Saturday 23 February 2013

DIY Portal 2 Cake

Sprout's wish for his 7th birthday - a Portal 2 cake! So, inspired by this epic piece of cakery, I set to work :)

I started by digging out a corkboard I've had for ages just waiting for a good use, and cutting two pieces of cardboard the same size as it. I also ordered two 1 metre neon lights, one in orange and one in sky blue.

I then cut two portal ovals in both pieces of cardboard, and then an oval slightly smaller for each hole so that it left a slight channel when put in place. I put the lights in to the channels, and ran the two ends under the cardboard  so that the battery packs/switches were at the side, then I glued all the cardboard onto the corkboard.


I then covered the two ovals with baking parchment to diffuse the light a bit, and taped the battery packs down onto the side of the board.


I sprayed the edges of the corkboard, the (tape-covered) battery packs, and the second piece of cardboard with silver paint, and glued the cardboard in place. After covering the second two ovals with scenes printed from the game, I covered them in cling film and glued them down too. Then I covered the battery packs with a small piece of card with a companion cube print out on it, and also printed a 'the cake is a lie' graphic and glued that on one corner.


I made a double batch of this chocolate Victoria sponge, divided between four cake tins. After stacking them together with chocolate buttercream I cut the cake top to bottom on a slant, secured each of the two pieces with a couple of plastic cake dowels (I used the 8 inch ones from here snapped in half) to stop the layers sliding off each other when it was all tipped up, then covered both in chocolate buttercream. (I used ready made buttercream as I was running short of time, for an idea of quantities needed I used almost two of these tubs in total).


I sprinkled both pieces with chocolate sprinkles (two of these tubs in total) and patted them into the icing so they didn't fall off. 


I popped eight squirts of extra thick cream round the edge, although if I made this again I'd pipe it with vanilla buttercream instead and the cream lost it's puffiness really quickly and by party time was looking very sorry for itself. I pushed a cocktail stick into the centre of each swirl of cream, leaving the point just sticking out, and then pushed a glacĂ© cherry onto each one. Using a spatula I then really carefully lifted the two pieces onto the portals, ensuring the second one was the correct way round as if it was coming through the portal. 

Then candles in place, lights switched on, and voila!


Summary of ingredients/materials needed

One large board
Two pieces of cardboard as big as the board
Craft knife
Glue
Silver spray paint
Two 1m neon rope lights (one orange, one blue)
Baking parchment or similar
Cling film
Adhesive tape
Print offs - Two background scenes from Portal 2, one companion cube, one 'cake is a lie' graphic
300g butter
300g caster sugar
220g self raising flour
80g cocoa powder
6 eggs
2 x 450g tubs chocolate buttercream
2 x 65g tubs chocolate sprinkles
Vanilla buttercream for piping (Or extra thick aerosol cream at a push)
Cocktail sticks
8 glacĂ© cherries
Candles and holders


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