Rocket Ship Cake Recipes

ROCKET SHIP CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter a 9-by-13-inch baking pan. Line bottom with parchment or waxed paper; butter lining. Dust with flour; tap out excess. Set aside.
• Sift together flour, baking powder, and salt into a medium bowl; set aside. Stir together milk and vanilla in a small bowl; set aside. Put butter in the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment; beat on medium speed until creamy, about 2 minutes. Add sugar in a slow, steady stream; mix until pale and fluffy, scraping down sides of bowl as needed, about 3 minutes.
• Reduce speed to low; add flour mixture in 3 batches, alternating with the milk mixture and beginning and ending with the flour (do not overmix). Set aside.
• Beat egg whites in the clean bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the whisk attachment until stiff peaks form. Fold one-third of whites into batter. Fold in remaining whites in 2 batches.
• Pour batter into prepared pan, and smooth with an offset spatula. Bake until cake is springy to the touch and a cake tester inserted into center comes out clean, 35 to 40 minutes. Let cake cool in pan on a wire rack 15 minutes. Run a knife around sides of cake to loosen; invert onto wire rack. Reinvert cake; let cool completely, right-side up, before decorating. (Cooled cake can be frozen, wrapped in plastic wrap, up to 2 days.)
• With a serrated knife, trim top of cake to make it flat. Halve cake horizontally to make 2 layers. Spread 1 cup buttercream over bottom layer; place second layer back on top. Cut cake into components using template. Arrange on a platter or foil-covered board to form rocket shape. If desired, cut board slightly larger than assembled cake shape before wrapping in foil.
• Spread 1 1/4 cups buttercream in a thin layer over entire cake; refrigerate until firm, about 20 minutes. Meanwhile, prepare buttercream for decorating. Assemble 5 pastry bags with couplers. Tint 3/4 cup buttercream each red and blue, and 1/2 cup gray; transfer each to a pastry bag. Fill another bag with 1/4 cup each red, orange, and yellow buttercream; fit with an Ateco #233 multi-hole tip. Fill last bag with 1/2 cup plain buttercream.
• Frost cake with a smooth layer of buttercream. Fit gray bag with an Ateco #4 plain tip; outline rocket. Add designs: a filled-in nose, a round window, or the outline of a flag. Sprinkle rocket nose, bottom, and window with sanding sugar.
• Fit red, white, and blue bags with Ateco #18 star tips; pipe stripes. Use an Ateco #16 star tip for flag. Pipe a white star border around bottom edge of cake. For letters, use an Ateco #8 plain tip. Pipe "flames" out of bottom of rocket using bag of multicolored buttercream. If desired, attach figurine with licorice. Chill until ready to serve, up to 4 hours.

ROCKET SHIP CAKE

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 350ºF (180ºC).
• Grease sides of 13-x 9-inch (3.5 L) cake pan; line bottom with parchment or waxed paper. Set aside.
• In large bowl, beat eggs with brown and granulated sugars until light. Beat in oil in thin steady stream. Combine flour, baking powder, cinnamon, baking soda and nutmeg; stir into egg mixture. Stir in carrots. Spoon into prepared pan. Bake in oven for about 45 minutes or until cake tester inserted in centre comes out clean. Let cool in pan on rack for 15 minutes. Invert onto rack; let cool completely. Remove paper.
• Cut cake in half crosswise to make two equal rectangles. Trim long sides of 1 half to curve to point. Place halves on cake board with short ends together to form body of rocket. Place trimmings on side of cake toward bottom to form rocket fins.
• With 3-inch (8 cm) round cookie cutter, cut out circle from top half of rocket; trim to half-moon shape. Set cutout at upper corner of cake board; frost with white icing, pressing with back of spoon to make craters. With pencil, trace circle in rocket. Lift top half of rocket from board; place photo of birthday child on marked circle. Replace rocket top so photo is visible.
• Divide remaining icing among small bowls and tint with food colouring if desired. Frost top and sides of rocket. Decorate with candies as desired.
• In bowl, beat cream cheese until fluffy; beat in icing sugar, 1 cup (250 mL) at a time, until smooth. Beat in vanilla.