Some time ago I believe someone wrote in with photos on how she put together a Thomas Tank Engine birthday cake from scratch (from several pieces) - a really 3D Thomas. I bought the Walton's Train Engine, but it is too small and really doesn't have any detail. I can't find it, but I now need the how-to article as the little boy across the street has a birthday on May 16 and loves Thomas. Can anyone help me? Thanks.

That was Wendy. Here's the thread...

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-20765.html

Thanks, Lisa. I'm not sure this is the cake I was thinking of; the article showed the internal layered construction before being frosted. Maybe I actually saw it on a different website. Anyway, Wendysue's cake and explaination are great so I'm going to use it. Thanks.

Hi!

A few weeks ago I had posted my directions on my version of Thomas the tank however some of the cake was made out of cookies...not sure if you had seen my post but here is the link...

http://www.cakecentral.com/cake-decorating-ftopict-22746.html

I hope your cake turns out great!

Kimberly

Thanks, Kimberly. Cookies are a great idea. I think I'll incorporate some cookies in my engine, too.

I think kjb's is what you were thinking of...I made a Thomas the train cake recently using her photo for inspiration........wish I had known about the instructions LOL I just winged it...it wasn't as good as hers but my son still loved it and that's what matters.

Ok, All, the birthday was yesterday. I made the Thomas Tank Engine cake for the 2-year old neighbor boy across the street. It took me a total of about 18 hours to make it. I gave myself 3 days to make it (the 3rd day I was on it for 12 hours) because I wanted it to be fresh for the birthday. Never again; too much stress, besides I'm not a Pro. There was to be another cake there, but I volunteered to make this cake for nothing just to see if I could do it. The rave reviews from all the adults attending the birthday party were payment enough, but I figured, if it had been ordered, I could have charged $200 - maybe.

Thinking back on what I said above $200 seems a bit steep. Maybe $100-$150 would be more in line? I used parts of two 2" X 11" X 15" layers of strawberry cake mix to make the engine. Black areas on cab roof, boiler, smoke stack (fondant covered pill bottle), blue wheel fenders and bell are marshmallow fondant, and the rest of Thomas is iced in blue, red, and yellow buttercream. Wheels are black Royal iced 3" sugar cookies covered with blue buttercream, and Thomas strattles a 3" X 3" X 12" section of cake iced in black and blue buttercream that is held in place with 2 dowls.

The wheels, added last when I got to the Party, were pasted on with buttercream icing.

The "grass" is buttercream sprayed with green food coloring on a 11" X 15" yellow cake.

The boiler is 2 layers of cake sculptured into a 6" long, 3" diameter cylinder and iced with blue buttercream and black fondant. The flat sides of the cab that extend over the boiler are blue buttercream-coated graham crackers.

Thomas' face is marshmallow fondant.

Click on "photos" for 4 more photos of Thomas.

I have the wilton 3D cake pan and plan on using that for my son's bday party in August. I did his 2nd bday party Thomas (my first "real" cake after I took course 1) and it was "ok" (also my avitar). I'm much better now, so I know it'll be a totally different looking cake this time around. Here's an enlarged view of the cake. The 3D cake pan works great for Thomas IMO.

SheilaF,

A month ago I ordered the Wilton 3D cake pan off the Internet, but really wasn't impressed with it as there was no detail. That's why I made my Thomas from scratch. I figured the 3D pan is ok if you're just trying to bake a cake in the shape of a train engine. If you are trying to bake a cake that, when anyone glances at it says, "Oh, that's Thomas Tank Engine!", well, you really have to make it detailed.

Thomas is the first cake of this type that I've done since I finished the 3 Wilton courses.

I've seen some of the 3D engines that come from the 3D pan and I must say that yours is really eye catching. Good job.

Thanks. I spent a lot of time on his face alone (it's all just frosting). I figure this time, I'll shoot for the actual colors and body shape too. Since the pan is not exactly the same as his body, but I have always just improvised buidling up with frosting, etc. I didn't realize how far off I was w/the body color and shape till much later. Since I had only taken the first two classes in course one (I still had the second to sessions to go). I kicked myself for not taking the classes years earlier as I tried to teach myself how to decorate cakes, but I'm a very visual learner. I don't do as well teaching myself from a book. The guys in my husbands office were bummed when the classes ended and I wasn't sending my practice cakes to work anymore.

SheilaF,

Don't think I'm being nitpicky, but one of the reasons that I didn't like the 3D pan is that the engine has a cow catcher. This is the Americanized version of Thomas. The British version doesn't have it. Americans just can't leave well-enough alone, can we? I guess people just don't think a steam engine looks like a steam engine without the cow catcher.

I believe Wilton first made it a generic 3D engine, and when Thomas came along decided to capitalize on him so started calling the cake pan Thomas.

Lol@Sheila and Dh's friends being bummed.......I took wilton course 1 and did the same thing with my cakes...after a solid month of cakes every Friday (my classes were Thurs. nights)...my DH said everyone at work looked at him funny the first Friday he came in with no cake!!! He said people were bugging him all day wondering if he had forgotten it and would be bringing it on Monday LOL ......Ward.........that has got to be the BEST Thomas I have ever seen......no kidding!!! It's totally awesome....I'm saving that pic. that gives me something to aim for next time I need to make one!! Awesome cake!!

Ward,
Your cake turned out great! I don't know how you balanced it so well!! It's fun to see other people's takes on Thomas. Very cool and I can tell you spent a great deal of time working out the fine details. Did you have any trouble with Thomas' face? Mine was a bit heavy and I had some concern it would fall off, but used piping gel and it worked like magic!
I wouldn't know what to charge for this cake either, that's very hard to say. I only charged $40 for the one I made, but probably would charge a little more next time around. Like you said, the reactions are worth a great deal more than the money.
Thanks for posting the pictures!

KHalstead, I did 8 weeks back to back when I took courses 2 & 3, so yeah, they were really wondering what they did wrong that they didn't get another cake! LOL. Although, the finial cake from course 3 sat there for at least 4 hours before anyone cut into it. They were apparently afraid to destroy it. I don't know who took the first pc, but it apparently went really fast after that

Ward, what is a cow catcher? I figured I'd just use one of Kyle's Thomas trains for reference. That's what I did with the face for the other one. My best friend actually screamed when I decapitated Thomas and put his head on Kyle's plate for the cake above. She is getting used to my creations now though

A cow catcher is the slanted part on the front under Thomas' face............hey I put one on my Thomas cake too.......the toy Thomas the train my son had looked just like it so that's what I modelled it after!!!!!!!! lol@friend screaming..........my son was thrilled to rip Thomas' face off and eat it hahahhahh!!

Ah. I didnt' realize that part had an actual name. We got to see the "real" Thomas IRL a few weeks ago. Got to get a photo of the kids w/him. They apparently have a Thomas festival up North of LA about twice/year. It was about a two hour drive for us, and totally worth it for the kids reactions. I used the photo we got w/Kyle and Thomas for the front of his bday invitations. Had them printed at Snapfish and they just got here a few days ago. Can't wait till his party! It's not till August though. I've got a mental image of the cake already in my head. i guess I should draw it out so I can make any adjustments and actually have a plan when the time comes (rather than just winging it-which is what I "usually" end up doing)

KHalstead,

Thanks. My wife took pictures to work on Monday and got rave reviews even without the real thing being there. Of course, this morning I had to bake a cake and take it to where she works. Another reason was that I was asked to bake and decorate a cake for a student office helper who is graduating (my wife is the Executive Secretary to the President of the University of Maryland, Baltimore County (UMBC)) and today is her last day.


Wendysue,

The b'day party was outside under a tent in a petting zoo. A short time after I put Thomas together (I was watching Thomas the whole time) the cake was on a picnic table and a pretty wobbly one at that. Everyone leaning against the table shook it a bit. After a while my wife hinted that Thomas was kind of leaning to one side; good thing I had used a couple of dowels to hold the bottom support up to keep it from moving and sliding off. I straightened Thomas up the best I could.

I had a small problem with the face. Since Thomas' face was so heavy it s-l-o-w-l-y fell to the point where it was finally supported under his chin. Even with toothpicks and icing holding it up it did finally fall off in the car after the party. When the party was over my wife and I took Thomas home to take him across the street since the b'day boy's car was full and there was no place to put Thomas in their car. I had to take him into our kitchen to give him some doctoring up before taking him over to the neighbor's house. IF I was to do it again, I'd make the face a bit lighter in weight, maybe by forming the fondant over a small thin syrofoam base. It was about 1/2 inch thick.


SheilaF,

If I had that much time until I made my Thomas, I'd make a plan on graph paper - draw it out to scale, maybe life size, to see how much cake mix and frosting I had to have. You don't want to come up short at the last minute and have to drop everything and run tho the store.

I'd also try to find somthing to bake a cylinder of cake in. I looked, but didn't find any cake pans at all shaped like a cylinder. Even after dropping the cake in the freezer for a bit it wasn't easy to form the boiler piece into a cylinder. It kept crumbling as I cut it.

Do crumb coat Thomas, too. The "before" and "after" the crumb coat really makes a difference - really brings out the shape.

I wrote out some instructions and added some other Thomas photos from books and scans to a text file. If you want it send me a "pm". I plan to get some other Thomas toy engines from the boy across the street. I'll send those photos to you, too, when I take them. If anyone else want them make sure I get an email address.

Ward,
For added peace of mind I had carefully placed a Wilton cookie stick inside of the fondant made face. I pushed it about half way through, then used piping gel on the back side. The cookie stick was placed into the bottom of Thomas' face with the opposite end resting on the cake board... resembled a cookie on a stick. It stayed on throughout the day and into the evening, even withstanding the 20 mile drive to the party. I did have a lot of concern though. Like yours mine was every bit of 1/2 inch thick and very heavy. I had made it in advance hoping it would dry out and lose some of the heaviness, but 3 days wasn't time enough. Even with it staying in place I still had concerns that the face would become distorted from it's weight, but didn't see too much of that. Made me curious how you handled the same concerns. I think the best advice I could give anyone else considering making this cake would be to make Thomas' face at least a week ahead of time. Also, to make more than one, just in case you have some sort of mishap. The face is a very important part of making this cake come together.
Anyway, glad it all worked out for you and like I said before you did an outstanding job!