I can't believe I made my boys 2nd birthday cake. Not the fact that I made it... the fact that it's their 2ND ONE!! It's not suppose to go this fast is it ;) ... yeah, yeah I know the answer to that already.
I normally take pictures during the entire process of the cake building but this time was different. This cake was for my boys party so I already had the house decorated and half set up. I didn't have very much space to put cake supplies and cake to take pictures. So instead of taking pictures during the entire thing I only took finished product. Oh and when I thought about taking pictures I decided not to because I thought the cake looked HORRIBLE... then it was finished and if I do say so myself think it was out of this world!
Disclaimer... This is NOT an original idea. I searched online for train cake pictures. When I make cakes I normally get an idea from the client (invitation, decorations, ideas, etc.) and then search for other peoples creations. After seeing a few I take (what I think are) the best parts from each and incorporate them into mine. However, when I was searching for train cakes I came across this one and right away knew that I wanted to duplicate it!
These are the little accessories to the cake. I LOVED how there were 2 engines. How perfect was that. One engine for M and one for G!
Normally when I make figurines I do it completely out of fondant or gum paste. This time I decided to do the figures out of Rice Krispie Treats and then just cover them in fondant. I didn't want to wait long for the block of fondant to dry and stiffen so I thought I would squish some treats to form cars. It was SO easy!
The cake is made out of 2 10 inch rounds and 2 8 inch rounds. I cut a hill (or spiral) down the cake to form the train track.
I piped brown buttercream to make the spiral look like a track.
I piped green grass around the edge of the track and edge of the bottom of each cake. Then I piped some trees and made some fondant clouds.
I love the steam coming out of the train.
I definitely think there is an easier way to carve a spiral. I think next time I ever have to make a spiral cake I will 'waste' more cake. I don't love the seam of the two different sizes. If I use larger circles I think I can avoid some of the dislikes I have.
Here's the cake the day of the party with it's candles all ready to be lit to sing to M and G.
G (left) and M (right) blowing out their 2 candles. M actually blew out BOTH of his candles on his own. G was blowing perfectly but the air was angled the wrong way so Mommy helped a little bit (I don't think he realized... I hope not anyway because they were having SO much fun blowing out the candles).
