A co-worker has asked me to make a "tanker" railcar cake. Among other things my company does we offloads rail cars. A tanker railcar is shaped very similiar to a tanker truck like milk is hauled in. The area that holds the product is cylinder shaped. She wants the cake to be 3-D. She doesn't want the tanker to be made of fondant, she wants it to be a cake decorated with fondant. Is it possible to make a cylinder shaped cake???? 
She wants the cake in a couple of weeks. Please help!!!!
You can bake a cake in a can.. Find a can the size you want the cake to be.. and use that. You might have to adjust baking times etc. Do a practice cake or two to get it right but it does work!
You can also make cylinder shaped cakes by doing them as jelly rolls and fill it with whatever you want, it doesn't have to be jelly. That way you can make it long if you need to.
I've never baked in a can, but have been told some VERY useful tips (of course, I got these tips from geniuses here on CC)...
Whatever can you choose to bake in, make sure it was housing a mild-tasting product. For example, someone told me that she tried to bake her cake in a tomato soup can, but the cake came out tasting like tomatoes. Needless to say, she said it wasn't very appetizing! Also, she warned against the chicken broth cans that are lined with a white, foamlike lining. She said that lining absorbs the chicken flavor, so again- your cake may end up tasting like chicken broth! I'm not sure which brands do/don't have that lining, but just wanted you to keep your eyes peeled! HTH! 
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