Little Einsteins Rocket Birthday Cake

Nov 11, 2006 · Modified: Dec 22, 2020 by Andrea · This post may contain affiliate links · This blog generates income via ads ·

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My husband's family has a fun tradition for birthdays. His brothers make birthday cakes for their children, but they aren't the average sheet cake with plastic decorations on top. The cakes are three dimensional creations and have included a flying Superman cake (yes, he really flew) and an R2D2 cake complete with a top that swiveled. So of course Michael wanted to join in the fun making cakes for our children.

When our first child turned one year old, Michael decided to start simple using an Elmo cake pan by Wilton. He learned how to make stars and how to use the different tools. For the second birthday, he made a Blue's Clues cake using another Wilton pan. Elmo and Blue are now traditions for the first and second birthday for all of our boys.

By the third birthday, he was ready to design freestyle cakes, so last year he made an Island of Sodor cake complete with a train track made from fig newtons and pretzels, a mountain made from an ice cream cone, and a waterfall. Everything on the cake was completely edible, except for Thomas himself. The boys loved it!

Six months ago, Michael began planning for the fourth birthday cake. He knew that he wanted to do something from The Little Einsteins, and since he's an aerospace engineer he thought making a Rocket birthday cake would be pretty fun. So last Friday the boys and I made the cakes and Michael spent that night building and decorating Rocket, and I think it turned out really cute.

For the cakes, we used two Wilton oval baking pans. As an alternate plan, you could use one 8-inch round pan and one 9x13 pan and then trim the cakes into an oval shape. Frankly, the oval pans performed well and saved us some work, and we'll be able to use them again in our cake adventures, so we're glad that we bought them. To build the engines (nacelles), Michael used cake ice cream cones and graham crackers. The finished engines were edible, but a bit soggy. He used Wilton gel colors and basic liquid food coloring for the buttercream frosting, both of which are widely available.

You can make the cakes, engines, and frosting a day ahead. Keep the frosting in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it, and then allow it to come to room temperature before attempting to decorate the cake. The frosting recipe is adapted from the Wilton website, and makes three cups. You'll need to make two batches of it.

Notes About Red Frosting

The red frosting is difficult because it's hard to make a really deep red, and you can go through an entire jar of Wilton Red for just one cup of frosting. Because you are making a large amount of frosting and need the red to be as deep as possible, you'll want to use the No Taste Red which doesn't have FD&C red #3, otherwise the frosting may take on a bitter flavor. Here are some tips on ways to deepen the color of your red frosting:

Trying making pink frosting first, then start adding the red gel. You won't need as much red as you would if you started from white frosting.

Make and color the frosting a day ahead and let it sit. The colors deepen with time.

If you have a cake and candy supply store near you, check and see if they have Ameri-color or Chefmaster Liquid Gel colors. These are more concentrated and take less gel to make a deep red.

I've also seen tips for using maraschino cherry juice in the red frosting, but I have not tried this myself. It would add both color and flavor.

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