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Back in February, I introduced you to possibly the best R2-D2 cake ever, created by my friend and professional baker, Mark Randazzo, who just started up a new bakery, Mark Joseph Cakes. Turns out I wasn’t the only one amazed by this creation. The post drew the attention of BoingBoing, Gizmodo, Elite Choice, and many others. While I loved the traffic, I was even happier that Mark and his wife Leslie, who both run the bakery, got so much exposure. I told them that the next time they make an R2-D2 cake, they have to take more pictures for me to post about.
Well, thanks to the Internet buzz, it wasn’t long before someone came calling. Mark once again whipped up an extraordinary R2-D2 cake, which had to have blown away the four year old birthday boy who received it. Even better, judging by the photos, it appears as though R2 is really one giant red velvet cake with RICE KRISPY TREAT LEGS. I want one. Now.
Whether you’re a Star Wars enthusiast or simply a lover of cake, you have to see this.

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Auspicious beginnings: Mark bakes several rounds of cake. I have to assume it’s red velvet cake based on the color.

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The stacking begins. The bowl of frosting is both a) making me salivate, and b) confirming my red velvet cake suspicions.

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Could you even imagine a red velvet cake so tall? This alone would be worth price of admission.

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It gets taller! Actually, there’s a method to this madness. Notice the separator after the top four slices? Everything above it will be the rounded head.

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Voila!

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Now the head is removed. You can see poles used to keep the stack upright.

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More frosting…

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I think this is fondant that’s now been wrapped around the cake. Don’t hold me to it though.

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Top and bottom reunited. Looks like a little trash pail.

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Time for the legs. Mark cuts them out of Rice Krispy Treat blocks.

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Before.

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After.

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Voila part II.

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Deconstructed again.

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With the sizes and proportions up to par, it’s time to start the detail work.

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Crazy, right? This is what separates the men from the boys.

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Further detail work.

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Now the “torso” gets the special treatment. All edible, mind you.

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Nearing completion…

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Almost there…

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Success!

So now you have photographic proof that yes, the R2-D2 cake is actually cake. Mark is amazingly talented, and if you live in the New York City area, you should seriously consider speaking with him if you need a cake. This isn’t just a gushy friend speaking. He’s really excellent at what he does. He’s even been on the Food Network’s Extreme Cake Challenge where he and his then boss created a giant monkey cake with fireworks. It was awesome (and they won).
Anyway, for more information on Mark Joseph Cakes, check out his site here. And if you get a cake from there, take pictures and send them along!
UPDATE: Here are the goods from Mark and Leslie about what’s inside the cake: “The whole thing is layers of red velvet cake with white chocolate ganache and chocolate hazelnut buttercream filling throughout. And yes, the rice krispy treat arms.”
UPDATE II: Here are photos from the birthday party where R2 was lovingly consumed.
PS: If this is your first time at the site, welcome! Feel free to click around, and hopefully you’ll find more stuff to amuse you!

81 replies on “Making The Most Amazing R2-D2 Cake Ever”

  1. Wow I was so impressed with this cake. I was trawling through the internet looking for Star Wars Cakes Ideas for my sons birthday and found this so I decided to have a go!! It turned out really well and am very pleased I would love to send you a photo??

  5. Wow! Not only is the cake AMAZING, but how very generous of Mark to share his knowledge about how to make it!!!

  6. What a cool cake , I am a cake decorator in Australia and absolutely am blown away by this R2D2 , I am now nearly embarrassed to call myself a cake decorator

    Mark your stuff is stunning and perfect clean lines every time , your wedding cakes are divine

    Cheers
    Suzy

  7. Thank you so much for the inspiration. We attempted this last weekend, whilst we didn’t have the time to do as much detail work as we would have liked we thought it came out nicely.

    Added a Star Wars noise making keyring so that R2D2 could beep and whistle. Great fun and a big hit at the party!

    Thanks for the step by step instructions they were invaluable 🙂

  9. This is perfect for my DS’s 4th birthday. I always have to make his cakes because of allergies (nuts) so this should be a challenge. I love the step by step you gave how generous! And RC treats for the legs…brilliant! But alas, I have NO IDEA how to get white chocolate fondant to look like that! I’m such a rookie and mine turned into a yellowish mess instead of the brilliant white shown here. Anyone got any suggestions? I am very limited with what chocolate I can get because of his nut allergy.

    If nothing else I guess I can try out fondant and do it that way, but the smoothness on the legs especially makes me want to try the ganache method!

  10. This is amazing! I’m a cake decorator and I dont think i could ever make cake look so precise… Oh and by the way, those cakes had NOT had fondant yet, just a second perfect layer of frosting. So perfect it LOOKS like fondant!

  11. This droid bears a great resemblance to R2D2 but is obviously not artoo, he more closely resembles R4-P17, Obi-Wan Kenobi’s astromech droid but has the reverse coloring, red on white and chrome rather than R4’s chrome on red. It is unclear if this is an R2 or R4-P series droid.

    Yes, I am a huge freaking geek. And no, the mis-identification of this cake makes it no less fantastic and impressive.

  12. My 10 year old was thinking the same thing as Hannah, It should probably have been called R4 for Obi-Wan’s droid…he is a little bit of a Star Wars geek too…and already asking for the cake.

  18. amazing!!! why is it red? it seems like a really big effort, I presume its red on purpose but is there any particular reason?

  19. You should set up a booth at Dragon Con and sell R2D2 Cake Instructions for $5 bucks a pop.. you would sell out! haha this cake is awesome..

    Now if you could just make the holographic image of Princess Lea coming out of its camera on the front… that would just put this cake into the upper stratosphere..

  20. Здравствуйте, у Вас такие дивные тортики и все безумно аккуратные. Я просто в восторге! Подскажите, пожалуйста, как добиться насыщенного серебряного цвета (как у Вас на роботе, например)? Я понимаю, что для этого используется кондурин. Но когда я крашу – цвет еле заметен. И мне нужно машину сделать серебряную, Ñ‚.е. покрасить мастику, которой покрываю торт, а не фигурки. Заранее спасибо!

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