Maul Star Wars Cake

Happy Revenge of the Fifth day!

Today it’s all about the SITH! And since I baked an Ahsoka Tano Star Wars drip cake for May the Fourth, it seemed only appropriate to bake a Maul cake for today.

As I’ve been watching the final season of The Clone Wars on Disney+, one of my favorite moments has been the battle between Maul and Ahsoka. And what better way to honor that than with CAKE?!

Inspiration…

CAKE REALITY…

Darth Maul Cake — A Star Wars Cake

What You Need:

CAKE

Three 6-inch circular cakes (I went with chocolate)

BUTTERCREAM ICING

4 sticks of salted butter, room temperature
2 lbs. of powder sugar (1 bag), sifted
2 tsp. of vanilla extract
3-5 tbsp. milk

DECORATING TOOLS

Food gel coloring — red, black
Bugles
Angled spatula
Icing bag
Icing coupler
Icing tip — medium star tip
Serrated knife
6-inch cake board
Cake spinner
Icing scraper
Maul design template — ACCESS IT HERE

Prepare and bake three 6-inch circular cakes — you choose the flavor! I went with a chocolate!

CAKE BAKING TIPS: Grease your cake pans and then sprinkle flour all over the surface. Next, cut out a circular piece of parchment paper and lay it on the base of the pan before pouring the batter into the pans. These steps will help your cakes slide right out of the pan once they cool.

Once your cakes are out of the oven, set them aside to cool. Then, using a serrated knife, level off the top of the cake, if needed.

Before you begin to ice your cooled cakes, place your cake on a cake board and a cake spinner.

Next, it’s time to prepare your buttercream icing.

Using a stand or hand mixer, beat your softened butter until fluffy and creamy (this is an important step!). Then, add vanilla and and a tablespoon or so of milk. Mix, then add half of your powdered sugar. Add the remaining milk and powdered sugar, and mix until incorporated. (I let my stand mixer go for several minutes until the buttercream mixture is creamy). Taste test to be sure it’s perfect!

Set aside a small bowl of icing and color it with black food coloring. With the remaining majority of icing, color it with red food coloring. Just a warning — you will likely need A LOT of red food coloring to match a deep red. I used at least 2 tubes of red food coloring to match this color.

Next, add a red buttercream crumb coat to your cakes. Place your first cake on top of your cake board and add a generous amount of icing to the top of it. Then, using your angled spatula, smooth the icing out across the top of the first cake.

Once your icing is smooth and even, place your second cake on top. Repeat the process, adding a layer of icing to the top of the second cake. Spread the icing across the top of the second cake with your angled spatula and spread the excess icing over the edge of the cake. Repeat process for your third cake, smoothing the top buttercream layer.

Add more red buttercream around the edge of your cake. Then, using your angled spatula, smooth the icing around your cake.

Next, place your cake in the fridge to chill for 20 minutes.

Once your cake has had a chance to chill, add an additional red buttercream layer to the cake. Smooth with your angled spatula and return your cake to the fridge for an additional 10-20 minutes.

Remove your cake from the fridge, and use your icing scraper to get that extra smooth buttercream surface. Tip! Run your icing scraper under hot water for a few seconds and then dry it off prior to using it to smooth your buttercream. This will help your icing be extra smooth.

Return your cake to the fridge for an additional 10-20 minutes to chill. This is an important step I neglected, and because of it, my stenciling in the next step was a bit trickier than I expected.

Next, add your Maul design (access in the list above) to the front of your cake with black buttercream. Remove your cake from the fridge. Take your Maul design stencil, cut out on a piece of card stock paper, and carefully press it to the middle of the front of your cake. Use a knife to spread black buttercream over the opening of the stencil, then carefully remove the stencil to reveal your Maul design left on your cake. In order to all the Maul stencil to be one piece, there are a few areas around the eyes where you will need to connect the sides with black icing.

After you remove your stencil, if any of your icing was disturbed like mine was, feel free to use a knife to carefully smooth in areas or add more icing.

Before proceeding with the final decorations, carefully transfer your cake to your final cake plate or cake stand, if desired.

Next, it’s time to add Maul’s horns — the Bugles! Using an icing bag with your star tip, add small mounds of icing around the top of the cake where Maul’s horns will be. Referencing a photo I found of Maul, I added 7 horns around the perimeter of the cake and one in the center. (Note, Maul also has two horns on the side of his head, but for the design of my cake, I chose not to add them.)

For each mounding of icing added, stick a Bugle in the center for his horns.