Today is my niece turns three and since she loves trains, I figured I'd make her Thomas the Tank Engine cake. This is the first time I've ever attempted something like this, but thanks to the worldwide web and several bloggers around the world, I was able to pull it off.
Here's how I made my Thomas cake:
I baked one recipe of the best ever chocolate cake in a square tin with a remaining cake batter in a thin layer in another tin (the shape of this second tin doesn't matter much).
Once baked and cooled, I trimmed of the slight dome of the cake and cut the square cake in half to make two rectangular pieces. I then cut a 1/4 piece off one of the rectangles.
From the thin layer cake, I cut two circles using a cookie cutter and a couple of small squares. The circles will be used for Thomas's face, while the squares will be layered to make the chimney.
Using butter cream icing, I layered the cake, largest rectangle at the bottom, followed by the smaller one sticking to one end of the larger piece.
The circles in the gap were placed where the quarter that was cut off would have been and the quarter placed near the circles, but above the smaller rectangle and finally the squares for the chimney on top on this. (If you look at the image above, it'll give you an idea of the placement).
I crumb coated the entire cake and left it to dry.
Thomas's face is the most crucial part of the cake. Here's a video that show's you how to do it. I did change it around a bit by adding the white fondant for the mouth.
I left the cake and the face to dry overnight.
The next day I mixed the butter cream in the colours required and piped the icing across the cake. I also used some of the icing to stick Thomas's face on to the cake and voila! I had a Thomas cake that would serve about 8 people (large slices). :)
Here's a shout out to some of the blogs that helped make this cake a reality:
http://www.howtocookthat.net/public_html/thomas-the-tank-engine-birthday-cake/
http://thomasthetankenginecake.blogspot.co.nz/
Here's how I made my Thomas cake:
Once baked and cooled, I trimmed of the slight dome of the cake and cut the square cake in half to make two rectangular pieces. I then cut a 1/4 piece off one of the rectangles.
From the thin layer cake, I cut two circles using a cookie cutter and a couple of small squares. The circles will be used for Thomas's face, while the squares will be layered to make the chimney.
Using butter cream icing, I layered the cake, largest rectangle at the bottom, followed by the smaller one sticking to one end of the larger piece.
The circles in the gap were placed where the quarter that was cut off would have been and the quarter placed near the circles, but above the smaller rectangle and finally the squares for the chimney on top on this. (If you look at the image above, it'll give you an idea of the placement).
I crumb coated the entire cake and left it to dry.
Thomas's face is the most crucial part of the cake. Here's a video that show's you how to do it. I did change it around a bit by adding the white fondant for the mouth.
I left the cake and the face to dry overnight.
The next day I mixed the butter cream in the colours required and piped the icing across the cake. I also used some of the icing to stick Thomas's face on to the cake and voila! I had a Thomas cake that would serve about 8 people (large slices). :)
Here's a shout out to some of the blogs that helped make this cake a reality:
http://www.howtocookthat.net/public_html/thomas-the-tank-engine-birthday-cake/
http://thomasthetankenginecake.blogspot.co.nz/
