Lego Cake - Gâteau Lego

J is obsessed with Lego so it wasn't a surprise when he asked for a Lego birthday cake! We spent some time researching Pinterest / watching Youtube videos and made a plan.

We also made a base out of Duplo (more details here).

I tried a chiffon cake, a molly cake, in the fridge, outside the fridge, etc. not satisfied with the results (I have a modular square tin which made the usual tricks impossible). In the end, I went back to the Zebra Cake recipe which is easy and works well even if it is kept in the fridge.

I did a practice run with sugar syrup and one without, both in the fridge and out. The sugar syrup/fridge version was as good as the one left out, winner!

Lemon cake:

I used the Zebra Cake recipe as a base (here), scaled up to 5 eggs but I should have done 6. I'm still having air bubbles issues, maybe I shouldn't add baking powder to the self raising flour... 

Baked in two batches, much better results than one tall cake. 4 layers in total, cut out the centre on the 3 bottom layers.

Sugar Syrup

2 part water, 1 part sugar, bring to the boil the cool and keep in a bottle in the fridge. I used a metal skewer to pierce a few holes in the top of the bottle.

Loganberry curd

I puréed and froze the loganberries from the garden. It would also work with raspberries (they would probably need less sugar).

400g loganberry purée

2 1/2 Tbsp sugar

2 Tbsp cornflour diluted with about 1 Tbsp of lemon juice

Swiss Meringue Buttercream

300g egg whites

225g sugar

375g butter

The mini smarties were a nice surprise but they didn't like the fridge much...

Making the deco bricks (in the truck, in piles on top etc) was a doodle: My friend Helga very kindly lent me her silicone mold. I mixed a bit of Tylo powder into the fondant, pressed it in the mold, popped into the freezer for a few minutes so they would be perfect. I made them a few days ahead, they hardened nicely, job done.
Now for the base and the actual cake, it was a different story... I needed them thin and soft enough to be eaten. I used some leftover fondant with a good dose of Tylo to make molds (I borrowed J's Lego for this). They too were made a few days ahead. I then had to press the fondant and very carefully peel it off and cut it down to size. I find cutting a rectangle out of fondant tricky so imagine the nightmare...

J loved the cake and the family was impressed so we can call it a success! 

Oh, and it tasted nice too, double!