Last year, my daughter asked for a Star Wars birthday party. Even though she likes brownies and not cake, she always wants a themed cake as well as her brownies. I will often purchase the cake, but last year all of the cakes that I found in the stores were Clone Wars themed which she did not want.
When I searched Pinterest, I found several ideas for Light Saber Cakes. I was intrigued. Even better, I could combine my daughter’s requested brownies into the cake as the handles for the lightsabers.
Bake Your Cake & Brownies
To start, I baked a 13×9 sheet cake and a 9×9 pan of brownies. I used a box cake mix for the cake and my homemade brownie recipe. When making your brownies, make sure you use a recipe that is sized for a 9×9 pan. I used a recipe that I had previously used in a 13×9 pan and it did not bake well in the 9×9 pan since it was thicker. Next time, I would either use a box mix for a 9×9 pan or make a 13×9 pan and not use all of the brownies in the handles of the light sabers.
Assemble the Lightsaber Cake
You will need to find a long board to hold your cakes (each light saber is ~22″ long). I have a scrap of paneling from our family room built-in entertainment center that is the perfect length. I covered it in wax paper and two layers of foil. You could also use sturdy cardboard as your base.
Allow the cake and brownies to cool completely before cutting them. To make the blades of the lightsaber, slice your 13×9 cake into 3 strips that are 13″ long and approximately 3″ wide each. Slice the brownies into 3 strips that are 3″ wide and 9″ long. These will be the hilts of the lightsabers.
Decorate your Lightsaber Cake
Once your cake and brownies are baked, allow them to cool completely. Select your light saber colors (my daughter chose red, blue, and green). I asked about a purple for Mace Windu, but she wanted the red, blue, and green.
I made a batch and a half of homemade buttercream icing following the Domino Sugar recipe. You could also use any white based icing including store-bought would work. I split my icing into 3 equal amounts for the lightsaber blades and two smaller amounts (black and white) to decorate the hilts of the lightsabers. To dye my icing, I purchased the Wilton gel colors in red, green, and black. I used standard food coloring for the blue. The gel coloring will allow you to obtain more vibrant colors without using so much food coloring that you alter the taste and consistency of your icing. (Tip: Use the black gel very sparingly.)
Frost each cake section (tip: Freeze the cake sections for up to 30 minutes to reduce crumbling of the cut edges as you ice them). I find it easiest to frost one side and the top before placing them in position on the board. For the two that have a non-cut edge, I find it easiest for this to be the last side to frost as it does not crumble as much as the cut size.
Place the brownies on the board. Use a small amount of icing under the brownie to anchor them in place. When I looked at my daughter’s light sabers I noticed they all had different designs on the hilt, so I used a variety of Xs, stripes, etc in black. I also used a little bit of white at the base and to form the button.
Finally, I added “Happy 8th Birthday” in icing writing on the board below the light sabers. Trust me, this is why you want your brownies anchored…I didn’t anchor them with icing and they slid into my writing as soon as I moved the cake. Fortunately I moved it right away and still had icing to redo the writing.
Serving the Cake
The cake was a big hit! The kids who prefer cake got cake, those who preferred brownies got brownies. I also loved the cake because it was very easy to serve. Since it had already been sliced in thirds, the cake was very easy to cut into slices and serve. With 13 kids and some parents, the cake was almost completely gone. It is a good thing that I had both the cake and brownie.
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