Totally Awesome Avengers Cake

Totally Awesome Avengers Cake

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Directions

To prepare the cake:
1.	Preheat the oven as per your cake recipe. Lightly grease the bundt pan with butter then dust with flour, shaking out the excess.
2.	Prepare the cake batter and spoon evenly into the prepared pan. Tap the bottom on the bench top to allow it to settle. Smooth out the top and raise it higher on the inside and outside edges.
3.	Bake the cake as per the recipe. Allow to cool in the pan for 10 - 15 minutes then turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.
4.	Once the cake has cooled, wrap it tightly in cling wrap and place in the freezer for about 3 hours.
Meanwhile, prepare the butter cream icing:
5.	Beat the butter until pale then add the icing sugar and 1 1/2 tablespoons of milk. Beat until light and fluffy. Remove 1/3 of the icing and set aside.
6.	Add the contents of 2 charcoal tablets to the 2/3 icing and beat until the colour is well combined.
7.	Add the rest of the milk, as needed, to achieve a spreadable consistency. Set aside until ready to use.
Icing:
8.	Remove the cake from the freezer and unwrap it. Using a bread knife, slice the bottom of the cake to create a flat surface for it to sit on. Place it on the cake board. Place a small cup or container inside the cake to create a platform for your super hero to stand on.
9.	Spread the butter cream icing over the cake using a palette knife and place in the fridge until ready to cover in the fondant. Set aside the remaining icing to use with the fondant.
Fondant:
10.	Sprinkle some icing sugar onto a prepared work surface and your hands. Knead the fondant until it is smooth and no longer sticky; add a bit more icing sugar if necessary. If it gets too hard, 10 seconds in the microwave will soften it up.
11.	Divide the fondant into three sections and put two aside in an airtight container. Take the remaining section and make a well in the centre of it. Place the contents of two charcoal capsules into the centre and knead the fondant until the colour is mixed through. I stopped when I had a mottled grey colour, with no white. Use a little bit of oil on your hands if the fondant gets too sticky while kneading. Place the fondant into the airtight container and repeat with the remaining two pieces.
12.	Once all the fondant has been coloured it is time to roll it and start covering the cake.
Decorate:
13.	Use a little bit of of icing sugar on the work surface and rolling pin to stop it sticking. Roll the fondant out to about 5mm thick and use a pizza cutter or knife to cut it into irregular straight-sided shapes. Score the edges using a knife and create rivets along each side with the straw and flat end of the skewer. Work with small pieces of fondant, keeping the rest in the air tight container.
14.	Place the fondant pieces on the cake, making sure the sides are covered all the way to the bottom. Overlap the pieces by spreading a bit of the left over grey butter cream icing between the two pieces.
15.	When the pieces reach the top, fold some back and tear the tops off others to give the appearance that the top has been blasted open.
16.	Take the uncoloured portion of the butter cream icing from step 5 and colour it with the red food colouring, to the desired shade. Scoop the icing into the centre of the cake and spread it up to where the fondant meets the cake.
17.	Place your super hero on top and secure with the icing. Sprinkle the top with the 100s and 1000s. Use the leftover grey butter cream icing to secure any other super heros onto the cake board around the sides of the cake. Place the Happy Birthday decoration on the front.
18.	Store the completed cake in a cake box, in a cool location.

Note

Low Amines, Low Glutamates, Low/High Salicylates.

I made this cake using a Mango Cake, but any moist, dense cake would work fine, such as my Vanilla Cake recipe.  The marshmallow fondant recipe can be found here.

The Hoppers natural food colouring and 100s and 1000s do contain high levels of salicylates from the natural ingredients used to make them; but the centre part of the cake where these ingredients are used doesn't get eaten.

The charcoal capsules are used to colour the icing grey.  Activated charcoal capsules can be purchased from chemists and are typically used to treat flatulence and in emergency departments to treat poisoning.    It prevents the body from absorbing chemicals - both good and bad kinds.  It's not something you would eat every day unless advised by a doctor, but for this application the small amount per piece of cake seemed OK to me.  Cut the capsules in half with a pair of kitchen scissors.