I have a request for a thomas the train cake, but was trying to avoid the the thomas pan
a. its illegal
b. i don't have it and am not paying ebay price for it for 1 cake

so I have 3 train pan options.. the 3D locomotive mold from Williams Sonoma, the 3D little choo-choo from wilton, and the character pan called little train from wilton..... I emailed all 3 examples and the mom wants the little train pan decorated like thomas and 1 single locomotive from the WS for the boys smasher....

if you have made a thomas train pan from the little train pan (not the thomas pan) please let me know so I can view photos... or if you have any other ideas, I would appreciate it! This cake is due on the 21st of this month.

Ok.. I will try a different way to get this puppy bumped... I was thinking last night while trying to sleep about carving the body of the thomas train from a sheet.... does anyone have a template for this? I would use donuts for the wheels I think... I am just having no luck on finding a way to do this cake legally w/o the pan.

The below tutorial is quite fantastic...
I saved it to my favorites, forgive me but I can't remember who the author is but it is really great - using rounds and squares if I remember correctly.
It doesn't use a pan so that would help you with the infringement issues...

Hope this helps

http://thomasthetankenginecake.blogspot.com/

I read where you said it was illegal to use the Wilton Thomas the Train cake pan. Why? Is that because you would be making it to sell? I don't understand the legalities of cake baking. I only bake for family and friends which means no $$$. Just wondering.

yes I just meant the legality if money changes hands... but I also DON'T have this pan and didn't want to pay for it on ebay for this one cake. I am trying to get rid of all of my character pans for this very reason, legality so when I am legal it won't be an issue. I keeping main stuff like Cars, Dora, SS, cinderella for my children, nieces and nephews... they are family.. so no sweat

Dannysmom.. thanks for that link it is AWESOME.. the mom doesn't want a 3D cake though.. but I AM going to use the face part of that tutorial, because I can put it on a sheet. Thanks so much!

Hey! It's me, the author of the Thomas tutorial.

I have seen people use the pan you speak of to make the Thomas train and in fact I think one of the photos on Flickr uses this pan. I have it among the photos on my Thomas Squidoo site: http://www.squidoo.com/ThomastheTankEngine/


As far as legalities go, my understanding is that we can't sell any cake that is a licensed character... so if it looks like Thomas it's a problem. Whether anyone will know or not, I can't say. I know people sell cakes all the time patterned after licensed characters... I won't do it, but I don't really sell cakes as I'm not even a licensed baker yet. I make the majority of my cakes for friends and family members.

When you buy a licensed cake in the supermarket, they're using picks and images that are purchased with all the legalities taken care of. Disney or whomever created the image is getting their 2 cents, so they're not breaking any rules.

Anyway, I'm not an expert in this area, but wanted to share with you what I knew! Or at least, my understanding of things.

To be quite honest with you, if my tutorial weren't on a licensed character, I'd be charging a couple dollars a pop for it, but since that's not the case it's free!! lol, I'm just hoping to make a few cents here and there on the site from the Google Adsense (advertisements). My next tutorial may not be free... they're a lot of work!

Take care!
Wendy

I HAVE DONE A THOMAS CAKE FROM THE TRAIN PAN FOR MY LITTLE GIRL. IT IS IN MY PICTURES. I DID IT ALL FREEHAND THOUGH.

Ditto DannysMommyVal - thanks for the link!

Hi Suzie

I have this thomas the tank, i also have full step by step instuctions and a template, just PM me your email address and i can send them to you if you are interested..

Going with what Wendysue said..

While I don't think you're going to get sued for a Thomas the train cake, my mother does a little trick when working around those sorts of things for her own business.

Instead of charging in your paperwork for a Thomas the train cake, you'd charge for "The World's Most Expensive Cupcake." Seriously, make her a cupcake for the price of the whole cake (at least according to the paperwork) even though you're actually making the cake, and if anyone starts asking questions, you threw in the cake for free!