This vintage-style, friendly-faced robot cake will bring a playful touch to any party! It’s one of our popular birthday cakes from our classic The Australian Women’s Weekly Children’s Birthday Cake Book.
Ingredients
Method
Make cake according to directions on packet, divide mixture evenly into greased 25cm x 8cm (10in x 3in) bar tin and 20cm x 10cm (8in x 4in) loaf tin. Bake in a moderate oven (180°C) 30 minutes for bar tin and 35 to 40 minutes for loaf tin. Turn cakes on to wire rack to cool.
VIENNA CREAM ICING Have butter and milk at room temperature, place butter in small bowl of electric mixer, beat until butter is as white as possible, gradually add about half the sifted icing sugar, beating constantly, add milk gradually, then gradually beat in the remaining icing sugar; mixture should be smooth and easy to spread with a spatula. Colour Vienna Cream with a few drops of food colouring (see tips below).
Slice top off loaf cake to make it level. Cut 5cm (2in) slice off one end of loaf cake, place slice, bottom side up, on one end of loaf cake to form shoulders. Cut 10cm (4in) slice off one end of bar cake. This forms the head. Cut two 1cm (½in) slices off the other piece of bar cake – these form the arms. Cut remaining piece of bar cake in half vertically, to form the feet. Assemble cake as shown.
Join head and shoulders to body with Vienna Cream, coat arms and feet with Vienna Cream, then roll in hundreds and thousands. Cover cake with Vienna Cream, place arms and feet into position.
Which lollies do I need to decorate this robot cake?
We used liquorice allsorts, liquorice bullets, musk sticks, smarties, jubes, lifesavers, hundreds and thousands. You can get creative with your child’s favourite colours, metallic sprinkles… the fun is endless.
How to tint buttercream icing and Vienna Cream
A large variety of food colouring is available at supermarkets. As only a very small amount is used each time, the bottle will last a long time. For this robot cake we used blue, but of course you can make your own choice of colourings.
Start to tint Vienna Cream (or any icing) by dipping a skewer into the bottle of colouring, shaking off excess, then dipping the skewer into icing; beat well with a wooden spoon. Every bottle of colouring will vary in strength; by adding it with a skewer you avoid over-colouring. Make sure the colouring is beaten evenly through the Vienna Cream.
How to stabilise a carved cake
If necessary, insert a long wooden skewer through head, shoulders and body to make the robot cake stand more securely.
