Avenger's Cake: What's it worth to you?

I have always enjoyed searching for new and exciting recipes and ever since being a mom, finding that perfect DIY how-to for cakes that impress.

My son, my delightful firstborn, has turned eight and we are eagerly anticipating his party.  In preparation, since we are living with my in-laws, I have begun work on it quite early to ensure maximum success with minimal interruption or being in the way of a herd passing through the kitchen or random items being thrown on the counter space I find so vital during these things.

The process began when my son chose to have an Avenger's cake.  Then came the research on my part for a cake that was equally "cool," but also doable for my limited skills.  It was nearly instantaneous...Sunshine and Summer Breeze blog.  It looked really neat and all the other moms would be jealous with envy at my skills, while also being so. totally. simple.

According to Michelle, the super-blogger mom who gave a blow-by-blow on how to make this cake the first step was finding a picture to copy.  She happened across a coloring book page (how fortuitous!).  My search was not that easy.  I spent hours... days searching for a picture that would be easy enough to follow.  The black outline couldn't be too detailed because after all we're dealing with frosting, but the choices found on Google picture were everything from glossy pictures from movies and the professional renderings of comic book artists (which were beyond my skill) to crude child-like drawings which would have made me the laughingstock of all the moms (and my beloved husband).  I had to find just the right combination of elements... and I did.

Now, our super-blogger mom touted the glories of how cheap this cake was (less than $5).  And I'm sure it was for her because she used cake mix and frosting from a can (blech!).  I pride myself on homemade deliciousness... not the easy way.  Mine was still pretty cheap considering I made a chocolate cake with peanut butter frosting and the decoration is made from homemade buttercream frosting (less than $10).

On Monday, I made the two cakes.  Yes, two.  I used a 9x13 glass dish because my son invited around 30 people to join him at his celebration.  Chocolate cakes with added cocoa powder for richness.  Yum.  And then put them in the freezer to wait until Saturday.

Tuesday, my beloved husband helped me out by coloring the picture I had chosen (since I am not familiar enough with the characters to do it myself... it would have taken an inordinate amount of time) and he even used his computer to make the picture larger than it was... that is an important detail to note for later.

Wednesday, I was busy... so I did nothing concerning the cake.

Thursday was the day I set aside to work on the decoration portion of the cake.  I had purchased a $4 cake platter from Walmart since I didn't have one that would fit a two-layer 13x9 cake, so I used this as my "cardboard" and taped the picture onto it.  Michelle uses wax paper, but in the comments on her page, someone mentioned plastic wrap being much easier to peel off at the end; so I used plastic wrap making sure it was pulled taut from every direction and taped it securely.

I made two batches of buttercream frosting and tinted a large dollop with the gel colors I found in the baking aisle (I guess the drops are way outdated now).  It took a little while for the color to go from grey or steel to black.  One of the difficulties of living in my in-laws is that I don't have any of my kitchen tools to use, so I went with Michelle's way (the plastic bag with a tiny slit in the corner).  In theory, that method should work, but I encountered a few issues.

Even with the outstanding job my husband did of enlarging the picture, some of the lines were still too thin and detailed (like the A on Captain America's helmet and the detail lines on Iron Man's arms).  Otherwise, minus the newbie mishaps like air pockets in the bag and smearing fresh lines with my arms, it turned out fairly well.

As Michelle progresses her tutorial, she explains how to "color in" the different sections with colors. This is where it got dicey.  As I worked on coloring in the upper portions of the picture, my arm naturally got tired, so I rested it down.  But then I noticed my arm felt a little moist and sticky.  I had rubbed off part of Hulk's arm and leg!!

Another difficulty I faced was making sure I colored in all the areas for one color before moving on. The next photo you will notice one of my goofs... I forgot to fill in Captain America's face and I had to re-tint more frosting after the fact (along with two other sections you likely won't notice because they're so small).

I thought I was in the home stretch and so excited about being nearly done.  But the worst was yet to come.  I decided to do red first.  After getting over the pink stage, I got a semi-decent red (my husband says I'm being too picky; but I think it's still too muted).  I eagerly colored in the red portions of Captain American and then moved on to Iron Man.... but in my haste, I rubbed out Hulk's arm and leg... again!  Off to make more black to redo it.

But no worries. Next came blue.  It turned an ugly teal.  I tried to darken it, but it still looks too bright (maybe more picky-ness?).  As I was coloring in Hulk's pants, one of those ugly air bubbles got out of control and a blob of blue buttercream bubbled out of the bag (my son would love my use of alliteration!) and fell right onto Hulk's body.  More rubbing out and re-doing the black outline.

By the time I reached the green, I was desperate to finish.  No longer was I carefully filling the space.  I was squeezing that bag as hard as I could and minimally directing it into place and smudging it into the cracks.  By all appearances, however, it looks pretty good. One tip I got from Michelle's comments was to use a knife to smooth the back.

 It has been in the freezer for about 8 hours and I practiced peeling off a corner of the plastic and it came off cleanly.

The finished product came out very nicely... though I must say for all the comments on Michelle's blog about being able to maneuver it into place, that didn't work for me.  I nearly decapitated Capt. America since it thawed immediately upon contact with the fresh frosting on the cake.

Thanks to Michelle.  For all my griping, she really does have an ingenious method.  Maybe all my troubles are just mine because I'm simply not that good at all this crafty stuff.

Until next time... decide what your children are worth to you and aim higher than you think you are able.  The results may surprise you!