This post is blowing up in the Slay the Spire DC Gallery (a major Korean fan community hub) because it combines two huge trends — elaborate fan-made food art and Slay the Spire's dedicated Korean fanbase — in one chaotic, relatable baking journey. Korean gaming communities go absolutely feral for handmade tributes to beloved game characters.
okay so I'm normally just a casual baker who does simple stuff, but I signed up for a baking contest and decided to go FERAL and attempt a lettering cake for the very first time. the subject? everyone's beloved Defect (문만자) from Slay the Spire. no pressure or anything lmaooo
first up: the génoise sponge. cracked the eggs, dumped in the sugar, and yes — that entire stick of butter you see in the photo? it ALL went in. every. last. gram. sifted in the cocoa powder and cake flour, added milk and butter to the batter, mixed it all up, and poured it into the pan (forgot to photograph that part, classic me 💀). the sponge came out looking suspiciously flat but I told myself it was just the angle and moved on.
sliced it in half to cool separately, then got to work on the buttercream. made a meringue first — egg whites + an absolutely unhinged amount of sugar — whipped it until it was stiff and glossy, then started adding butter. the photo only shows like 3 small pieces but bro I used 700-something grams total. had to do it in batches because that's just how buttercream works. the result? a rich, silky, butter-loaded dream cream ✨
divided the buttercream and started tinting it. in my eyes it was clearly grey (Defect's skin color!!) but my phone camera was NOT cooperating and kept making it look wrong. I tried every filter known to mankind. I can't.
assembled the layers, spread the cream, used a scraper to smooth everything out, stacked another layer, smoothed again. piped on the details — yellow cream for the Defect's iconic eye, added the pupil, drew on the face... and it came out looking a little rough ngl 😭 added the orb and some freckle details to try to save it.
AND THEN. I finally found a filter that showed the actual color I was seeing with my own two eyes. it doesn't 100% look like the Defect but considering this was my FIRST TIME EVER doing a lettering cake, I'm actually proud of myself fr fr. the leftover buttercream is going in the freezer to become DIY ice cream later btw, zero waste queen behavior.
now for round two: Nyam Nyam cookies featuring Mang-gak-ji-ne (the Snecko)!! also threw in some other character cookies from the game. the ingredient list is technically simple but this was also my first time doing icing cookies so I was shaking a little.
butter + brown sugar, whipped together. added egg and vanilla extract, whipped more. folded in the cake flour, mixed roughly, then used the squeeze-and-press method to bring the dough together into one mass. rolled it flat and stuck it in the fridge to rest.
cut out paper templates for the shapes — and lmaooo I printed them wrong so the Defect and the Snecko's neck piece got swallowed by the Snecko template. shaking rn 😭 cut out the Snecko shape, then cut out the rest of the characters. (the dough absorbed some oil while I was busy taking photos, oops.) forgot to photograph the baking again, classic.
made royal icing with egg whites and powdered sugar. once the cookies were baked and cooled, it was time to give them their souls. tinted the icing into all the colors I needed, and then:
✨TA-DA✨
connected the Snecko's body segments, added details... something feels off though. probably because I skipped the legs lmaooo. finished up the rest of the characters and by this point I was SO freaking exhausted I stopped taking photos entirely, sorry not sorry.
coloring and applying royal icing is genuinely no joke — it's so tedious and my hands were done. but the final lineup of cookies all sitting together is honestly so cute?? the Snecko's neck piece came out the best out of everything I made.
thanks for reading this whole chaotic essay, I appreciate you more than words can say 🫡💀