Space Invaders Cake
Are you ready to get your geek on? Yes this week’s offering is both an optical illusion Space Invaders cake as well as a Disco cake. Take note, to fully appreciate these cakes you simply MUST watch the video because it really MOVES. I’m not talking about moving you emotionally or sparking memories of your younger days at the pinball arcade or disco (although it might do that too) … no, I mean it really moves – spinning around, up and down, in-and-out via a wonderful optical illusion!
To make this space invaders cake you will need:
A cake tin that is 22cm (8.66 inches) diameter, 5cm (1.97 inches) deep
250g (8.82 ounces) or approx 1 2/3 cups strawberries washed, hulled and dried
125g (4.41 ounces) or approx 1¼ cups blueberries washed and dried
125g (4.41 ounces) or approx 1¼ cups raspberries washed and dried
Black fondant 200g (7.05 ounces)
Space Invaders Topper Printout
Milk chocolate
White chocolate
2 lolly pop sticks
3 edible icing sheets printed with space invaders design for icing
OR assorted candies, 300g (10.58 ounces) colourful fondant and the cake spacing guide
Video camera set to 1/500 shutter speed
Record Player
Sponge Cake
360g (12.7 ounces) or 2¼ cups plain or all-purpose flour
360g (12.7 ounces) or 1 2/3 cups sugar
1 Tbsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
2 tsp gelatine powder
140millilitres (4.73 fluid ounces) or 3/4 cup vegetable oil such as canola oil
280millilitres (9.47 fluid ounces) or 1 cup plus 2 Tbsp water
8 egg yolks
8 egg whites
Preheat the oven to 320F (160 degrees Celsius)
Place your flour, sugar, baking powder, salt and gelatin into a bowl and whisk.
Make a well in the centre of the flour mixture then pour in the oil, egg yolks and water, do not stir.
In a seperate bowl whisk the egg whites and cream of tartar on high speed until you get soft peaks.
Mix together the flour mixture for 30 seconds only or until just combined. Don’t over-mix this.
Using a spatula to fold in your egg whites in three batches.
Line but do not grease two 20cm (7.87 inches) cake tins and spread the mixture evenly between the two.
Bake in a slow oven, 320F (160 degrees Celsius) for 1 hour and 10 minutes
Ganache Frosting
350millilitres (11.83 fluid ounces) or 1½ cups cream
1.2kg (2.65 pounds) white chocolate
Break the chocolate into pieces and place into a bowl. Heat the cream to just boiling and pour over the chocolate. Allow to sit for a minute and then stir until smooth. Leave at room temperature overnight and then whip using beaters until pale and spreadable consistency.
by Ann Reardon How To Cook That
2015
My 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.
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I appcariete you taking to time to contribute That’s very helpful.
Hi there, I am wanting to make the Disney Lightning Mcqueen cake for my sons 5th birthdays in Two days! How do I get the cutouts for it and the shape? Am I able to buy these somehow? Thanks a bunch – Nicci
Hi Nicci, here is the link to the Lightning McQueen recipe, where you can purchase the template 🙂 https://www.howtocookthat.net/public_html/3d-lightning-mcqueen-cars-cake-tutorial/ Have fun!
Hi Ann, thank you for sharing the an awesome creation of yours. It’s stunning how you did it! I am trying one too for my son’s birthday, so need some inspiration and help from you. Would you remember, how heavy were your cakes and did the weight not slow down the record player? I’ve got a Bush player that has plastic turntable and when I tried to put some weight on it, the speed did slow down.
And also, do you know of any strobe light available in market to see this with naked eyes? I hope you can answer my queries. Thanks.
Hi Gari, The strength of your turntable may effect the speed especially if there is a lightweight plastic turntable. I am not sure how heavy the cakes were but you can see the spin speed on the video. Some players have multiple speeds which can help. Sorry I can’t suggest a place to purchase lights. You can purchase small strobe lights from specialty theatrical lighting equipment suppliers here in Sydney. These are easy to find online.
Could I use a spinning cake stand instead of a record player?
Hi Grace, Yes you could.
OMG these cakes are AMAZING!!! Anne, you are a cakealicious baker! Thank you for sharing your fun ideas and recipes 😀
Thanks for the feedback Anna.
Wow both these cakes are amazing I’m considering buying a record player just to make one xx
Do you have anything rugby themed to make for my wonderful Australian husband who is surrounded by English rugby fans? Would love to see a surprise cake or dessert on this theme!
It is amazing I have never seen anything like that
The Alain invaders cake is awesome
I love to shop and your cakes look amazing! I would love to see a shoe or purse themed cake!
Hi Nicole, Ann has a few cakes in those themes. Check them out here: https://www.howtocookthat.net/public_html/?s=shoe and https://www.howtocookthat.net/public_html/?s=bag .
Hi Ann,
I would love to try out your sponge cake recipe but I just notice that the quantity is different on the this video (space invader cake) compare to the sponge cake tutorial. Can you please let me know which one I should use? Thank you and I look forward to hearing from you.
Hi Huong, Ann has increased the quantities slightly for this recipe as it uses a larger tin. If you are using a smaller size tin, you can use the version on the Fluffy Sponge Blog post.
Hi Ann I love your cake but I whatded to tell u some thing. Why don’t u make a doll cake
Hi Kiran, Ann has made heaps of doll cakes. You can use the search function at the top of the blog page to check them out, but here are a few: https://www.howtocookthat.net/public_html/frozen-elsa-cake/
Hi Ann,
Can you make us a music themed cake?
Thanks
Thanks Nerdybear for the suggestion.
Heyy Ann!
I’ve seen your macaroon video and I was thinking of trying it out but I cant read the ingredient quantities properly since its all muddled up and is really difficult to read. Could you please reply with the recipe?
Thanks if you do <3
Julia 😀
Hi Julia, Here is the link to the blog page with one of Ann’s macaron recipes:https://www.howtocookthat.net/public_html/easy-macaron-macaroon-recipe/ . She has others on the site as well, so check them out!
Hi Ann.
This is Jan from Singapore. I am a great fan of your YouTube videos.i have a small request .
I want to make a baby bop cake for my daughter for her birthday which is on 13th September. I would love to try a fresh or butter cream coz I am not a great fan of foundent.
Not a very big cake …please can u help me
Thank you .
Hi Janani, Ann doesn’t currently have a Baby Bop cake video, so maybe you could use one of the tutorials to create your own. You could do something like the Mickey Mouse Cake: https://www.howtocookthat.net/public_html/mickey-mouse-cake/ but create a Baby bop face.
wonderful thank you very much for your great idea
Thanks for the feedback Fatima!
Awesome!!! I wish i would make this.
You had different types of chocolate cookies on your website. The one I am interested getting is the one where you used baking powder. Could you send that receive to my email please. Thank you.
That is the most amazing thing I’ve ever seen regarding a cake. I just want to show everyone. Thank you.
Thanks Shirley.
Sansational!!! I gotta try this one!! 🙂