Superhero Birthday Cake and Cupcakes

Superheroes Birthday Cake

A *perfect* birthday cake for Superhero-obsessed kiddos! 

A coworker of mine recently sent me a Pinterest pin and asked if I could make the Superhero Birthday Cake and cupcakes for her twin grandsons’ upcoming birthday(s). 

I won’t lie…I get nervous when shown a photo and asked if I can make what’s in the picture. :/

Fortunately, this cake and cupcake set came together easily and quickly! 

Before y'all come at me, a quick word to all my Marvel's Avengers (or Batman) fans! 

YES, I 100% KNOW Batman doesn’t belong in an Avengers themed cake! (::insert sigh::) But! The birthday kiddos being huge Batman fans, and it being their birthday….their vote ruled! Don't come at me 😉  

FAQs: 

"Your recipe uses cake mixes? Seriously?" 
  • Okay - all my scratch cake purists - I'm ALL about those scratch recipes because nothing beats them for taste.
  • The catch when I made this cake was time ( / cost). The decorations already involve a lot of time; to simplify and save time and money I doctored up my favorite cake mixes for the cake base.
  • That said! If you'd like a scratch recipe, a batch of my favorite Vanilla Cake layer recipe would work great! 🙂 It'll just have to bake a few minutes longer - see these baking instructions
"Can I get the recipe for the cupcakes too?"

I've included the recipe below for just the shaped cake - if you want to make cupcakes to go with the cake – here's a link to my Favorite Cupcake recipes
You'll need another batch of frosting and a large piping bag to cover 24 cupcakes; a half batch will cover 12. 
To decorate cupcakes, cover with frosting swirls and fondant fists or candy melt spider webs….or whatever decorations you’d like to theme your cupcakes with! The YouTube video in the recipe card could help with some ideas too.

"What if I want to shape the cake with a different number?"

I love this YouTube video for ideas on shaping other numbers out of cake. You just might need to adjust your cake pan! 🙂 https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4eQuu6xdMVM

"If I want to take Batman out...what should I put there instead?" 
  • So many options! Here's a quick list of all the Avengers - honestly any of those will work! You could also theme one of the sections with a villain if you felt like it. 
  • (I think personally I'd go with Black Panther just for variation in the colors, but it's 100% up to you!) 
One more note on the fondant for decorating!  
  • I know, only cake nerds make their own fondant. But some of us are cake nerds, right?
  • If you want to make your own fondant, try to make it about 24 hours ahead of the time! Seriously, it really does matter. You’ll save yourself a lot of frustration; marshmallow fondant handles MUCH better after enough resting time. 

(Disclosure: As an Amazon associate I may earn from qualifying purchases, and my posts often contain affiliate links. If you click a link and make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you!) 

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Superheroes Bd Cake pinterest pin
Superhero Birthday Cake and Cupcakes

Superheroes Birthday Cake

Sarah H
Step-by-step instructions for a shaped Superheroes Birthday Cake - featuring all your kiddo's favorite superheroes!
Prep Time 30 minutes
Cook Time 35 minutes
Decorating time 55 minutes
Total Time 2 hours
Course Dessert
Cuisine American
Servings 15 servings
Calories 495 kcal

Equipment

  • 5 small piping bags + tips (linked is a set that includes several reusable bags & the tips I used in the video)
  • 1 Small new or food-safe paintbrush (to keep cost down, I used gel colors to cover white fondant shapes rather than buying colored fondant. If you'd rather save yourself the hassle you can use black, green, red, white, and blue pre-colored fondant!)
  • 1 cardboard cake board (optional, but I found this the easiest way to decorate and transport the cake)

Ingredients
  

Superheros Birthday Cake

Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting

Decorations

Instructions
 

  • Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare a 15x10" baking pan with Baker's floured cooking spray, or grease and line the base with parchment paper.
  • Combine melted butter, buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla in a large bowl and mix until combined.
  • Add in cake mixes and stir until moistened (about 30 seconds), then beat on medium speed for about 2 minutes. Pour batter into prepared pan.
  • Bake for 35-37 minutes, (or until a toothpick comes out clean). Allow to cool for 20 minutes before removing from pan. Cool completely before frosting (place cake in the fridge or freezer to accelerate the cooling process if desired). (This is a great time to make your frosting!)
  • Once your cake is baked and cooled/chilled, use a large serrated knife to cut it into a 4-shape – I used a couple of pieces of paper to help me keep my cuts straight. (I like to make the frosting while the cake is chilling so I can crumb coat it as soon as it's cut - the crumb coat keeps crumbs out of the colored frostings, but it also helps keep the cake from drying out!)

Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting

  • Beat together softened cream cheese and butter; slowly add in powdered sugar alternating with milk until frosting reaches desired consistency. Add vanilla and salt if needed and beat until well combined.

Decorating

  • For each of the sections below, pipe on small stars of frosting to cover the cake section with a piping bag fitted with a small open star piping tip. Cover the sections with your desired colors – the ones I used are below!
  • Whether you make or buy your fondant, soften it slightly in the microwave before shaping your decorations.

Spiderman

  • Cover section in red frosting. Melt candy melts and transfer to a piping bag with a tiny hole in the tip. Pipe a spider web onto the section - I started a circular pattern in the center swirling outward, and then added straight lines back into the center. It made a pretty convincing web!

Iron Man

  • Cover section in red frosting. I bought cupcake toppers to use on this section of the cake; I couldn't find a fondant design to convey the superhero clearly enough in such a small section. I used small bits of silver leaf to add a bit of extra shine to that part of the cake - in hindsight I wish I'd have used gold; you can buy a set with both here!

Batman

  • Cover section in black frosting. I printed a batman logo and cut out an oval and then the batman logo shape and used them as templates to cut the same shapes out of fondant. A bit of gel food color later we were good to go!

Captain America

  • Cover section in blue frosting. This fondant work involves a little more time – cut out a small fondant star and a large, medium/large, medium/small, small fondant circle. The largest and medium/small circles I painted red, and the small circle was blue – the layers as you stack them should be red, white, red, blue, and then the fondant star. I know, a few steps – but they're easy steps and it looks super cool when you’re done!

The Hulk

  • Cover section in purple frosting. I used roughly a 2-tablespoon lump of fondant to make the large Hulk fist shape, and about a thumb-sized amount of fondant to make the cupcake Hulk fists, shaping them with a toothpick and the blunt end of a metal skewer. You can use green fondant or use white fondant and paint it green – I’ve found it easier to get bright colors by painting white fondant, but the color’s not quite as even. Up to you!

Video

Notes

Please note nutrition information is an estimate and may not be exactly accurate. Nutrition information also does not include fondant decorations. 
 
(To keep cost down, I used gel colors to cover my fondant shapes rather than buying a ton of fondant colors - if you'd rather save yourself the hassle of painting, you can use black, green, white, red, and blue pre-colored fondant!)

Nutrition

Serving: 1slice (1/15th cake)Calories: 495kcalCarbohydrates: 63gProtein: 6gFat: 24g
Keyword Number shaped Birthday Cake, Superhero Birthday Cake, Superheroes Birthday Cake
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7 thoughts on “Superheroes Birthday Cake

    1. I price at supply cost plus labor time – it’s been so long I don’t remember exactly, but somewhere in the ballpark of $50. None of the supplies – cake/frosting ingredients + plastic decorations and marshmallow fondant – were that expensive, and it only took me 90 or so minutes to put the cake together. Take my estimate with a grain of salt though; bakers prices vary with a lot of factors (e.g. professional bakeries have more experienced staff and a lot more overhead to cover than I do as a blogger.) Just my two cents!

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