Last night I showed you part 1 of making this fun Exploding Cake! If you missed it, hop over and read that post first! So, we've got a fondant covered 9" cake with the special center that we'll use for the exploding effect! OH, and I updated Part 1 to include a list of needed equipment!
This is what your cake should look like (plus smoothed edges around the bottom).
Next up... you're going to need an Xacto knife.
Start in the center and push your Xacto knife into the cake.. through both the red and blue fondant, down to the parchment paper. You should be able to feel when you've hit the paper. You'll want to cut a line about 2" long...out to the edge of the red fondant. Now, cut exactly opposite that to form a straight line across.. about 4" long.
I didn't get a good picture of this, but you'll next cross that line, making an "X"... then you'll bisect those 2 lines, eventually ending up with a "star" that has 8 points (or you will have divided your circle into 8 even slices (not cutting around the edges... just the lines crossing). Does that make sense? It'll look like this...
Okay, so once you have that done, then you're going to start peeling those pieces of pie back.
Just stick the Xacto knife in the center and lift up one point and fold it back over.
Note: You'll see some white between my blue and red. That's not normally there... I didn't make enough blue fondant so I flipped my rolled out blue upside down and put a piece of white in the middle and rolled it out. I flipped it back over and it "stretched" my blue out enough to cover the cake. I didn't think about it showing up in the "explode" part of my cake. It looked great - but it was not planned!
I told you about my blue hands... now they're obvious! Anyway, so you're going to fold back each piece of the star. Notice how the red has no buttercream on it? That's because of the piece of parchment paper that's under there on the cake - separating it from the buttercream.
Once you have them all folded back... you can dig your finger into that piece of parchment and pull it out...
Arrange the pieces how you want them, and you're done! Once again I forgot to take a picture of the end of this stage, but here's a picture after I added a ribbon...
See how neat that looks? That's it... the exploding cake!! Do you want to see the next step? Go see How to Add Ribbons and Ribbon Borders to Cake.
Now, if you want to see the rest of this cake, stay tuned and over the next week or so I'm going to show you how I did the stars, the ribbons and the borders!!
Rebeca
I would like to know, how far along do yu make the names and the shoes and all the other decorating parts of the cake before you put them on the cake??? like 2 days or more.. maybe less!!!?? I am going to make a fondant cake and make the letters out of mm fondant, but this is y second mm fondant cake and i don't know how to store and or when to make the letters and names and all other decorating figures!!! please help!!! Thanks!!
Rose
I usually do characters and other fondant decorations days ahead - sometimes only 2 days.. but I've done them a couple of weeks ahead and they're fine. You can store them in an air tight container but NOT in sunlight. I usually do the letters that stick to the cakes the day of, but if they need to stand up, I make them at least 2 days early for them to dry - just be sure to use gum paste or add Tylose to your MMF. Thanks for visiting!
Stephanie
HEY! Thanks for the great idea, im taking a shot at making this kind of cake on sunday for my sons 6th! but can you tell me what the silver balls are made of in the middle thanks!
Rose
You're welcome... glad to help! Those are actually silver Sixlets candy. I ordered them online, but I've also see them in party stores. If you can't find them, you could get creative and use some other kind of candy, or balls of fondant (although that would take forever to roll out a bunch of tiny balls like that ;)).
Ambar
so after you make the cuts that the triangles are pulled back the frosting will be exposed on the inside?
Rose
Yes, that's right!
Ambar
I made the cake and it came out excellent!! Thank you for the tutorial, here's how it turned out http://ambarbaking.blogspot.com/. Thanks again!!
Rose
That's awesome Ambar! Great job and thank you so much for sharing =)
Cythia Merced
Thank you for this tutorial.... I really apreciate your hard work. I will try it soon.
Rose
Awesome!! Thanks for visiting Cythia!
Davina
Frankly the best tutorial for this type of effect. Clear, detailed with great pictures thanks a million was just what I needed 🙂
Rose
Thank you so much Davina!
Missy
This cake looks awesome!! My fondant rolling skills are not the greatest.. Any tips you can share? Do you mind providing your fondant recipe? Thank you so much - if I can pull it off my son will love it!
Rose
The recipe should be linked up, but if not, it's here: http://rosebakes.com/how-to-make-homemade-marshmallow-fondant-yummy/.
Maximina Sy
Thanks so much Rose for this tutorial. Its very clear and detailed. I have made my exploding Superman Cake, and
it's so cool.
Rose
Great!! So glad to hear it 🙂
Kels
Hello from the UK! I just wanted to say what a great tutorial, so clearly explained. I'm going to make this cake for my daughter's 4th birthday party this weekend - she's having a superhero party and this will be perfect. I can't wait to get started. Thanks Rose and keep up the good work!!
Rose
I hope it turns out great for you!! 🙂
Hallie
My son LOVES the burst but does not like fondant on his cake. Do you think I could cut a hole in the middle of a cake board and wrap the board in fondant and do the burst and then put it on top of a buttercream cake? Thanks for any help!!
lili
Hi, Rose! Thank you!!!! I had been looking forward to making this cake for my nephew for month. I finally made it over the weekend and it came out (ahem) AWESOME! I'm a beginner and I exceeded my own expectations thanks to your easy-to-follow instructions. Thank you for sharing! 🙂
Rose
Yay!! I'm so glad to know the tutorial helped!!
Diane
HI Rose from London, England.
Fantastic!! I've been looking for ages for how to do a cake with a champagne bottle bursting out of it for my husband's 75th birthday. Your tutorial couldn't be clearer. I'll post the cake when i've done it (October this year). Thanks so much!
Rose
Always glad to help!! Best of luck with your cake!
Andreina Sanchez
Hi I loved SUPERMAN explosive cake is beautiful, thanks for your tips! Congratulations and much success!
Rose
Thank you!
Sandy
Thank u thank u for the tutorial it was my first time making a hole
Menna
Hi from London 🙂 I'm planning to do superman cake for my son's 3rd bday this Saturday and I was wondering what I can prepare ahead as the birthday will be in the morning and I don;t want to panic!!!
Many Thanks for the detailed tutorial 🙂
Rose Atwater
With many recipes you can bake a few days ahead and chill it until the day you want to decorate. I'd decorate and complete the cake the day before for a Sat. morning party.
Caroline
Hello Rose...wonderful and awesome description....hope will help me a lot....to finish an order for a transformers theme cake....thank you so much ...god bless
Jenni
This tutorial is great! I'm planning to do this but with a (small) champagne bottle coming out of the middle. How would you recommend putting the bottle in the cake without making a mess on the fondant? Normally I would carve the hole in the (cold/slightly frozen) cake before covering it with fondant but it doesn't seem like that would work well to do the "exploding" fondant on top (it wouldn't be stable enough to cut). But if I wait until after I do the exploding party I'm worried about getting cake everywhere (my cake will be chocolate). Thanks!
Rose
Hmmm... if you're using black in the center, you could probably still cut the hole out with a very sharp knife and not make too big of a mess. Plus the black fondant would disguise any chocolate crumbs or if you add any kind of candy/pearls in the center, it would definitely cover any mess made!
Adesegun olasumbo
Thanks for this tutorial,it really helped.
Rose
Great!
Sarah
Thanks a lot rose. I'm 16 and I plan to be as good as you are at 20. I love your cakes and your steps are well detailed and explanatory. I'd love to have you as a mentor. I look forward to seeing more of your works....#kisses
Linda
Hi Rose,
Have to make this cake for the weekend. Can you please send me instructions on how you made the superman.
Thanks
Rose
It was a candle - there is a link in the post.
Caroline
Hi Rose, love this old post of yours, I can back to refresh my memory to prepare for an exploding stars cake I’m making tonight. I’ve already prepared the wires and the dried stars (MMF mixed with CMC) and they are nice and stiff. My question is this: based on your guidance (which I’ve been following for years!), I always refrigerate my fondant cakes. But how about for a cake like this with dry standing-up firm stars - still okay to refrigerate? Would the stars absorb moisture and “melt”? Thanks for your help like always! Love your work. Caroline
Rose
I'd probably wait and put the stars on after taking it out of the fridge. I think they'd do ok either way but I'm not 100% sure.