Mike Wazowski from Monster’s Inc Birthday Cake

Each year around mid-August when I was a child, I would start pestering my Grandma to let me look at her cake recipe books to choose a birthday cake which she would then make for me. I was very lucky, she used to make wedding cakes for people and was very talented at sugar craft, I can still remember the perfect little roses made of icing that were all the rage on wedding cakes in the 1980’s. My Grandma is in her late 80’s now and unfortunately cant make amazing cakes anymore. When I say, amazing, that is exactly what I mean. From the Little Old Woman who Lived in a Shoe, to the Hickory Dickory Dock cake complete with marzipan mouse that I requested two or three birthdays, it was always so exciting and almost a given that I would have a special birthday cake.

My eldest is a big 5 this year, and of course I wanted to make a special cake. I’m not particularly good at icing, so I was very nervous. I saw some Mike Wazowski cakes on pinterest, and liked the fact that it was round, so easy to shape, and one main colour so I might be able to decorate easily. On my friend’s advice I bought ready to roll lime icing and that made the job a lot easier. I also saw online how some people had marbled the inside of a Monsters Inc. cake to look like Sully, i.e. teal and purple. I fell in love with the look of the marble cake in my two favourite colours, so decided to give it a try.

For the cake recipe I used the same dairy free sponge I used last year, see post here, with a few tweaks to marble the sponge.

Ingredients:

380g /12 oz. stork margarine
380g /12 oz.  caster sugar
6 eggs, beaten
380g /12 oz. sieved self-rising flour
Blue food colouring
Red food colouring

8. Add red and blue colouring to the other mixture until it looks a purple colour.

9. Using 2 similar sized spoons (one for each colour), put a spoon of purple mixture into each cake tin, then put a spoon of teal mixture on top. Repeat this until all the mixture is used. Do not shake tin or mix at all.

12. Allow to cool completely before icing.

Buttercream Icing:

• Beat the margarine until soft. Add half of the icing sugar and beat until smooth.
• Add the rest of the icing sugar and one tablespoon of water and beat the mixture until creamy and smooth. Add more water/soya milk if necessary.
• Stir in the food colouring until well mixed through.
• Slice the risen bit of the bottom layer off so it is flat. Keep that piece to one side.
• Ice the cake using a palette knife (if you have one) or spatula.
• Trim the set aside piece to about 4 inch diameter and place it on top of the cake to make the eye.

Fondant Icing:

• Knead ready to roll icing together so it is smooth.

• Spread some icing sugar on the counter and roll out the icing until it is about 7mm thick.
• Roll it back on the rolling pin and drape it over the cake.
• Smooth it around the edges and use a knife to trim away the excess.
• Use some of the left over icing to shape the mouth.
• Roll out some white icing to 4 inches diameter and put it over the raised bit of cake as the eye. Then put a 2 inch diameter lime green circle on top of the white.

  

• Use melted dark chocolate to fill in mouth area and make a small circle within green icing of eye to for pupil of eye. A dairy free chocolate button, or round liquorice might be better for the eye.
• While chocolate still hot, use mini marshmallows, or cut up marshmallows to make the teeth. I made a slightly scary version of Mike Wazowski but you can make him more smiley if you wish.