Luke’s Darth Vader Cake!

My son wanted a Star Wars cake for his birthday so we decided to make it ourselves this year! I found a Darth Vader Cake pan on Wilton’s website along with a gel black icing color that Wilton confirmed is vegan.

I made Luke’s Angel Cake and made this decadent chocolate (black) buttercream frosting* recipe that combines a recipe from Isa and Terry’s Vegan Cupcakes Take Over the World and the recipe on Wilton’s site. It is going to be my new go to frosting (minus the black coloring!) but this recipe makes WAY too much for one little cake. Next time, I will definitely cut the recipe in half.

To make Darth Vader look like Darth Vader, I used a few different icing decorating tips to outline, fill in, and make Vader’s mask. It came out great for a first time cake decorator!

But most importantly, when my son saw it he said, “That’s Darth Vader!” and to hear that and to see his eyes light up was a thrill.

Happy 5th birthday my best Star Wars boy!

* The key to making perfect frosting is to make sure all of the ingredients are room temperature. Take the shortening and the butter out of the refrigerator and let them sit on the counter. Pour some water into a cup and let that sit out as well. Don’t start the process until everything is the same temperature. If making ahead of time, store in the refrigerator in an airtight container. Bring back to room temperature when ready to decorate.

2 sticks (1/2 cup) Earth Balance shortening
2 sticks (1/2 cup) Earth Balance butter
1 cup cacao powder
5 cups vegan powdered sugar
5 tablespoons water
3 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 oz. black gel icing color

Using a hand mixer, cream together the shortening and butter. Sift in the cacao powder and mix completely. Sift in one cup of powdered sugar at a time plus one tablespoon of water with each cup of sugar. Mix each addition well. Then, when it is all incorporated, add the vanilla and the black icing color and mix until fluffy.

Bake the cake. Be sure to oil and flour the pan well. When it is done, let cool for 20 minutes and then cut the rounded part off the top so that when it flips over it will lay flat on the serving tray.

Once on the serving tray, place pieces of parchment paper along the edges so that any extra frosting will not end up on the tray. Ice the cake and then remove the little parchments for a wonderful, delicious Darth Vader cake!