Back to the Future is my favorite movie of all time. I watched it five times in the theaters, wore out both a video cassette and a DVD, and every time it comes on cable I watch it, commercials and all. Today is Back to the Future’s 30th anniversary, and while I could have made a Delorean cake or created a crude model of the Hill Valley Town Square, instead I went simple and iconic.

In 1985, Uncle Joey didn’t make parole again and when Marty goes back to 1955, he sees his uncle behind crib bars. This is a replica of the cake to celebrate Uncle Jailbird Joey’s sweet release from prison that never was. The best part? The cake is Pepsi flavored (sadly Pepsi Free was not available). You want a Pepsi, pal, you’re gonna pay for it.

Back to the Future Jailbird Joey Cake
ingredients:
-3/4 cup (1-1/2 sticks) unsalted butter
-2 cups sugar
-3 eggs
-2 teaspoons vanilla
-2-1/4 cups cake flour
-1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
-1/2 teaspoon baking soda
-1/4 teaspoon kosher salt
-1/2 cup buttermilk
-3/4 cup Pepsi

you’ll need:
-vanilla frosting
-light blue gel dye
-black icing
-orange icing
-white icing
-red icing

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Prep a rectangular cake pan by greasing it with non-stick spray or parchment.

In a medium bowl whisk the cake flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt. Set aside.

In the bowl of an electric mixer cream the butter and sugar until fluffy. Carefully add the eggs one at a time until incorporated, then add the vanilla.

Alternate buttermilk and Pepsi with the dry ingredients until combined.

Pour the batter into prepped pan and bake 40 minutes until done, depending on your oven. Let cool completely.

Set aside 1 cup of the vanilla frosting and mix that the blue gel dye. Set aside.

Once cooled, frost the cake with the rest of the vanilla frosting, evenly spreading it flat across the surface.

If you’re nervous about replicating the image, use a toothpick to sketch out the design, then go over the lines with the icing.

Pipe the inside of the cell with the dyed blue frosting you set aside. Don’t use all of it, you’ll need a small amount for details later. Use an offset spatula to get the frosting even.

Using a #4 tip, pipe the bird using the black icing. With the orange icing and a #3 tip, add the feet and beak.

Go back in with white icing to add details to the eye, and blue icing around the belly. Do the same with the black icing, outlining the beak and feet with a #2 tip.

Finally, use a #7 tip and red icing to add the lettering.

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What are you doing to celebrate Back to the Future‘s 30th anniversary? Let us know in the comments below!