we should have dried the head in front of a box fan...instead we kept putting it in the freezer, so he would "sweat" when we brought him out. As you can see, he did some time in front of the fan, but only after we got online and tried to figure out how to dry out the fondant!! (about 2 hours...should have been continuous!) If anyone has ideas about the ears, let us know!!! But regardless...our son loved his cake and loved eating the "brains" out of his head! He didn't even want the cake part...he just wanted Yoda's rice krispie head!!!