In honour of The Umbrella Academy’s final season release, I created a The Umbrella Academy themed cake that is perfect for any watch party or themed birthday party! Using a super cool and incredibly easy tracing technique, this sponge cake requires very little extra decoration. With a whipped ganache, this cake hits the brief for a minimalistic yet effective sweet treat! Marigold not included.
Contents
The Bake
For my The Umbrella Academy inspired bake, I wanted to try something a little different. This particular method of making a cake is great for people who enjoy eating cake, but who don’t love frosting.
It’s also ideal if you aren’t super confident decorating cakes with frostings or icings.
I very much enjoy decorating cakes in frosting as there are so many ways to do it. Painting cakes with buttercream like my Disney’s Aladdin birthday cake is probably one of my favourite techniques.
Sometimes, though, a cake in its natural form just hits the mark.
A similar concept to a buttercream transfer cake like my Avatar: The Last Airbender inspired bento cake, this particular design technique allows for an accurate recreation of an image by tracing it.
But, instead of tracing an image with buttercream, you’re tracing an image using cake batter before it goes anywhere near an oven. This creates a design within the surface of the cake sponge, rather than in a frosting that is applied post-bake.
Because you’re able to trace the image in cake batter, you can be as detailed or as minimalistic as you want and still achieve an accurate recreation of the image.
Even if you aren’t talented when it comes to fine art (I’m not a sketch artist by any margin), you can create accurate and beautiful imagery by simply tracing the images.
If you’re lucky enough to be a talented artist then this technique just means you can transform your own art into cake form.
For my The Umbrella Academy birthday cake, I opted for a simple yet dramatic design.
I chose the umbrella symbol used as a tattoo in the show for my design, alongside some “rain” inspired by the show’s promotional posters.
What’s great about this cake making technique is that you can use a design that is to your taste, or the taste of the person you are baking this cake for. If you’re throwing a The Umbrella Academy birthday party, this cake can be tailored to suit the preferences of the person whose birthday it is.
If you want to be more detailed, you can trace around a more detailed image. For example, if you know you have the skill to trace around the faces of the Umbrella Academy, go for it! It’ll take a bit more time and a varying number of food colourings, but it’s entirely possible.
Personally, I love a minimalistic yet dramatic vibe, so that’s what I chose for this The Umbrella Academy themed cake.
As far as flavours go for this cake, I created a vanilla, chocolate, hazelnut combo.
This flavour mix is a winner, as my SpongeBob SquarePants birthday cake demonstrates.
However, with lots of my designs on Flavour of the Film, the flavour is up to you. You can swap out the vanilla for a different extract. You could reverse the vanilla/chocolate ratios to create a chocolate cake with a vanilla design. You could add zest instead of extract.
The same goes for the whipped ganache. I chose a ganache over a buttercream because it’s light and airy. Like a cloud. Get it? Cloud… rain… umbrella. My sister made that connection. A stretch perhaps, but a connection nonetheless, friends.
A ganache is also not nearly as sweet as a standard buttercream.
There is no added sweetness as it’s just cream, chocolate and spread. I chose chocolate and hazelnut spread because I love it. If preferred, you could swap out the spread for a different one. Biscoff is an option, as is a white chocolate spread.
Top Tips
- Remember to flip over the baking parchment lining before tracing the image with your cake batter! Otherwise you may end up with pen markings baked into your cake sponge.
- As always, avoid over mixing the cake batter so that you achieve a light and fluffy texture.
- If you prefer to keep cocoa powder out of the cake, simply omit it and replace it with black food colouring.
- If looking to make the cake chocolate with a vanilla design, change the amount of flour to 250g and spoon the plain cake batter into a small bowl when ready to pipe the design, then add 50g cocoa powder to the remaining batter and beat in.
- See the section above (The Bake) for more ideas on different flavours.
- Weigh out your eggs in their shells beforehand and get as close to 300g as you can, allowing 20g either way. Then, measure out the rest of your ingredients to the exact weight of your eggs. Doing this gives you the ultimate sponge cake texture!
- If you prefer to sandwich the cake sponges with buttercream, a ratio of 100g unsalted butter and 200g icing [confectioners] sugar should be plenty. You can add extract, melted chocolate or juice to the buttercream to flavour it, as well as food colouring if desired. Add a splash of milk to loosen it if needed.
My The Umbrella Academy inspired birthday cake really is so simple to make and has a great impact design wise. It’s ideal for those who aren’t huge fans of frosting or icing. It’ll complete any The Umbrella Academy birthday party or themed watch party. Enjoy!
Happy baking, happy eating!
The Recipe
Ingredients
Cake:
- 400g unsalted butter room temperature
- 400g caster sugar
- 400g eggs (around 7 medium eggs)
- 400g self-raising flour
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder OR black liquid food colouring
Ganache:
- 300ml double [whipping] cream
- 300g milk or dark chocolate
- 3 tbsp chocolate & hazelnut spread i.e. Nutella
Serves: 12
Preparation time: 30 minutes
Baking time: 25 – 30 minutes
Decorating time: 10 minutes
Method
Cake:
- Preheat your oven to 180°C [325°F ] or 160°C fan. Grease two deep 8 inch cake tins and line one.
- If needed, trace around your cake tins on greaseproof paper/baking parchment and cut out the circles to line the tins. Trace your umbrella image on one of the paper circles using a marker pen. Flip the paper so that the pen is facing down and line the other cake tin with it. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating in between until fully incorporated.
- Spoon in the vanilla and beat in.
- Sieve the flour over the mixture and mix just until the flour is no longer visible.
- Spoon a heaped tbsp of the cake mixture out and into a small bowl. Add 1 tbsp cocoa powder (or a few drops of black food colouring if preferred) and mix in until smooth.
Image tracing:
- Put the chocolate batter into a piping bag with the very end of the tip cut off. The smaller the hole, the more accurate you can be.
- Trace the umbrella image on the baking parchment with the chocolate cake batter. Use a cocktail stick to neaten if needed. Be sure to fill the elements of the image that are dark. Pipe “rain” around the top if desired.
- Refrigerate the chocolate pattern while you spoon some of the vanilla batter into another piping bag with the very end cut off. Retrieve the cake tin from the fridge and trace around the chocolate pattern to create an outline. Make sure to outline all of the chocolate mix elements and fill in the remaining pale elements of the umbrella image.
- Refrigerate again while you prep for the next step.
- Spoon half of the remaining cake batter into the other cake tin, then spoon the other half of the batter into a piping bag with a large piece of the end cut off.
- Retrieve your image cake tin from the fridge and pipe the remaining vanilla cake batter on top of the image you traced. Cover the whole thing as much as possible. Avoid spreading or pressing down as this can distort the image you piped earlier.
- Bake the sponges on the middle shelf for 25 – 30 minutes, until golden. Your sponges will be ready when a skewer/cocktail stick comes out clean when tested, the surface bounces back when gently pressed on, and you hear little to no crackling/bubbling when you listen to your cakes.
- Once baked, leave to cool in the tins for around 10 minutes before transferring upside down onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Whipped ganache:
- Heat the cream in a saucepan over a medium heat until you see steam rise from the top. Pour the cream over the chocolate and Nutella spread. Leave to soften for 5 minutes then whisk until smooth. Alternatively, put all of the ingredients in a heatproof bowl and microwave in 30 second bursts until melted, stirring in between.
- Place in the fridge to cool.
- Once cool, use an electric mixer to whisk the ganache until it holds its shape (stiff peaks).
Construction:
- Place the plain sponge on a cake board/plate/stand.
- Generously spread or pipe the ganache over the surface of the cake.
- Place the other cake sponge on top of the ganache with the pattern side facing up.
This deliciously customisable cake is best enjoyed on the day, but will keep for 4+ days if kept in an airtight container. The cake doesn’t need to be kept in the fridge. The sponges can be made ahead and frozen (wrapped) for up to 3 months. Enjoy!
The TV Show
In my opinion, The Umbrella Academy is another TV show that is a “if you know, you know” kind of deal. Unless you’ve read the pre-existing source material that it’s based on… well, there’s so much to it that is of the bizarre and peculiar that it’s rather difficult to sum it up.
It’s in these moments that I would love to know what the elevator pitch for a show like this was. Even with the source material, I reckon such a pitch would have been insanely creative.
Season one of The Umbrella Academy was released on Netflix in 2019.
Based on the Dark Horse Comics by Gabriel Bá and Gerard Way, this quirky show was created for television by Steve Blackman and Jeremy Slater. Alongside a sizable team of talented writers and directors, they adapted this story from the strips of comics to fit screens streaming Netflix across the globe.
What a hit it has turned out to be, too.
For my next magic trick, I will now attempt to sum up the story…
A small group of gifted individuals from around the world are adopted at birth by an eccentric businessman and go on to form a family of young heroes known as The Umbrella Academy.
Now adults having grown apart, they find themselves reuniting to protect the world from… well, the apocalypse.
There’s also a monkey; a robot caregiver, one of the members residing on the moon, alternate timelines and a lot of fighting. That’s only fragments of the whole picture, friends.
Emmy Raver-Lampman, Tom Hopper, David Castañeda, Aidan Gallagher, Elliot Page, Robert Sheehan and Justin H. Min all make up the heroes known as The Umbrella Academy. They are joined by outstanding acting talent like Ritu Arya, Colm Feore, Kate Walsh, Adam Godley, Jordan Claire Robbins, Yusuf Gatewood, Ken Hall, Genesis Rodriguez and many more.
The Queen of Hip Hop Soul herself, Mary J. Blige, stars as a recurring character.
I won’t pretend that I understood The Umbrella Academy when I first started watching it.
But who says that’s entirely the point? Besides, once you’re in it, you start understanding the story as it plays out without even realising it.
Pretty soon you’re knee deep invested in a dysfunctional family with superpowers and a monkey and a robot trying to stop the world from ending. Multiple times.
P.S. Any OG fans of Robert Sheehan and Tom Hopper here? I’m talking Misfits and Merlin days. What an era.
Recipe Card
The Umbrella Academy Inspired Cake
Ingredients
Cake:
- 400 g unsalted butter room temperature
- 400 g caster sugar
- 400 g eggs around 7 medium eggs
- 400 g self-raising flour
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 tbsp cocoa powder OR black liquid food colouring
Ganache:
- 300 ml double [whipping] cream
- 300 g milk or dark chocolate
- 3 tbsp chocolate & hazelnut spread i.e. Nutella
Instructions
Cake:
- Preheat your oven to 180°C [325°F ] or 160°C fan. Grease two deep 8 inch cake tins and line one.
- If needed, trace around your cake tins on greaseproof paper/baking parchment and cut out the circles to line the tins. Trace your umbrella image on one of the paper circles using a marker pen. Flip the paper so that the pen is facing down and line the other cake tin with it. Set aside.
- In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and sugar until light and fluffy.
- Add the eggs one at a time, beating in between until fully incorporated.
- Spoon in the vanilla and beat in.
- Sieve the flour over the mixture and mix just until the flour is no longer visible.
- Spoon a heaped tbsp of the cake mixture out and into a small bowl. Add 1 tbsp cocoa powder (or a few drops of black food colouring if preferred) and mix in until smooth.
Image tracing:
- Put the chocolate batter into a piping bag with the very end of the tip cut off. The smaller the hole, the more accurate you can be.
- Trace the umbrella image on the baking parchment with the chocolate cake batter. Use a cocktail stick to neaten if needed. Be sure to fill the elements of the image that are dark. Pipe “rain” around the top if desired.
- Refrigerate the chocolate pattern while you spoon some of the vanilla batter into another piping bag with the very end cut off. Retrieve the cake tin from the fridge and trace around the chocolate pattern to create an outline. Make sure to outline all of the chocolate mix elements and fill in the remaining pale elements of the umbrella image.
- Refrigerate again while you prep for the next step.
- Spoon half of the remaining cake batter into the other cake tin, then spoon the other half of the batter into a piping bag with a large piece of the end cut off.
- Retrieve your image cake tin from the fridge and pipe the remaining vanilla cake batter on top of the image you traced. Cover the whole thing as much as possible. Avoid spreading or pressing down as this can distort the image you piped earlier.
- Bake the sponges on the middle shelf for 25 – 30 minutes, until golden. Your sponges will be ready when a skewer/cocktail stick comes out clean when tested, the surface bounces back when gently pressed on, and you hear little to no crackling/bubbling when you listen to your cakes.
- Once baked, leave to cool in the tins for around 10 minutes before transferring upside down onto a wire rack to cool completely.
Whipped ganache:
- Heat the cream in a saucepan over a medium heat until you see steam rise from the top. Pour the cream over the chocolate and Nutella spread. Leave to soften for 5 minutes then whisk until smooth. Alternatively, put all of the ingredients in a heatproof bowl and microwave in 30 second bursts until melted, stirring in between.
- Place in the fridge to cool.
- Once cool, use an electric mixer to whisk the ganache until it holds its shape (stiff peaks).
Construction:
- Place the plain sponge on a cake board/plate/stand.
- Generously spread or pipe the ganache over the surface of the cake.
- Place the other cake sponge on top of the ganache with the pattern side facing up.
Notes
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