A Little Protoss Probe

If you already know what a Protoss probe is, then I have a nerdy gold star for you.  If not, then I have non-nerdy gold star for you.  Starcraft is an RTS (real time strategy) computer game is which two people play pick a race (Protoss, Zerg, or Terran) and then try to destroy each other's bases ... or something.

How does this relate to cakes?  Well, in the Protoss race there are little creatures (robots?) called probes.  They hover around, looking for minerals that look like blue crystals to bring back to their base.  Like treasure or gold or currency ... or something.

When Dan, one of my husband's best friends, was getting married, all the guys planned a Starcraft themed bachelor party for him.  And what would a Starcraft themed bachelor party be without a Starcraft cake?  The guys asked me to make a Protoss Probe cake for them, and even though I was reluctant because it seemed too complicated, they were insistent.  I asked them to find me a picture that I could work off of, and this is what they found.

Source - A Deviant Artist



We all loved this cute, bright eyed little probe, and I agreed to make it for them.  It all started with a lot of planning: the biggest question was figuring out the best way to make the wings and get them to stick to the body of the cake.  I ended up using a lot of Rice Krispie squares, shaping them, and then covering them up with fondant. 


The bottom layer of cake was a 9x12 inch cake, and I stuck to Dan's favourite for this layer: Chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream.  Classic.  The body of the probe was a 6 inch cake and it was a Vanilla Chocolate Chip with vanilla buttercream.  All of the wings, and all of the blue minerals, were made of the Rice Krispie treats.  I then stuck the wings into the body with little dowels, and then some extra fondant to try and fill the gaps. 

I set the cake up at the house, putting it all together when I arrived to make sure nothing fell apart on a drive over or anything.  I stayed a few hours longer while the guys finished setting up for the party, and I just kept checking on the cake every five minutes to make sure that none of the wings had fallen down.  Fortunately the cake stayed together, and was told that it was delicious!

I don't think that I'll ever have to put together another Starcraft cake, but if I do, I sure learned a lot from this one!