Mini R2-D2 Birthday Cakes – When a Large Birthday Cake Just Won’t Do.

Hello dear reader.

“Go big or go home” as the saying goes, but sometimes going big just won’t do so small is the way to go. And in my case, this time miniature was my solution. So a dear friend of mine had a 40^th birthday due, and I wanted to do a little different than buying a gift for her. She had mentioned in a past conversation that she always liked the themed cakes that were made on specialist cake making TV shows, and being a Star Wars fan as well I had a plan to make an R2-D2 birthday cake and came up with an idea to make one using some food grade wood for a skeletal support and make some large sponge cake, layer it with butter cream, and cover it with white fondant icing then do the detailing. I’m no baking expert, but I do cook and have baked cakes and biscuits/cookies from time to time what my mother taught me, and I was ready to put my plan into action a couple of days before her birthday… until I encountered a little issue before I even started baking, which actually was also a blessing.

I few days before my friends birthday I was at her house with some family and friends chatting when the discussion on cake making TV shows came up. My friend again said she loved these cakes and would love to maybe one day get one. I’m quietly sitting there excited to make one for her, when she drops a bomb shell… she doesn’t like fondant icing or marzipan as she finds it too sweet and a bit sickly. So how can I possibly make an R2-R2 birthday cake and decorate it to look like it should? Yes, I could have made some buttercream and smooth it over the exterior but I had concerns about transporting it to my friends house without damaging it, plus the fact that I wasn’t confident enough to make a nice smooth finish with little time to practice. Then I had the idea using a couple of sponge cakes I have made in the past and combining the two to make lots of mini birthday cakes. Structural support for cake weight was no longer an issue and just as important, the final design was going to be easier to achieve.

The idea was to make eight cupcake filled with a jam/buttercream mix for the bases, a Cadbury Finger chocolate biscuit for an edible support, then a buttercream filled sponge finger (like a Twinkie cake bar) with piped with coloured buttercream for the R2-D2 detailing, all elements I know my friend did like. Then for an added element I made some extra cupcakes and did a simple Mandalorian piping decoration.

I have built a fully functional full size Astromech droid in the past, and I am no drawing artist by any stretch of the imagination and never really done any cake piping designs so this was a first. The end results, when I finished putting the cakes together and seeing them for the first time completed, I couldn’t stop laughing at the way these lil’ guys turned out. Not the way I was hoping they would look as my hand simply was not steady enough to make a neat and tidy piping design, but they were what they were. And on my friends birthday when these mini birthday cakes were revealed… lots of laughter, lots of “awww, they’re sooo cute”, a few “I cant eat these little guys, it just seems so wrong”... and few tears of joy from my friend when I explained the reason behind the mini cakes instead of a large one.

After lots of birthday photos were taken, the cakes then very quickly disappeared with everyone including the birthday girl saying they enjoyed the cakes very much noting the surprise of the jam buttercream filling and chocolate finger hidden inside. So a bit rough around the edges, but they were a big hit and my friend was blown away with them which I couldn’t be happier with. So please find below how I made my mini R2-D2 birthday cakes (or for whatever other occasion you would like).

Ingredients:

For the Cupcake and Cake Fingers:

(This will make 8 sponge fingers and about 18 cupcakes)

1. 375g unsalted butter, softened
2. 375g caster sugar
3. 375g self-raising flour
4. Pinch of salt
5. 6 medium eggs
6. 4 tablespoons milk
7. Two 12 hole muffin baking tins lined with paper cases (or you can use one baking tin twice)
8. One 8 hole non stick Twinkie/Mini hot dog baking tin

For the Buttercream:

1. 125g softened butter:
2. 250g icing sugar
3. 2 tablespoons milk
4. Pinch of salt
5. Strawberry jam (or your preferred spread, blackcurrant, lemon curd etc.)
6. Piping bag with small nozzle

For the Icing:

1. 125g icing sugar
2. 15ml warm water

Additional:

1. One pack of Cadbury Fingers or similar
2. Multi coloured pack of food colouring that contains blue
3. 25ml Edible silver food paint
4. Small food grade paint brush

1. Set the oven to 190C, gas mk5.
2. Tip the room temperature butter into a bowl and beat it until softened.
3. Then add the sugar, flour, salt, eggs and milk and whisk until the mixture is smooth.
4. Use a spoon, to divide the mixture between the 8 finger baking tin and all the paper cases in the muffin tins.
5. Place both muffin tins in the oven and bake for 15 minutes, then swap over the position of the tins over and bake for a further 3-7 minutes, until both trays of cupcakes are a light golden colour.
6. Remove the tins from the oven. Leave the cupcakes to cool in the tins for a few minutes. Then transfer them to a wire rack to cool.
7. Then place the sponge finger tin in the centre of the oven and bake for 15 minutes or until a light golden colour like the cupcakes.
8. Remove the tins from the oven. Leave the fingers to cool in the tins for a few minutes. Then transfer them to a wire rack to cool.

Buttercream:

1. Whisk the 125g of softened butter until super soft.
2. Then add the 250g of icing sugar, and a pinch of salt.
3. Whisk together (start off slowly to avoid an icing sugar cloud) then beat in 2 tablespoons of milk and mix until smooth.
4. You want to separate the buttercream into some small bowls for the cupcake toppings for the non R2 cakes (this will use the largest amount), the cupcake fillings (a similar amount), the sponge finger fillings (a much smaller amount), and also for mixing in the blue, green, brown and black colouring which wont require much buttercream as this is for the detailing.

Filling:

1. Fill the piping back with some plain buttercream and poke the nozzle into the back of the sponge fingers and pipe in a small amount of buttercream. Do this three or four times per finger, much like a Twinkie cake bar.
2. Using a teaspoon, cut around the top of the cupcakes about a centimetre or two in from the edge and remove the little lids you have now made.
3. In a small bowl, mix some plain buttercream with some jam (about 2 tablespoons or to your preferred amount) until fully combined.
4. Use a couple of teaspoons to fill the cupcakes with the cream mix.
5. Cut off some of excess sponge from the cake lids and put the lids back onto the cakes. Put the leftover sponge to one side for now.

1. Using a sieve, sift the icing sugar into a bowl and add a small amount of the warm water and keep stirring until the mixture becomes think enough to coat the back of a spoon.
2. Line a baking tray with some foil then place a wire rack on top of the baking tray and lay the sponge fingers on top.
3. Then pour a small amount of icing over three quarters of each finger and smooth over with a knife of paint brush if needed.
4. Place the fingers in the fridge for an hour or so.
5. Remove fingers from the fridge and place back onto the rack upside down and repeat icing and setting for the backs.
6. Cut off a piece of baking paper or foil, cover the main part of the finger so just the top quarter is on show. This will act as a masking to help keep a straight line to differentiate between R2’s head from the body.
7. Then with a small food paint brush, paint on the silver food paint. This may require 2 or 3 coats. When dry, turn the fingers over and paint the backs and leave to dry.

1. Cut off the bottom non iced quarters of the sponge fingers.
2. Now is the time to get artistic. Mix the appropriate colouring with a small amount of buttercream, put into the piping bag with a small nozzle, and decorate as desired (look at some R2-D2 pictures for reference to help).
3. Pick out eight cupcakes, cover with coloured buttercream, then insert a Cadbury Chocolate Finger upright, into the centre of each cake.
4. Then when the buttercream detailing has set a bit, carefully slide the sponge fingers over the chocolate fingers until they rest on the cupcake bases.
5. Finally with the remaining cupcakes, I covered the tops with plain buttercream, them piped on some coloured buttercream on top to make some Mando and Grogu faces as my friend was a huge Mandalorian fan too.

And that is it. Store in an airtight container when ready to serve.

And what to do with the leftover sponge… well you could treat yourself as your baking reward, or test pieces which “you had to try”, or put it all in a bowl, add some chopped fruit, pour on a jelly/jello mix, wait for it to set in a fridge then add some cold custard on top for a quick and simple trifle.

This was a fun little project to do, and I clearly need to work on my piping skills lol, but with the extra work with doing the icing covering and colouring piping details, the great reaction that was received by everyone and especially my friends was definitely worth while. I know others have made similar R2-D2 cakes, but I hope you enjoyed my take on my mini R2-D2 birthday cakes and I hope you give it a go yourself. Thanks for reading.

Happy making.