How do I magic up a rocket cake by the weekend?

[cakebytheweekend]

I naively thought I could buy one off the shelf but apparently not. Don't want to completely let DS down, but where do I start?

I can bake, but only have recipes and tins for 8" round. Happy to buy bigger tins if anyone has a reliable recipe?

I am a bit shit at icing but happy to try, although when I tried with fondant last year it wouldn't roll and just cracked so resorted to buttercream with mixed results.

What would you do? I've seen I can order plain sponge slabs to cut up and ice at home. Or order a plain white sponge to decorate, but I think he really wants a rocket shaped cake.

Time is tight, I've only really got Thursday after work to do this.

Or do I just give up and buy something boring.

You can order handmade cake toppers, like these www.simplytoppers.co.uk/product/rockets-and-space-cake-topper-decorations-set/ . They say to give them a ring if you need them urgently, so it might be worth a shot. All you'd then need is a white pre-iced cake which you could get from a supermarket, and this black cake spray to colour it black PME Edible Lustre Spray Black 100 ml amzn.eu/eW28tKH .

Buy a packet cake mix, loads of professionals use them to save time.

Simplest thing I can think of - round cake covered in buttercream, then cut out a rocket from cardboard (cereal box would be perfect) and colour in with felt tips and put on top of cake.

This might be easier? Cupcakes?

The cake I posted above was just a huge cake cut into shape. I used a large roasting tin and just multiplied up ordinary cake mix.
It's all hidden under the icing so doesn't matter if messy. Garish colours also draw the attention.

You could do a similar shape to @APurpleSquirrel by making a round cake and a square/rectangular one which you cut into triangles for nose and burners.

You can do a Victoria sponge by weighing the eggs and then adding the same weight of butter sugar & flour. Then you can scale up as much as you want. Here's an example but there are loads of recipes online. www.theguardian.com/lifeandstyle/2010/may/15/victoria-sandwich-recipes-fearnley-whittingstall