Train Cake - Everything That Could Go Wrong, Did!
Decorating By Erika1276 Updated 17 Apr 2007 , 3:45pm by kbochick
Well, my son was turning 3 and wanted a train cake. I was going to do a very basic engine but he told me that it had to have an engine, coal car, passenger car and caboose. I figured, how hard could it be since they are all basic shapes...wrong!
I started out by making two half sheet cakes and cutting them into 4 long narrow pieces and then torting those. Then I made the filling and put all four cars together to freeze so it would be easier to carve. I read that trick here, but it did not end up working for me and I don't know what I did wrong.
When I took the frozen cakes out of the freezer, I carved them and they looked great, but then the buttercream froze on the cakes! I could not spread it out at all and then it started pulling off. By 2:30 in the morning I had enough and just did what I could and figured he would love it and my family would not care. The last thing I did was write on it with royal icing which I found the next moring had dripped down the cake.
Of course, it was still a hit with the fam, but wow was I frustrated! Any tips on this whole freezing thing would be much appreciated! I tried to follow the instructions to add the picture as an attachment but that was not working for me either. The cake is in my pics. I think I need to just do nothing for awhile! 
Well, from the picture, it sure doesn't look like a disaster!
It is an adorable cake, and I'm sure your son loved it!
As for the buttercream freezing onto the cake, I'm not sure why that happened. Perhaps the icing was a bit too thick?
I'm sure some others will have some advice for you.
Dianna
Thank you for the kind words! Justsweet, to answer your question, I did not let it come to room temp, but in the past I have taken cakes straight from the freezer, filled them and then frosted. So the only thing I can think of is maybe the cakes are warmer because it takes time to fill them, stack, fill, stack, etc? And by the time I actually frost them, they are more room temp than completely frozen. I just do not want to look at any more blue buttercream for awhile! 
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