Ann Reardon

How to Make a Lego Ninjago Cake & How to make Italian Meringue Frosting

Italian Meringue Frosting

lego ninjago cake


With a new baby in the house, this cake needed to be simple to make. We had a lego themed party which went down a treat – read about the party games here.  The cake is a layered chocolate cake with chocolate mousse covered in Italian meringue.  The figures and words are made using fondant . You could substitute for toy ones if you would prefer. Video instructions on how to do the logo lettering can be found here. Scroll down for the video showing how to make the lego logo out of fondant.

Italian Meringue: is a beautiful light fluffy frosting for cakes and is used in many other recipes too, so it is a good skill to learn. It is brilliant white but it can be coloured and flavoured to suit your needs.
You will need a candy thermometer for this recipe. I have been asked where I got my thermometer from.  I bought this Digital Candy Thermometer for around twenty dollars. It did not have high reviews due to the fact that you can not program it to alarm when it reaches custom temperatures – if you want that you will have to pay hundreds, I have found this one to be really good and the price suited my budget.

Prep time: 10 min
Cook time: 15 min
Total time: 25 min

Ingredients:
1/4 teaspoon cream of tartar
3 large eggs
1 cup or 216g (7.62 ounces) caster sugar
1/4 cup or 63g (2.22 ounces) water
1 teaspoon vanilla

Directions:

1.  Separate the eggs, add the cream of tar tar and whisk the white to form soft peaks.
2.  Put the sugar and the water in a saucepan and bring to the boil. Wash down the sides of the pan with a pastry brush and leave unstirred until it reaches 238oF or 114oC on a candy thermometer.
3. Immediately remove from heat and with the beaters running pour in a thin stream into the egg whites.
4. Beat until cooled.  This can take a while so if using hand mixers i like to put a bowl of iced water underneath the mixing bowl to speed up the cooling process. When it is cool it will be thick smooth and glossy.
5. Add flavours and colours if desired. Note: if you want brilliant white, do not add vanilla essence as it will give a creamy tinge.
6. Spread a thick layer over the cake and use a palette knife or back of a large knife to smooth.

This video shows how to make the lego logo:

My Cookbook

ann reardon crazy sweet creations cookbook
Stores that sell my book listed by country: http://bit.ly/ARcookbook
All recipe quantities in the book are in grams, ounces and cups.

66 Comments View Comments

  1. Hi Ann you use cup for measuring i am england and do not use cup measures i use grams how many grams should i use for one cup measure?

  2. Hi Ann,
    Is this frosting pipable for designs on cakes?
    Thank you!

  3. dose this icing water down

  4. How is this different from a 7 minute boiled frosting? My mother in law made a birthday cake with the 7 minute and I have lost the recipe. I know it did have some sugar crystals,grainy texture which le loved.

    • Hi nancy, I have never made it the 7 minute way, but looking at a few videos this one looks firmer and is not grainy because the sugar is fully dissolved.

  5. Hi Ann, may I know if I can pipe Italian Meringue Frosting onto cupcakes as well? Does the shape stay?

  6. Hey,
    So I have a few questions and would really appreciate it if you answered them :
    1. Can this icing stay out of the fridge? And if so how long?
    2. Will it “melt” or droop if left out of the fridge or is exposed to sun?
    3. Can it be left in the fridge in like a cake box?
    4. Is it a sweet frosting, because I’ve made IMBC and it wasn’t that sweet
    Please and Thanks

    • Hi Dannii, 1. I usually frost the cake and then store it int he fridge, as it is egg based even though it is cooked I would suggest storing it in the fridge (just like you would a hard boiled egg).
      2. I have never had it melt or droop when it has been out of the fridge, the texture stays much the same regardless of if cold or not (it is not like buttercream that goes firmer in the fridge). I haven’t had it out in the sun but I live in Australia so the weather here is pretty hot even inside. 3. Yes I have left it uncovered int he fridge as it doesn’t forma hard crust you can’t cover in cling film, cake box would be ideal. 4. Yes it is sweet but not overpoweringly so.

  7. Sorry, after watching the video I now know when to add the cream of tartar… probably should have watched it first lol!!!! thanks for the recipe, can’t wait to try it out!!!

  8. Hi Ann,
    After Reading the direction’s a hundred times i still cannot see where it says, when to add the cream of tartar? Please help?

    • Hi Tarra, the cream of tar tar helps keep the egg whites aerated, add when whisking your egg whites

  9. Hi Ann……….had a simple doubt…..i really love italian meringue frosting and totally hate buttercream lol……the recipe that i used to make uses 2 egg whites and 1 cup of sugar and 1/3rd cup 0f water n’ 1/4 tsp cream of tartar…..i used to get stiff peaks but off late its sorta gettin a gloopy mess….lol…..am gonna try out your recipe….loved the idea of whisking over the iced water….then again will this hold shape cos there are 3 egg whites….gonna make a princess cake for my lil niece…..so was lookin for buttercream alternatives…..have a gr8 day Ann…..

    • how did you go Tomy?

  10. Hi Ann,
    My question is about the italian meringue buttercream frosting. Is it possible to add half the butter called for in the recipe? Will it firm up and perform like the original? I need a less rich buttercream frosting.
    Thanks for sharing your ideas and creativity!

    Sherry

    • Hi Sherry, I do not add any butter to this italian meringue frosting. It does not set hard in the fridge like normal butter cream but remains soft.

  11. Does italian meringue stays soft after being exposed to air? Just asking because my royal icing hardened when left on top of a cupcake for few hours.

    • Hi Janix, yes italian meringue stays soft. Royal icing is designed to set hard, usually used to decorate cookies or gingerbread houses.

  12. hi
    i wanted to know is there any egg free way to make italian meringue frosting. thanks

    • Hi renu, no sorry but you could use buttercream frosting or white chocolate ganache instead.

  13. I will make this cake for my son next week but I was wondering where you printed the Lego Ninjago letters from? Is there a specific place on Lego.com? Thanks!

    • Hi Katiemarie, If you do a google search for lego ninjago logo, and then select ‘images’ from the options along the top there are lots that come up, click to go to one that you like and then copy (ctrl c) and paste (ctrl v) it into a word document and stretch to the appropriate size for you cake. Happy birthday to your son.

  14. I am going to make this cake for my son’s birthday next week but I was wondering where you printed out the Lego and Ninjago logos from? Is there a specific place at Lego.com or is there somewhere else? Thanks!

  15. Hi Ann
    Can i check what is the different between Swiss meringue and Italian other than butter? Which one will taste better and do we need to store it in the fridge?Will it dries up? Thanks!

  16. Hi Maria, Place some baking paper onto a flat tray with no sides so that it overlaps the edge on one side of the tray. Place this baking paper side down on top of the cake that is still in its tin and then invert the whole thing so that the cake tips out of the pan onto the paper. Holding the base of the tray fold the overlapping paper underneath and pull it towards the opposite side so that the cake moves to the edge. Place that side of the cake in position and continue to pull the baking paper under the tray so that the cake slowly slides off onto the first layer.

  17. Hi, I wrote you before about this cake and today I am making it. I have a silly question. I am making a 2 layered filled 12 x 18 cake. One the bottom is filled, how do I fill the top cake out of the pan and place it on top of the bottom filled layer without breaking the top layer. Thank you.

  18. Hi there love your videos they are amazing!!
    Just wondering if there is a video on how you made you ninjago figurines that are on top of the cake????

    thanks =)

    • Hi allison no sorry I did not film that one – but I have since found a much easier way of making them. Cake Art (an australian company) has made a reusable food grade molding gel that you melt in the microwave make a mold of your item, let it set and use to push your icing into – put in the freezer for about 15 minutes and then push out. Your gel can then be remelted and used to make a mold of some thing else.

  19. Thank you so much for the fast response. I did mean the silver candles. Funny how the simple things stump us! Thanks again. Maria

  20. My grandson wants me to make this cake, so I will give it a shot. One questions; what are the tall spikes made from?

    Thank you.

    • Hi Maria, Happy Birthday to your grandson – I love that you are making his cake. Do you mean the silver spikes? If so, they are just silver candles. Or do you mean the black around the edge – that is licorice.

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