I was up until 3am working on this cake last week. Somehow I was just sucked into it and couldn't quit. And I was loving it. All the details were just.... soothing to me (please don't think I'm a weirdo!).
If you're a cake decorator, you may know what I'm talking about... sometimes decorating cake can be very therapeutic. Sometimes it can have the opposite effect and make you think you should be locked in a padded room (I'm not saying that's ever happened to me... haha!), but more often than not, I truly enjoy what I do!
For this transportation themed cake, Kelly (mom) said little Zachary loved all things with wheels and she specifically requested a car, a truck, a 4-wheeler, and a tractor!
She sent me the John Deer tractor set and the Hot Wheels car.... I shopped and found the big wheels truck on Amazon and the 4-wheeler... well I ended up having to order it on ebay. Those little buggers are not easy to find in "Hot Wheels" size!
I sculpted cake on top of the 2 layers of 9x13 sheet cakes to look like hills, then I covered it all in green marshmallow fondant (MMF). To get the band around the side, I rolled out blue MMF and used my pizza wheel to cut a strip almost 4" tall and about 45" long. Then I rolled it up unrolled it around the cake (gluing it on as I went).
You can see that technique here... I did this cake the same way I put ribbon on the Superman cake. Then I used the white plastic letter cutters to do the name (I traced around them on red fondant to give them backing) and I used the largest hole disc with my extruder to do the red borders.
I used a grass tip for all the grass... and a Wilton basket tip #47 to do the garden rows (I alternated using the smooth and grooved edge).
For the road, I rolled out a long strip of black fondant, then I cut it about 2" wide with my FFM Ribbon cutter. I made the yellow lines with my extruder and I piped on the white dashes.
I really loved designing this cake and my boys all thought it was really cool! I hope Zachary did too!
Did I miss any details? Do you have any questions about this cake? Please leave them in the comments!
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Terry Carter
Another great cake.
Rose
Thanks so much Terry!
Megan
Adorable, and cool sculpting! I haven't tried that yet, nervous to do so! Did you sculpt it after you froze the cake? I would think that would make it easier. Then put icing on it before doing fondant?
I think the only tidbit you didn't mention was how you created the #2.....
Thanks for sharing, and for all the tips! LOVE your blog! I am so grateful to Kristen for pointing me to it!
Rose
Megan, from time to time I get a new comment on an old post and find an old comment that I somehow missed. That's what I found today here. So sorry about that! Yes, I always put cakes in the freezer for at least 20 minutes before trying to carve/sculpt. Sometimes even for hours if I need the whole thing frozen! Then I put the buttercream over the frozen, carved cake, then I do the fondant. I hope that helps! As for the "2"... I rolled out a long rope of fondant (mixed with Tylose), then shaped it in the "2" shape and let it dry overnight. Then I used my "glue" to attached a floral wire on the back (the end of it was bent down and about 2-3" long so I could insert it into the cake), covered by another thin strip of fondant... and let it all dry.
kristin garcia
how did you make the mud for the 4 wheeler
Rose
If I remember correctly, I made chocolate buttercream and added black gel coloring to make it really dark. Then I also mixed in some crushed Oreos to make it really thick so it would hold up good with the 4 wheeler on top.
Alexis
OMG... I think I'm going to use this type of design for my son's b-day in January! I will have to include a fire truck though; maybe there will be a field or baler on fire! 🙂 I'm not familiar with fondant at all though, but I would like to give it a shot. :-S I made it once, and it was a disaster; I hear the marshmallow fondant is much easier though, so I will have to try that kind. I am pinning this cake! This is the idea that I have been looking for!