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How to Make a Star Wars BB-8 Cake for a Star Wars birthday party

How to make an easy BB-8 Birthday Cake for a Star Wars birthday party

Here’s an easy BB8 cake for a Star Wars birthday party that even beginners like me can make. Just print out my free BB-8 pattern below and follow the easy steps below to make your own adorable astromech droid.

DIY BB-8 birthday cake using a 3D ball pan

Holding DIY Star Wars birthday cake - BB-8

An easy BB-8 birthday cake to make at home

BB-8 is the super cute new droid in town. My daughter Elise really loves Star Wars (like me!) and even though she’s only 6-years-old she’s seen the first six Star Wars movies and is excited about Star Wars: The Force Awakens. Originally she wanted an R2-D2 birthday cake. Hmm. That sounded tricky. I suggested a BB-8 birthday cake because I saw this BB-8 cake on pinterest and thought that a BB-8 birthday cake could be pretty do-able for an amateur baker like me. And you know what? This BB-8 birthday cake was super easy to make!

Read more: ‘Star Wars Return of the Birthday party theme in lightsaber colors’ »

BB-8 cake for a Star Wars Birthday Party using a 3D ball pan

You may remember my little cheater method from the Buzz Lightyear cake that I made for Elise’s third birthday. This time I used some tasty fondant instead of chocolate candy clay but the process is basically the same. I’ll show you how to decorate this cutie BB-8 birthday cake in just one evening (hooray!).

Girl looking at BB-8 birthday cake

OK, so I’m not going to show you how to make a perfect BB-8 cake. My cakes are never perfect. If you want perfect, then go make this cake. Yes, I made BB-8’s little head a little too big, and the black should be a lighter gray. Don’t fret. I’ll explain below how you can fix the proportions on your cake and make the proper colors so your cake will look even better than mine.

Close-up of a BB-8 birthday cake with fondant and buttercream

I’m telling you, make your own birthday cakes. Just do it. Chicago is filled with posh bakeries with super talented bakers but I think it’s really important to make my kids’ birthday cakes, just like my mom used to make mine in the ’70s …when I was a 6-year-old girl who loved Star Wars.

1970s girls birthday party with cake and candles

And while there’s no danger of me becoming a professional baker I’m really happy with how the BB-8 Star Wars birthday cake turned out …and better yet, Elise and her fellow Padawans loved it.

Girl holding her BB-8 Star Wars birthday cake

This BB-8 birthday cake serves a lot more people than you would think.

Cutting a Star Wars 3D BB-8 birthday cake

I also made some Star Wars cupcakes with free printable Star Wars cupcake toppers to go along with the BB-8 cake but we didn’t really need them. We had 20 kids and adults and I ended up sending cupcakes home with guests as party treats.

Star Wars cupcakes, BB-8 cake, and birthday banner

OK, my little Padawan: Now make a wish!

Blowing out candles on a Star Wars birthday cake


WANNA MAKE IT? Keep reading to see how to make an easy BB-8 birthday cake for a Star Wars birthday party –>

How to make an easy BB-8 birthday cake for a Star Wars birthday party:

First off, let’s talk about planning ahead. You can make this cake all in one day if you need to. However, I think it’s a lot less stressful to spread it out a little bit like this:

Day 1 (or up to a month before): Bake cakes – I used the Cakegirls vanilla recipe, cool, wrap in plastic wrap and freeze
Day 2: Make icing – I use the Cakegirls buttercream recipe; Color fondant in light gray, black and orange (if you didn’t purchase fondant in these colors)
Day 3: Ice cakes and decorate like BB-8

I combined days 2-3. Do what you can to take off some stress.

Step 1: Bake your ball cakes

OK, let’s bake! Once again I used the Cakegirls vanilla cake recipe. It’s bakery quality and isn’t super sweet like grocery store cakes. Or you can just use a box cake mix to save time.

Put shortening on each half of the round ball pan, and then dust some flour in it. Or you can use Baker’s Joy. Just put enough on it to keep the cakes from sticking. Put the two baking rings on a half-sheet pan and balance the cake pans on top so they’re even. Put 2.5 cups of batter into each half like so…

Pouring cake batter into a 3D ball pan

Make sure they’re level, pop them into the oven and bake for 25-30 minutes; test with a toothpick to make sure they’re done and if not, bake for 5 more minutes and check again. Let them cool 15 minutes in the pan, then flip them onto a wire cooling rack. Let them cool completely on the wire rack, at least one hour. Now here’s where I stopped on Day 1. I carefully wrapped the cakes in two layers of plastic wrap and put them in the fridge. Then when you’re ready to decorate, take them out of the freezer and unwrap. 

BB-8 birthday cake cooling on wire rack

Step 2: Make the BB-8 head shape from cake

Cut one ball into two pieces with a serrated knife at about 1/3 to 1/2 of the ball to make the BB-8 head.

How to cut a 3D ball pan into a BB-8 head

Put some icing on the bottom of the cake to stick it to the cake board.

Putting buttercream icing on a BB-8 cake

Now my head was a bit too big for BB-8’s body. You can shave BB-8’s head down with a serrated knife to make it smaller. My professional baking friend Mary told me to do this and I skipped it but I think you should do it to make the head a little bit smaller.

DIY BB-8 birthday cake using a 3D ball pan

Step 3: Ice the BB-8 cake with buttercream frosting

Ice the BB-8 cake. After letting the icing sit, it forms a light crust and you can use a paper towel to smooth the icing.

How to smooth icing on a Star Wars BB-8 cake

Step 4: Add fondant decorations using my free template

Now comes the fun part: adding the BB-8 decorations! Roll out the fondant thin and put the template on top and cut it. Or you can just free-hand it.

Cutting fondant for a BB-8 cake

Add the fondant shapes to the BB-8 cake.

Decorating a Star Wars BB-8 cake with fondant

Color the fondant using food coloring. I used way too much black! Just use a tiny bit because you can always add more color.

How to color fondant

Step 4: Add BB-8’s eye and other pieces

Roll it out to cut out BB-8’s eyes and other pieces.

Cutting fondant for a BB-8 birthday cake

Trim up the BB-8 fondant cake decorations with a knife.

Decorating a BB-8 birthday cake with fondant

Roll out the orange fondant and cut a thin piece to decorate BB-8’s head.

Decorating a BB-8 Star Wars birthday cake

Step 5: Add blue accents to the cake

Put a little blue fondant onto BB-8’s head. I also added a fondant letter E for Elise.

BB-8 Star Wars birthday cake

The BB-8 birthday cake fit right into Elise’s 6th birthday party theme: Star Wars IV: Return of the Birthday with the Star Wars lightsaber colors red, blue, green purple …plus a little yellow because I like it.

Easy Star Wars BB-8 birthday cake

Where to put the candle?? I rolled some of the extra fondant into a ball, put it on the cake board and then squished the candle into it. The candle stayed put!

Blowing out candles on a Star Wars birthday cake

I love how this BB-8 birthday cake has a little 3-D rounded head and tummy.

Easy 3D BB-8 Star Wars birthday cake

And is oh so very, very yummy…

Eating a Star Wars birthday cake

And just like that, the BB-8 birthday cake is a long time ago in a galaxy far, far away….

Eating a Star Wars BB-8 birthday cake

++++++

Pin my easy BB-8 birthday cake for a Star Wars birthday party

How to make an easy Star Wars BB-8 birthday cake

The kids loved this easy BB-8 birthday cake, and he tasted delicious!

How to make an easy Star Wars BB-8 birthday cake

Use the Force to see more DIY Star Wars birthday party ideas like these:

 

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LexieCarroll

Friday 30th of December 2016

Hi, what diameter ball cake pan did you use?

Kathy

Friday 30th of December 2016

Hi Lexie, I used the hemisphere sport ball pan from Cakegirls. Here's the short link (this is not an affiliate link; I just like the ladies at Cakegirls): https://www.merrimentdesign.com/ball-cake-pan

The pan has two 6" diameter half-circles. I used one for his little tummy and cut the other one for his head. Like I said in the instructions, you can shave the head down more for a closer proportion to the real BB-8. May the force be with you!

Jennifer

Thursday 21st of April 2016

Thanks for posting. I'm making this for 10-year-old boys, so I think I'll pop BB-8 on top of a sheet cake below so we have more cake! I'm a little worried about cutting out the fondant shapes (orange and black) bc I'm not very artistic, but I'll give it a try!!

Kathy Beymer

Sunday 24th of April 2016

Hi Jennifer, I hadn't thought about putting BB-8 on top of a sheet cake below - that's smart! I have a tip for cutting out the fondant shapes - check out my Buzz Lightyear post about cutting out puzzle pieces and cutting out around them with a knife, and also using wax paper on top of a pattern. For Buzz, I used candy clay but it's the same idea as fondant, and I think that these techniques make it a lot easier. Let me know how it goes! https://www.merrimentdesign.com/easy-buzz-lightyear-toy-story-birthday-cake-idea-for-beginners-like-me.php

Vimukti Goswami

Thursday 3rd of March 2016

Hello Kathy! I love the wonderful BB8 cake you made for birthday, it looks very easy to make and perfect for all age group. I would love to share my version of BB8 cake here is the link http://vscake.com/how-to-make-bb-8-star-wars-cake-step-by-step-instructions/

Kathy Beymer

Monday 7th of March 2016

Thanks for sharing, Vimukuti! I love your BB-8 cake - I just pinned it. Thanks for sharing!

Amy

Tuesday 23rd of February 2016

You are awesome! I will need it for his party on Saturday. Thank you so much!

Amy

Saturday 20th of February 2016

I was mainly looking at the hunting, I would love it if you had a file for it!

Kathy Beymer

Monday 22nd of February 2016

Sure, I'll get the bunting up. When do you need it?