Star Wars Cake

As you know my son is having a Star Wars party (...in just 2 days)!  He requested an R2D2 cake, so this is my attempt at it.  This cake was not difficult to make but it was REALLY time consuming.  I broke it up into a couple of days; one for baking, one for assembling, and one for the details.  If I did it again, I'd make two attempts at the details.  My hand was really sore after all of the piping.  

So here's what I did...I made one cake in a glass bowl for the top of his head.   I also made 4 eight inch round cakes.  I stacked the rounds with frosting in between the layers and I added several dowels for support.  Then I placed the head on top.  I did a quick crumb coat and put it back in the fridge.  After about twenty minutes I put a smooth layer of white icing all around the cake.  I did this before I added the legs so I could get it as smooth as possible.  

Next I used store bought Rice Crispy Treats for the legs.  I used 2 on each side for the height.  I rounded the tops and then added little triangles to the bottom to give his legs the right shape.  I attached the legs with frosting and put a layer of frosting on the outside of them too.  Then I put R2 back in the refrigerator until the next day.

Decorating time ~ I frosted his head in gray and then used a toothpick to draw on the details.  I used some of our own R2D2 toys as a guide.  Then I piped over the lines.  It took forever and my hand was killing me. 

But...that didn't matter once I saw my son's face.  He loved it.  And he never cares if it's perfect or not.  My gift to him is my best effort at making something special.  When I look at it, I see the flaws.  When he looks at it, he sees a really "good" cake.  And that's good enough for me!