Sunday, December 20, 2009

AT-AT Walker Surprise

Let me start by saying that I'm violating one of my basic blogging guidelines by posting this entry. I'm a stickler for sequential blogging but I'm just soooo excited about this cake and there's too many blog items in queue before this one, lol.
Some of you already know that my husband, Dennis, has three great loves in his life. He loves me the most (at least that's what I tell him); he loves Porsches (especially the Porsche 911 Carrera); and he loves Star Wars. More specifically, he loves the old-school episodes IV, V, and VI and even more specifically, he loves Imperial Stormtroopers and AT-AT Walkers. So when it came time to start planning for his birthday in December, I knew immediately that I wanted to make him an AT-AT Walker cake. I had already made him a Stormtrooper cake, a Porsche cake, and a Porsche cookie so I guess I was saving the best and most difficult for last.

Dennis' birthday is on December 26th (which totally sucks eggs, btw) and we usually have a fairly quiet celebration since everyone is either out of town or busy celebrating Christmas with family. This year, however, I decided to throw him a surprise birthday party the friday before his birthday while friends were still in town. All the guests did an amazing job keeping the secret and it's an understatement to say that he was simply surprised walking through the door. I have an awesome video of his reaction but for the sake of my marriage, I dare not post it, lol. It was a bit stressful making the cake in secret but the expression on his face when he saw his AT-AT cake more than justified the 50+ hours I spent slaving over it. Without further ado, here is my dear hubby next to his birthday cake holding my present to him, the LEGO Motorized AT-AT walker he's been denying himself.
It took a few minutes to convince him (and some guests) that the cake needed to be cut and eaten but finally he conceded and stabbed it with the cake cutter.
Inside was a moist almond cake with cream cheese buttercream filling. Yum!!
Making this cake was quite a challenge for me since I usually rely on my husband (who has an engineering background) to build my cake supports. Left to my own resources, I'm delighted to see that I've actually picked up some construction skills of my own :). Below is the basic framework after the underside and legs were decorated.
.....with the cake carved and iced with buttercream.
TIP: When making a scale replica of anything (especially for your engineer husband), it's always helpful to seek out blueprints and enlarge them to the size. Finally, please forgive me as I post too many photos of the this cake - there's just so many interesting angles.
Some close-up shots with better lighting.
Happy Birthday, hubby!!!
P.S. I accidentally left out a few details on the AT-AT but you won't notice unless you're a Star Wars fan. There's not too many of those out there, right?

Lien Sanchez
Crazy Cake Company

33 comments:

Sandra said...

That is one crazy detailed cake. Shows how much you love your hubby! Just amazing!

Sandra said...

Oh yeah, and many photos are needed to show the detail. Thanks for sharing!

Unknown said...

Given my position, I realize anything I say can be construed to be biased or tainted. However, let me preface by saying I've been an engineer and a Star Wars fanatic waaaaay before I met Lien. As a result, I'm unfortunately burdened with with near-OCD tendencies when it comes to discerning detail about scale Star Wars replicas.

With clear conscience and total resolve, I absolutely LOVE this cake!!!! Having the overall geometry is one thing, but when the blasters, walker joints and articulation, cockpit window, and body panels (among others) match up with the freeze-frame movie shots and blueprints, then that attention to painstaking detail is what causes the jaw to drop (and subsequently, the tears to fall when you're forced to cut into it). Good thing I have the LEGO model as a backup keeper...for display purposes obviously. :)

You rock Lien!

Anonymous said...

Wow!!!!!!!! You are completely justified in taking a hundred million photos of that cake. I don't eben know where to begin, it's just awesome! I tip my hat to you and your skills Lien!

faithy said...

OMG! This is such an amazing cake! It's PERFECT! It look exactly like the real thing!! I can't believe it is cake! You have such amazing skills! Kudos!

Grimmy said...

This cake ROCKS. You should take as many pictures as you want. How on earth did you find the time to do this in such awesome detail?

Crazy Cake Lady said...

Thanks everyone, glad you like as much as I do!

@Grimmy - it was tough hiding it everytime he came around but he was out of town for a couple of days so that definitely helped. Oh, a couple verrry late nights. :)

SweetThingsTO said...

That is so amazing! I cannot believe the detail and precision - you are soooooo talented!

Jenniffer said...

OMG! That is some precise cake work! What an AWESOME cake!! My husband would absolutely flip his lid!!!

Jenniffer
http://cupadeecakes.blogspot.com

KV said...

Why am I not surprised? Just another example of how talented you truly are. Awesome as usual.

Edna said...

I can't imagine the amount of time spent on this cake. Great work!

kylakae said...

I would so love to see you enter a cake like this in our annual cake competition. This year our theme is sci-fi/sci-fantasy and there will be television talent scouts in the audience!

Love this cake!

www.thattakesthecake.org

Jenniffer said...

Just wanted to let you know that I am passing along a Happy 101 Blog award to you as your site always brightens my day. For more details, see my blog:

http://cupadeecakes.blogspot.com

bloomsbymartha said...

I love it!
My husband is an engineer, I rely on him to make sure some of my crazy flower creations don't fall down!
Martha

Jen said...

I love this! I wish I could make something like that for my husband!
What are the legs made of, out of curiosity?

Tiffany said...

This is the coolest cake I've ever seen. My husband and I are sitting here looking at the pictures in awe!

Mags said...

That is AMAZING!!!!!
My son (named Luke, of course!) would have LOVED that!! I am in awe - what a fabulous way to celebrate a birthday!
:) Mags
magsgraphics.blogspot.com

Unknown said...

this is amazing! totally speechless when i saw this first photo of the "cut into" cake.
congratulations on making an incredible cake!

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richard bandler said...

really amazing!...At first look I can't believe it was a cake...cool!!...so wonderful creation. How I wish I can also make a cake like this.

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Zoe said...

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Can I ask what the legs are mad out of in order to support the whole cake? :)

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