Chocolate Cake that Looks Nothing Like Chocolate Cake

Chocolate is my first passion, but making chocolaty cakes that look and taste fantastic is a close second. May was a very busy month for cake orders, so I thought I would share some of the cakes that I have created.

When I was asked to make a Star Wars cake for a boy's 7th birthday party, Darth Vader immediately came to mind as being the coolest, darkest figure that could be created out of cake.  So this was my first attempt at a 3D Darth Vader cake.  The head is made of Rice Krispie treats, molded and covered in black fondant.  The body is a three-layer Moist Chocolate Cake with Peanut Butter Buttercream and Organic/Fair Trade Milk Chocolate Chunks, covered in black fondant.  I used a silver edible cake spray to get the silver accents and the overall glisten and shine on the head and face.  I went with a more current Darth Vader look since the birthday boy is only seven and likely more familiar with the newer look of Darth Vader than the older version. 

So what did I learn from making Darth Vader? Well, although I think he looks great, I would have had slightly cleaner lines over his eyes and made his eyes larger and darker. I also realize that to get a more realistic look on any 3D 'head' figure, I need to learn some woodworking so I can create cake stands with built-in support for the heavy upper-section (Darth Vader had a neck at one point, but the head was threatening to fall over, so I had to remove his neck). But overall, I think it turned out well and my client was pleased.

I made a 'Monster Truck Cake' for a client last week. Using that same trusty old Rice Krispie recipe, I created the insides of the truck and the wheels.  I glued the wheels onto the truck with dark chocolate (did you know that chocolate makes the perfect edible 'glue'?) and covered the truck in orange-flavoured fondant.  The wheels were covered in a vanilla-flavoured black fondant.

The cake itself was a chocolate cake with a chocolate buttercream icing. I only use Organic and Fair Trade chocolate and cocoa powder, unbleached wheat flour, real butter, real vanilla, sour cream and cream.

So what did I learn with this creation?  Rice treats can warp in the middle, so when making a thin truck bed, a lollipop stick is needed to support the full length of the truck.  Luckily, I figured that out before I covered it in fondant.  Another option for supporting the middle of the truck bed would have been to dip the entire rice treat in chocolate. That would have hardened and supported the truck, but a lot of chocolate would have been needed for that!

In mid-May I made a Race Car cake. In this case, the client preferred less fondant, so I decorated this one in a vanilla buttercream, but made the accents, like the cars and race track, out of fondant. The interior of the cake is chocolate (what else?) layered with chocolate buttercream and organic milk chocolate chunks.


I was very happy with the result of this cake.  I am used to attaching fondant decorations to a fondant-covered cake, and recalled that the previous time I had difficulty in getting clean lines on the cake because of the soft buttercream.  This time I figured out that refrigerating the buttercream until it is hard, just prior to attaching fondant decorations, makes working with it a lot easier and clean lines can be accomplished.

Some other cakes that I made this month include a Nautical Theme Cake, a small wedding cake with a cupcake display and several buttercream cakes.  A few examples can be seen here and below.


You can also visit Facebook to see more of the custom cakes that I have done in the past. My business, Ultimately Chocolate, is located on Manitoulin Island in Ontario, Canada.

I am now ramping up for the summer wedding cake season.  It should be fun!






Whipped dark chocolate ganache surrounding a of milk chocolate truffle centre make these chocolate cupcakes ideal for any chocoholic.

And real Vanilla Buttercream on double-chocolate cake tastes fantastic and adds a wedding flair to a cake and cupcake display.

Seedless Raspberry Buttercream and Dark Chocolate Truffle add a punch of favour to this moist chocolate cake.