Awesome spinning BB-8 Cake
There has been an awakening … a spinning BB-8 cake!! Yes this cute rolling droid almost stole the show in the new Star Wars movie and I just knew I had to come up with something special to represent his clever mode of transport. Star Wars is a big thing in my house full of boys. Have I ever told you about the time when I was 9 months pregnant (10 days overdue in fact) with our first child. Well finally, in the middle of the night my waters broke and guess what, my husband wasn’t home! Where was he? Dave was at the midnight screening of Star Wars Episode 2 of course. So I guess it’s no surprise that 13 years later he took our two eldest boys went to the very first midnight screening of Star Wars 7 the Force Awakens. As for me, I saw it a week later at a much more civilised hour. Oh and don’t worry, Dave did make it home in plenty of time to get me to the hospital.
To make this Star Wars BB8 cake you will need:
Fondant cutting template
20cm (7.87 inches) Hemisphere tin
11cm (4.33 inches) round bowl for the head
round cutters and round piping tips for cutting and indenting any of these sets will do
20cm (7.87 inches) round cake board (you can cut your own from board and cover in foil)
Lazy Susan I have this one
Non-stick baking paper (the best thing to roll your fondant when cutting out details)
MDF wooden board, mine is 50cm (19.69 inches) x 45cm (17.72 inches)
cake shine
1.5 x my chocolate cake recipe baked at 170C (338 degrees Fahrenheit)
2 x my basic buttercream recipe (or you can choose a flavour)
600g (21.16 ounces) white fondant
100g (3.53 ounces) orange fondant (I used yellow and copper food colouring to get BB-8 orange)
60g (2.12 ounces) black fondant
200g (7.05 ounces) grey blue fondant for the sky (or you could colour buttercream)
Black gel food colour
Silver luster dust
Brown luster dust
Plain biscuits for the sand (I used different biscuits/cookies to give the two shades of sand).
Wrap a sheet of baking paper around the edge of the hemisphere tin and secure into place at with a staple. Do the same on the little bowl. Spray or wipe each one with vegetable oil so the cake does not stick.
Preheat the oven to 170C (338 degrees Fahrenheit). Make a batch of 1 and a half times my rich chocolate cake recipe and pour it nearly to the top of each tin. Bake them in the oven, place an empty tray on the top shelf to stop the bigger one from burning on top before it’s cooked through.
Once they are baked and cooled level off the top while they are still in the bowl. Tip them out of the tin.
Place the bigger one on the cake board. Cover the whole thing in a layer of buttercream. Then use a sheet of thin plastic or acetate to smooth off the frosting. Place that in the fridge for the buttercream to firm up.
For the head, cut about 1/3 off so that it will sit upright. Then place it next to the tin to see where to cut (see video). Cover in buttercream frosting.
Now roll a thin cylinder of white fondant for his aerial and leave it to one side to dry out.
Cover the body and the head in white fondant. Then add a circle of black and then white to the base of the head.
Using the template cut the details of the head and put into place. Draw the indents on the head. For the silver parts cut them out of black fondant and then dust them with silver luster dust.
Cut the orange ‘circles’ out of fondant and add into place. Then cut the silver parts from black fondant and dust with silver luster dust. Add into place on his body.
Draw lines between the circles and then add indents for the joiners.
Cover the MDF board in plastic wrap and add a Lazy Susan upside down. Spread buttercream across the bottom half of the board, smoothing over the Lazy Susan so you can’t see a lump.
Process the biscuits until they are fine. And sprinkle that over the buttercream. Then add a strip of grey blue fondant to the top of the board.
Use some brown powdered food colouring and using a dry brush dust it around the joins and the orange.
Add the body into place. Making sure it is exactly central. Position BB8’s head into place just above the body and check it can spin past. Crush up some different coloured biscuits and add them for BB8’s shadow.
Roll a ball of black for his eye, cut it in two, then take it outside and spray it with cake shine.
Bring them back inside and add them into place on the head.
by Ann Reardon.
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All recipe quantities in the book are in grams, ounces and cups.
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I know you bake the body for an about an hour but how long should the head bake?
Hi Gladys, it will depend on the type of bowl you use. As it is little, start checking it after about 10 minutes to see if it is done.
Hi! Thank you so much for the instructions for the BB8 cake! My son found them while searching for his 13th birthday cake and wanted me to make it. Not as good as yours, but he loved it! Thank you for making his birthday awesome! Your instructions were great, easy to understand and follow.
Hi Jenny, Your BB8 cake looks fabulous! Fabulous job!
oreo truffles please
Hi Aayushi, Ann has posted a recipe for Oreo truffles already: https://www.howtocookthat.net/public_html/chocolate-truffles-recipe-2/
I love your recipes ,I do not get real chocolate where i live but i get coco butter saparately .so can i use fake chocolate instead of real chocolate and just mix cocoa butter in it?
First goes like this make cake batter replacing the water with raspberry or strawberry puree then add some water to strawberry Jello and mix that with the batter. Then pour the batter into the cake pan, glob in some pie filling and swirl it until it’s prettyful. Bake in the oven as directed on the box or until the outside is orange. DO NOT FROST THIS CAKE! IF YOU FROST IT YOU WILL BE EATING AN UNHEALTHY CAKE THAT IS SWEETER THAN MARASCHINO CHERRIES
Hey Ann,
Please tell me if you have any recipe for Pop Tarts. I live in India and have always wanted to try them but missed out when I went to the US for a visit :(.
Thanks 🙂
Hey Ann,
Please tell me if you have any recipe for Pop Tarts. I live in India and have always wanted to try them but missed out when I went to the US for a visit 🙁
Thanks 🙂
Hola, me e descargado este archivo pero no encuentro la receta de la tarta donde esta?
Un saludo Cristina
Hola Cristina , la receta aparece en en la página del blog por encima de esta sección de comentarios .
Fantastic cake…was wondering do you use a full hemisphere tin or half for his body?
Hi Diane, Ann used a full half sphere (or hemisphere) for the BB-8 body.
hi anne i always watch your videos because its amazing how you bake things and make large things im just suggesting if you can make a large liquorice because i wanna make one but dont know how if you cant make it then its alright
Hi love your recipes
I live in London and I’m in school. We learnt about volcanoes. can you make a realistic volcano from cake and when you cut into it, you would see the inside of the volcano? If possible, can the lava pour when the cake is cut?
Thank you.
Hi Ann,
When I poured caramel in the container lined with wax paper, it bonded with the paper and when I tried to remove it to make squares for truffle, it just was stuck up. What could have gone wrong?
Hi Nandini, Is this relating to a different recipe? There is no caramel in this recipe. If you are referring to Caramel truffles, Ann recommends using non-stick baking paper, rather than wax paper. If the caramel has set properly, then it should come off the non stick paper with relative ease. If the caramel hasn’t set then it either hasn’t been cooked correctly or perhaps needs a little longer to set.
I love how you always come up with amazing stuff:) The millenium falcon cake made me inspired to make one for my hubby too as you can see on the attachment:)
He is a starwars fan too and you may want to watch what nerd stuff he came up with on you tube. I figured your kids and husband would have a laugh out of it too…it is searchable under Nerd Nativity Scene.
Here is hoping for more neat recipes and treats from my fave, Ann, you rock!!!! 🙂
Great job Janet!
This is awesomeeeeeeee.
wow – so clever – just watching you make this I have picked up a couple of clever tips for other things too….Thank you
Ann,
You never cease to amaze me! Your talents are so varied and your tutorials are so helpful! Thank you!!!
You are amazing!!!
I love it! I also love the way the crumb coat on the body crawls onto the cake apparently by itself! Hilarious. Once again, your video has left me both inspired and hungry.
Wow there will be some very excited little boys. You never cease to amaze me.
How long did it take to make it?
Hi Norah, made the cake over 2 days to allow time for the cakes to cool. The actual time was about 5 hours in total.