Lego Cake

So I got the order for this cake on Thursday. Sort of a last minute thing. A guy who I work with has a son who is turning eight today. He had gone to several grocery stores asking for a Lego Cake but they all told him that they didn't do custom work. They wouldn't even make a cake and plop some Legos that he would have provided on it! A little ridiculous if you ask me. So he was discussing this problem at work and another guy who I am making a cake for in December sent him my way. At first I thought... I have one day to make this cake... I better do it up simple. Maybe one large Lego? That would be easy enough, right? And then I remembered the candy blocks at the Amish market and all the cool Lego cakes I have seen online. I could do better than that! Of course the first thing I did was ask the guy for artistic leisure on the design. He gave me the go ahead! Then I called up my husband to make me a stencil Lego pegboard to make the top of the cake. I was inspired!

Unfortunately the next day my daughter got a nasty stomach virus. The poor kid got her first unpleasant experience of regurgitation... in the refrigerated section of Walmart. So this cake was a lot harder than it should have been. I was shaky on the actual plan of attack and was running back and forth to check on my daughter and try to coax fluids and Tylenol into her. By the time my husband got home I was completely frazzled! I finally calmed myself down and thought - what is it I want to do with the design? I wanted to build up a Lego wall around the cake and then have the top appear to be a flat pegboard for further building. I also wanted it to look like it was under construction. Little Lego men builders and such.

First I frosted an eight-inch square chocolate cake with buttercream frosting. Then I tried to "glue" the bricks to the side. No good. Then I tried building the wall into the side of the cake. No good. By this time it was 7:30pm and I was really beginning to panic. I had no Lego cake and I had to drag my butt into work the next day! I took a breather and vented some frustration to my husband who quickly jumped into action and went to buy me some Lego construction pieces. It was just enough of a break and vent session for me to get it together and decide a new plan of attack. Build the wall first and then slide it up against the side of the cake. Eureka!

Of course I left one wall slightly undone... for two reasons. First of all... I ran out of candy blocks - but it worked to my advantage because I wanted the cake to look like it was under construction. So I tore down part of one wall, using some of the blocks to finish the edging on the cake and others to sprinkle around for the loader construction vehicle. Next I rolled out some green and brown fondant and used the stencil that my husband made for me to make it look like pegboards. Then I put it on top of the cake with the dump truck. Finally I spelled out the birthday boy's name with some more of the candy blocks.

And there you have it. A Lego cake. I think this design will go a lot smoother (and neater) now that I have done one and know what I am doing! It would be fun to do some different ones and customize it to the type of Legos that the birthday child likes! I also think that Lego cupcakes would be amazing! I just hope that it blew the socks of the birthday boy! I don't have much experience with designs for boys but I definitely would like to have some more in my cake portfolio. I have another Lego cake on the books for December. We'll see how that one goes! Have a great Thanksgiving everyone!