Little Einsteins Rocket Birthday Cake
November 11, 2006 by Andrea 
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Filed under Dessert
My husband’s family has a fun tradition for birthdays. His brothers make birthday cakes for their children, but they aren’t the average sheet cake with plastic decorations on top. The cakes are three dimensional creations and have included a flying Superman cake (yes, he really flew) and an R2D2 cake complete with a top that swiveled. So of course Michael wanted to join in the fun making cakes for our children.
When our first child turned one year old, Michael decided to start simple using an Elmo cake pan by Wilton. He learned how to make stars and how to use the different tools. For the second birthday, he made a Blue’s Clues cake using another Wilton pan. Elmo and Blue are now traditions for the first and second birthday for all of our boys.
By the third birthday, he was ready to design freestyle cakes, so last year he made an Island of Sodor cake complete with a train track made from fig newtons and pretzels, a mountain made from an ice cream cone, and a waterfall. Everything on the cake was completely edible, except for Thomas himself. The boys loved it!
Six months ago, Michael began planning for the fourth birthday cake. He knew that he wanted to do something from The Little Einsteins, and since he’s an aerospace engineer he thought making Rocket would be pretty fun. So last Friday the boys and I made the cakes and Michael spent that night building and decorating Rocket, and I think it turned out really cute.
For the cakes, we used two Wilton oval baking pans. As an alternate plan, you could use one 8-inch round pan and one 9×13 pan and then trim the cakes into an oval shape. Frankly, the oval pans performed well and saved us some work, and we’ll be able to use them again in our cake adventures, so we’re glad that we bought them. To build the engines (nacelles), Michael used cake ice cream cones and graham crackers. The finished engines were edible, but a bit soggy. He used Wilton gel colors and basic liquid food coloring for the buttercream frosting, both of which are widely available.
You can make the cakes, engines, and frosting a day ahead. Keep the frosting in the refrigerator until you are ready to use it, and then allow it to come to room temperature before attempting to decorate the cake. The frosting recipe is adapted from the Wilton website, and makes three cups. You’ll need to make two batches of it.
Notes About Red Frosting
The red frosting is difficult because it’s hard to make a really deep red, and you can go through an entire jar of Wilton Red for just one cup of frosting. Because you are making a large amount of frosting and need the red to be as deep as possible, you’ll want to use the No Taste Red which doesn’t have FD&C red #3, otherwise the frosting may take on a bitter flavor. Here are some tips on ways to deepen the color of your red frosting:
- Trying making pink frosting first, then start adding the red gel. You won’t need as much red as you would if you started from white frosting.
- Make and color the frosting a day ahead and let it sit. The colors deepen with time.
- If you have a cake and candy supply store near you, check and see if they have Ameri-color or Chefmaster Liquid Gel colors. These are more concentrated and take less gel to make a deep red.
- I’ve also seen tips for using maraschino cherry juice in the red frosting, but I have not tried this myself. It would add both color and flavor.
CAKES & FROSTING
Equipment
stand mixer with paddle attachment
oval baking pan, 7-3/4 x 5-5/8 inch, greased and floured
oval baking pan, 10-3/4 x 7-5/8 inch, greased and floured
wire rack
serrated bread knife
X-Acto craft knife (for building the engines)
cake plate or stand
3 small bowls
3 (1 quart) freezer bags
decorating tips (two #3 and one #12) and couplers
3 popsicle sticks
chopstick
2 spatulas or knives, for spreading frosting
a picture of Rocket to reference while working
Ingredients
8 cups cake batter, any flavor
graham crackers
6 cake ice cream cones
1 round red lollipop, top 2 inches of the stick colored red
FROSTING (You’ll need 2 batches of this.)
1/2 cup solid butter-flavored vegetable shortening
1/2 cup butter
1 teaspoon vanilla
4 cups sifted confectioners’ sugar (approximately 1 pound)
2 tablespoons milk
COLORS
Wilton No Taste Red gel color
liquid red food coloring or Wilton Pink gel color
liquid blue food coloring or Wilton Sky Blue gel color
liquid yellow food coloring or Wilton Lemon Yellow gel color
Preparation
***All of these steps can be done one day before assembling and frosting the cake.***
1. Preheat oven to 350° F.
2. Pour 2-1/2 cups of cake batter into the small prepared cake pan and 5-1/2 cups of cake batter in the large prepared cake pan. The pans should be about 2/3 full. Bake for 25 to 30 minutes. Test for doneness and remove pans from oven. Allow cakes to sit in pans for 10 minutes, then remove each and allow to cool completely on a wire rack. Don’t try to frost or trim the cake while it’s hot, or it will disintegrate.
3. FROSTING (make 2 batches): Cream butter and shortening in the work bowl of the mixer. Add vanilla and mix for about 30 seconds. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed and scraping the sides and bottom of the bowl. Add the milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep the frosting covered with a damp cloth so that it doesn’t dry out.
4. Prep the freezer bags for piping. Put the base of a coupler in the bottom corner of a bag and cut away the corner. Add a #3 or #12 tip and screw the coupler ring over the bag and tip. Fill with frosting, squeeze any extra air out of the bag, and twist the top.
5. Yellow Frosting: Put 2 tablespoons of frosting into a small bowl. Squeeze a few drops of yellow coloring into the frosting and stir with a popsicle stick. Start with a small amount of color and add more as needed until you have a bright yellow. Put all of the yellow into the freezer bag with the #12 tip.
6. Blue Frosting: Put 2 cups of frosting into a small bowl. Squeeze a few drops of blue coloring into the frosting and stir with a popsicle stick. Start with a small amount of color and add more as needed until you have sky blue. Put about 1/2 cup of the blue into a freezer bag with the #3 tip.
7. Red Frosting: Put the remaining frosting in another small bowl. Squirt 20 to 30 drops of the liquid red food coloring into the frosting and stir. This gives the color a good strong pink base to work from. Start adding the No Taste gel coloring a little at a time, stirring as you go until you have a deep bright red. Put about 1/2 cup of the red into a freezer bag with the #3 tip.
ASSEMBLY
1. The cakes: Level the tops of the cake as necessary using a serrated bread knife or a cake leveler. Place the large cake layer on the plate. Lay the small cake layer on top of the large layer with the ends of the ovals aligned. Position the end of the top layer approximately 1/2 inch away from the end of the bottom layer. This will be the back end of Rocket. Use the serrated bread knife to trim the back end of the top layer so that it slopes down toward the bottom layer. Trim the top edges of both layers to round them a little. Take the spare trimmings and lay it on top of the top layer. Shape with your hands and knife to make a rounded top.
2. The engines: Set aside 2 of the ice cream cones. Using the X-Acto knife, cut away the bottoms of the other 4 ice cream cones, saving the tops and 2 of the bottoms. If the cones have a flared top edge, cut that away on the two rings but not on the uncut cone. Set aside two of the cone bottoms. Take the four “rings” and cut a groove in each about the width of a graham cracker. Take 2 graham cracker squares and trim each so that it’s shaped like a fin. To assemble the engines, insert a bottom cone piece into an uncut cone leaving the bottom hanging out. Position two rings around the bottom of that cone with the cut grooves aligned, and then insert the graham cracker fin into the grooves.
3. Use a spatula to cover the top and sides of the bottom layer with the red frosting.
4. Cover the sides of the middle layer with the blue frosting.
5. Cover the rounded top layer with red frosting.
6. To make the headlights, pipe some yellow frosting into two small circles on the front of the bottom layer.
7. Pipe the red frames on the blue windows and detail lines around all edges on each layer. Pipe 5 vertical lines on the bottom layer, one in the front center, and two more on each side, evenly spaced around the cake. Pipe one line on the top layer from front to back. Pipe a circle of frosting on the very top of the cake and then insert the lollipop, leaving about 1 inch of stick visible.
8. Frost the engines using red on the top fin, the outsides of the engines , and on the front part of the engine that sticks out. Pipe some blue frosting in the cavity between the outside edges and the inside cone. Pipe some blue frosting on the back of the engine (the exhaust). Pipe red detail lines on the sides and around the base of the fins.
9. Adding the engines: To finish the cake, lay the frosted engines on the plate next to the back of the cake and connect them using a chopstick that runs through the cake. Find the approximate horizontal center of the engine and use the X-Acto knife to drill a hole through it about the diameter of the chopstick. Insert the chopstick through the back of the cake, running one side to the other. Gently push each engine onto the chopstick through the holes you drilled. Pipe some red frosting onto the chopstick to fill in the area between the cake and the engine.
360° Views of the Finished Cake
Resources
Way to go Michael. I am so impressed!
Mom McClure
Thanks for sharing your idea and giving instructions, my soon to be 3 year old loves the little einsteins so i will try to make this.
I am soo going to try this, m daughter loved your cake, i hope i can do you justice
Jane & Scurry: Thanks, and please let us know how your cakes turned out!
Thanks for the inspiration! I am making a version this cake for my daughter who it TOTALLY in love with the Little Einsteins. I baked the cakes last night and will be assembling them this evening for her party tomorrow. I especially like the idea for creating the engines…
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, FOR THE INCREDIBLE ROCKET CAKE PICTURES & INSTRUCTIONS!!! I’VE BEEN SEARCHING ALL OVER FOR SOMETHING LIKE THIS!
YOUR HUSBAND, MICHAEL, IS A GENIUS! =-)
I’M SURE YOU’RE MAKING ALOT OF “LITTLE EINSTENS” EXTREMELY HAPPY OUT THERE!
I KNOW MINE WILL BE!!!
THANKS AGAIN!
MADISON’S MOMMY
Chris & Dawne, thanks for your nice comments! Michael is very happy that his project has inspired others to try the cake!
I tried your cake, came out good for the first attempt. My kid got so happy when he saw it he started singing the little einstein song. His turning 2 next month and I just couldn’t find anything original for a cake. the only thing I changed was that I created the engines with actual cake in it. put on a cupcake pan the normal amount you would pour for regular cupcakes and then put the icecream come on top (upside down), bake the same and now you have a cake enginet too.
Thanks for your idea. =D
Nancy, glad to hear that your cake turned out well. Good idea for the engines!
My boy is obsessed with Little Einsteins, and I also was looking for something like this. This is awesome. Thanks for sharing it, and for the clear instructions.
Thank you for this. It is awesome!!
5,4,3,2,1…BLASTOFF!! I called my local bakery and they said it would be over $70.00 for them to make this cake for my ‘little einstein’ who turns 3 tomorrow!!! A friend’s husband said he will make the cake, I just need to supply him the ingredients and an idea of what we want. Your pictures are wonderful and will help him create this for us! I cannot wait for the party!! “Mission Completion” ;0)
THANK YOU so much for posting this! I did a search to see if there were any Little Einsteins cake pans… and wala! My sister-in-law does cakes, so she said this would be no problem. My little 3-year-old-to-be will be delighted next week!
Today is my son’s birthday. He LOVES Little Einsteins. I’m making him a Little Einstein cake right now to take to his school. I wish I would have seen your picture sooner. Great Idea will try your cake next time, can’t wait! I’m on a mission, bye!!!
Thanks Jordan’s mom
Your cake is incredible! If my MIL won’t make it I will try to see if hubby will. I can totally mess up a recipe so I won’t try but it is amazing! I love it! This is the best Rocket cake I’ve seen online. the fact that it is 3D is great! I love the lollipop on the top and how creative for the the engines! I hope to ahve this cake made for my little one’s 3rd Bday in July.
I LOVE this cake! My baby boy is now 1 and he has been watching lil einsteins from day one!
I made this cake for my daughter’s third birthday last weekend and it came out great. Thank you for the idea and the great directions. Everyone at the party was very impressed and my daughter just loved it. I had bought the little einstein figures to put around the cake and it just made it perfect. Thanks again!
Everyone, thanks so much for the kind comments on Michael’s cake! I’m glad to hear that many of you have made the cake (or had someone make it for you) and that it turned out well!
Thank you so much for posting the Thomas the Train picture! My son turned 1 over the weekend and I modified your husband’s design to include a dinosaur instead of the train and train tracks. It turned out so much better than I had hoped and it all started started with you (I’ve never attempted a design on my own)!
We made a Rocket cake for our son’s 2 birthday (almost a year ago). For the back “fins,” we used Twinkies and iced them.
I absolutely love this. Thank you so much for the instructions. My son is not even 1 yet and he’ll sit still and watch little Einsteins. Wish my luck on his 1 yr party!
Awesome! The basic cake was easy enough to figure out but I love the Ice Cream cone engines, who would have thunk!! Still trying to figure out a buzz lightyear cake but we have a 1st birthday and a 3rd birthday in the next 6 months an they’re both huge Einstein fans so Rocket’s gonna be made one way or another!.. Thanks for posting this!
I have a son who has SPD who will be turning 2 on Saturday. The only thing in this universe that keeps him happy is the little einsteins. He loves them so much. They are an integral part of our daily therapy. I hope this cake works out well. We will let you know.
Great! I want to design a LE cake too for my son’s 3rd bday.
Tip- you can use Koolaid powder to help obtain red icing.
This is so COOL!!! My daughter is turning 2 soon and she LOVES rocket! I am doing a trial run of the cake this weekend, if it turns out half as good as yours I will be ecstatic!
My little girl, Jordyn, loves rocket! I hear RA RA RA ROCKET! All day long. So for her 3rd birthday *Sept.29*, I will be creating Michael’s Ra Ra Ra Rocket for her! Instead of smoothing frosting, I believe I will use the Wilton star tips, just for a little something extra. THANK YOU SO MUCH FOR THE INSTRUCTIONS!!! THE ENGINE IDEA IS BRILLIANT!!! BIG HIGH 5 TO MICHAEL TO HELPING L.E. MOMS!!!!!
THANK YOU SO SO SO SO MUCH.
I am so going to give this a try. My son Adamo turns 1 in October and he so loves Little Einsteins. And everyone does the same thing, bob the builder, mickey etc. And here in Melbourne, Australia, the little einsteins are not popular (as yet) so I wanted to do something different. You have made my life easier. I was so worried but now i am stress FREE!!!
I do wish that it will come out as good as yours. Might have to do a practice run.
Once again, thank you, thank you!!! Great Work!!
A great big THANKS to you for an amazing idea! I love it and cannot wait for my daughter’s birthday in November. The only thing I will change is to use twinkies for the rocket boosters with the graham crackers. (Like I need an excuse to buy twinkies!) Lovin’ that Tootsie Roll Pop too! Thanks again!
I’m in awe! I’m not good at making cakes, have tried many times. You should start a business, cause I know I would pay for someone to make an awesome cake like that, and I’m sure others would too!!!
WOW! I’m as impressed with the cake as I am that you posted the complete and THOROUGH directions to make it. Thank you so much. My son is 2 and looooooooooooves the Little Einsteins. I look forward to checking out the rest of your site.
Thanks so much for sharing your masterpiece! I just made this for a friend’s 2 year old’s birthday and it was a HUGE hit! I “star tipped” the icing and it turned out really nice!
I saw this cake a couple months ago and thought – no way could I do that. Well . . . I tried it and found it to be really easy due to your detailed instructions and pictures. THANK YOU. My little boy loved it and all his friends thought it was soooo cool. The hardest part was of course the engines, but I stuck with it and found that frosting is forgiving and also covers up mistakes! : )
Thanks again for sharing your masterpiece and creativity. I will definitely keep your website on my favorites for future ideas. You have made many boys and girls happy on their special day.
Trisha
One more thing I forgot to mention – I froze the cakes before trying to carve them into the appropriate shape – that helped ALOT – especially when it came time to frosting them. fwiw
One more thing I forgot to mention – I froze the cakes before trying to carve them into the appropriate shape – that helped ALOT – especially when it came time to frosting them. for what its worth to those trying to make it as well
I think you have extreame creativity you an ispiration to all!
Andrea,
Will this work with a box cake mix? And how about making it half the size? I only have 3 kids coming to my 4 year old’s party. Any suggestions?
Tia, yes most box cakes mixes provide about 6 cups of batter, so if you make the cakes smaller, you can probably do it all in one mix. You may want to make two 8-inch layer cakes from the box mix and then just cut the cakes into oval shapes the desired size. The leftover cut off pieces can always go into a bowl with ice cream on top!
Awesome!!! Thank you so much for sharing. My son is turning two next month, and I was just looking for an image that I could have scanned on top of a sheet cake. Your cake is SO much cooler. I’m going to try it!! Thanks again for the detailed instructions.
Exactly what I’m looking for for my daughter’s next birthday! Thank you!
How incredibly fantastic! Finding birthday cake ideas that aren’t “cookie cutter” is a dauting task! Your husband is a genius. My son really loves the Little Einsteins!
Thanks so much for going to all the trouble of including the directions with pictures!
Hi! I am ASTONISHED!!! I was also looking for ideas for a birthday cake and I saw yours… my little daughter loves the little einsteins, I will try to make it myself thoughI’m not so good at cooking but I’ll take the challenge anyways! Thanks for sharing your great ideas and for the detailed instructions!!!
Ana (Spain)
Andrea,
Thanks SO much for your detailed instructions on this — it looks awesome. I’m going to be trying this for my son’s 2nd birthday and I can’t find oval cake pans anywhere. I’ve searched JoAnns, Michaels, Williams-Sonoma, A.C.Moore, Bed Bath $ Beyond — you name it, I’ve tried it.
Did you purchase yours online? The only ones I can find online are a $38 set of four from Wilton, which when you throw in shipping costs is way too much to spend on two pans (since I won’t use the other ones).
Thanks a bunch!
Jen
Hi Jen: The set of four oval pans that you mentioned is exactly what we bought, although we found them at Michael’s last year and used a 50% off coupon to save some $$. If you want, you could use one 8-inch round pan and one 9×13 pan and then trim the cakes into an oval shape. Either way you’ll have some batter left over and could make cupcakes with the rest. Have fun making the cake!
Andrea and Michael,
THANK YOU, THANK YOU, THANK YOU!!!! I made the cake yesterday and spent all evening and this morning making the engines (they still don’t look as good as yours). I just wanted to say that this is the most awesome cake and I love you for putting up the directions!!!! Could I ask, how did he make the engines stick together?
Jen,
I use an 8-inch round cake and one half of the Wilton Soccer ball. I got the soccer ball pan last year for the Baby Einstein caterpillar from Michaell’s for like $10.
GOOD LUCK TO EVERYONE THAT ATTEMPTS THIS CAKE! When my son saw it last night (half way done) he should “Einstein, vrooom, vroom, ROCKET!” He’s turning two and loves it!
Thank you sooo much for the pics and directions!!! My son turns 2 in February and loves the Little Einstein’s, I think if I start practicing now I might be able to get this down
great job guys, it’s amazing!!!
I’ve endeavoured to make this cake for my son’s 2nd birthday party this Sunday. Instead of the ice cream cones, I’m going to use rice krispies and roll them to the right size and put the graham crackers on while it’s still hot.
Andrea,
Thanks for the tip about Michaels. I called a few in my area, found one and snagged a coupon. I made the cake last weekend and it came out FANTASTIC… I was even impressed with myself (lol).
Thanks for doing this for all of us!
Jen
Wow, you are my hero. I had my son’s 2nd birthday party in September (yep, I’m late posting my thanks) and found your website. He loves the Little Einsteins so I suprised him with this cake. When it was unveiled he was open-mouthed shocked and started singing “Rocket, Rocket”.
Thank you for helping to make his 2nd birthday one to remember!
Andrea…this cake is amazing. I am attempting it this week. I was going to have it made, but our bakery was going to charge me $165! I don’t think so!
Anyway, how many people did this feed? I’m afraid I won’t have enough cake. Thanks!
Hi Kim! I’m glad to hear that you are going to try it. We made our cake using the two smallest cake pans in the set, which would have served 15 people (approx). You can use larger cake pans as necessary, just increase the amount of cake batter to fit the pans. Allrecipes.com has a Cake Pan Size Conversions chart you can use for reference.