Hi,
I am making a thomas the train for my son's Birthday party. If any one has any tips. I would love it. This is only my 2nd 3d cake, last year made a very simple curious george big yellow hat. I already made the MMF...I think it turned out ok. It is not sticky, however, can to much crisco ruin it? Thanks for any help anyone can give.

I made a 3D for my son this year. He loved it. I used 2 mixes of Chocolate cake mix. Unfortunately it made it pretty heavy. Once the icing was on it wanted to lean back. So i propped it up with popsicle sticks in the pack and made it 'permanent' by putting icing around it. His was decorated in buttercream. I needed extra cake cause there were many people so I used mini loaf pans and made cargo compartments. Good luck! I had fun.

I made a 3D Thomas the train cake for my nephew's birthday a few weeks ago. You can see it in my pictures. I'd never done a 3D cake before. I used Rice Krispie treats for the train, which worked really well. I really squished them together. Probably the only thing I would've done differently would have been to ice the Rice Krispies with buttercream, so the bumps wouldn't show though the fondant.

Good luck!

Jodie

You are in luck, I have just done one myself. It is in my pictures if you want to see. Just let me know what you would like to know and I will be happy to answer as well as I can.

My best tip is to have a Thomas toy to use as reference. I was lucky enough to borrow a big toy so it was easier for me to keep the scale correct.

I did this with the 3d cake pan and it worked out great. I just used a star tip to decorate. Wheels are oreos, face is molded from fondant, and extra caboose cars are loaf pan cakes.

I had no problems with stability; I trimmed the bottom to make it flat.

Feel free to PM me with any questions at all. HTH

Marianne

I have had this saved forever, but have never used it, I hope it helps you.

http://thomasthetankenginecake.blogspot.com

Good luck.

Lisa

I did a Thomas cake a few months ago and I took some pics after I iced it and before the fondant went on...
There a bunch and all angles...also of Thomas's face and Sir Topham Hat..

http://picasaweb.google.com/JaneCakeface/ThomasTheTankEngine

Make Thomas's face a few days ahead and let dry..
Carve a cold cake...not frozen but very cold
Make sure your icing is quite thin or very easy to spread or you will tear edges of your cake if you are anything like me..

Good luck and HTH

Thanks, Lisa, for the link! That was the same tutorial I used to mold the train face but it was nowhere to be found on my computer.

Thanks for all the info. I'm going to practice on the face tomorrow!! JaneK did you use a mold or a sheet cake pan? Great cake!! BakingGirl Wow!! I was planning on using a 12x18 sheet pan, then just cutting the train shape. Does anyone has any tips on what is better for the black of the train? MMF with Wilton black color or make Coco MMF and add a little black? Can I make the cake a few days before then freeze it? If so, how long to I let it defrost before I start shaping? I'm sure I'll have more questions once I get going on the cake! Practice cake is for Oct 1st, Grandpa's birthday and my son's birthday is the 26th. So at least I have time

I used a sheet cake...I sent someone instructions and I will see if I still have them and if I do I'll send them along if you like...

I know I used 9" x 13" and they were cut into 1/3rds..so each piece was about 4" x 8" or thereabouts...stacked 3 layers high but I used part of another 9x13 which I had on hand in case of disaster...and built the cab up a bit...

You can see the shape well on the pics I sent..[/quote]

Sunshine, I cut my Thomas cake from a 9x13, just to give you an idea of size. The length of the locomotive is 9 inches. I stacked the cake 3 times, each layer is torted and filled so it was quite high. Where it is lower in the front I took off part of the layers. For the round part behind the face I used a round cookie cutter to cut layers of cake. The carriage in the back is cut from a separate 9x13.

I used the tutorial from Wendy to sculpt Thomas' face. It is a really helpful tutorial and well worth looking at. It is the tutorial posted by brightbrats in this thread.