Monster Jam Cake and Smash Cake
I am so bone-tired tonight that I'm afraid if I sit still for more than 2 seconds, I'll pass out and nobody will hear from me again til morning (or lunch...).
My husband has been working mids this past week (as in MIDDLE-OF-THE-NIGHT) and it just about killed me. He had been leaving for work around 10pm and getting home around 8am. He'd go to sleep shortly after getting home, sleep til around 5pm, then get up and try to have a semi-normal evening with us (me and the kids), then off to work he'd go.
The problem was - I don't sleep all that well when he's not home, so I found myself up til 2-3am every.single.night for a week... This is a very bad thing when you have 6 kids. Very bad. Most of those mornings I was able to sleep a little later than normal and recoup some of my lost sleep but not today... because we had church.
So as I sit here tonight on his last night of mids - I am running on steam ya'll. And not much of it. I'm pretty sure I won't have any trouble falling asleep tonight.
Since it's still another couple of hours before the hubby leaves and the kids go to bed so I'm going to try to power through it and blog. Because if I don't type - or clean - or move... I will be unconscious. Ha!
So - let me tell you about this Monster Jam Cake. It was 6" and 8" tiers of vanilla cake. I covered them in homemade marshmallow fondant (white on the bottom, electric green on the top), then decorated with Satin Ice Red and Black fondant. Oh and a mix of homemade marshmallow fondant and Satin Ice Black for the gray/silver.
The mud was piped chocolate buttercream using a large round tip from this large tube set. I *think* the client provided the trucks (or I likely ordered them on Amazon)... but I don't remember for sure.
I hand-cut the fire, used a small square cutter for the checkerboard, then the "1" from this set of number cookie cutters.
On the top tier I hand cut the Monster Jam logo... and it was um... challenging!? I sprayed some silver Wilton spray over it to make it shine a bit, but I didn't do multiple coats so it wasn't bright shiny (is that a think?).
You know what I mean, right? It was a thin layer of silver over gray so it was dull but still a little metallic.
I hand-cut the fire on top as well - mixed tylose into red and orange fondant, then let those dry for awhile so they'd stand. I "glued" flat craft sticks on the back with melted candy melts to hold them up. I used a tiny square cutter to do the black over white gum paste rectangle. The lollipop stick was also glued on with melted candy melts.
Bentley's name was done with these letter cutters on the board and Satin Ice Red fondant. For the smash cake, it was vanilla buttercream with black Satin Ice squares and the same "1" cutter (except I traced around it for a second layer to give it more dimension).
And that's it! I'm totally nodding off while trying to finish this so I'm feeling pretty confident that I'll sleep well and early tonight! I hope you all have a fabulous week!!
Do you have any questions about this cake? If so, leave me a comment!
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While you’re here, check out these other similarly themed cakes I’ve done:
Wonky Monster Truck Cake (one of my very first cakes!)
Rose,
This cake is awesome! Lots of detail! How do you get your fondant covered cakes done when you have more than one in a day? Do you refrigerate then once you've put the fondant on? I'm struggling with this and how to handle more than one cake in a day.
I never refrigerate cakes after covering in fondant. They always sit out overnight with no problem and they've sometimes sat out 2 nights (which is rare). I bake, cool, fill, and crumb coat all in one day, then refrigerate them overnight This is usually on Thursday. Then I usually cover and decorate in one day - on Friday. I can decorate any cake (just about) in 4 hours or less, so I can do up to 3 in a day. Then they're either picked up Friday afternoon/evenings or Saturday morning. I do this ALL THE TIME with no problems!
Thank You so much for the info! Your cakes are always amazing and thank you for sharing your knowledge!!
You're so sweet - thank you!!! xx
Wao Rose! You are one amazing woman. I dont know how you manage all the work plus the kids.
I need your advice with something. I'm a new baker and after I crumb coat my cakes I put them in the fridge over night but on the next day when I cover them in fondant the buttercream seems to melt underneath and the fondant doesn't look smooth. How can I fix this?
What type of buttercream do you use?
I use a crusting buttercream with mostly vegetable shortening because it's really hot and humid where I live. I've also tried it with Swiss meringue but I get the same result 🙁
I only use "American" buttercream. I just make sure the cake/frosting is really, really cold (I'll even put them in the freezer for 20 mins or so), then I do my best to get the fondant on the cake and smoothed before it starts to warm up! I have had it get soft and then I'd have to pull it off and start over (re-smooth the buttercream, freeze again, etc.).
Thank you! I'll try with the freezer then. 😉
This is the theme I'll be doing on my next cake in a couple of weeks! It will be for my MOST faithful customer who always lets me pick the design and I was feeling pretty uninspired, so thank you! I got the marvelous molds square onlay as a prize at cake fest and I think I will try to use it to do checkerboard somewhere. I'm just realizing that I was sent your other topsy turvey one as a request for an order a couple years ago but they ended up canceling and I didn't get to do it.
Aww, that's awesome Rebecca! I'm sure you'll do a fantastic job with it - your cakes are great!!
Do you use 2" or 3" pans for your cakes?
Thanks and great cakes
Always 2".
Hi, did you free hand the monster jam logo? I've been looking for a cutter but i cant find one. And if you made can you share how i can go about making one. Thanks so much for your help
I printed out a logo and laid it on top of fondant, then cut it out with a scalpel. Hope that helps 🙂