Firstly, you shouldn’t be listening to any advice I give. I don’t make cakes as such. I’m a 30 year old Australian Dad, who just makes his kids their cakes. I have no training and possibly no idea when it comes to baking. In the past I have searched the net for a cake recipe for my annual bake. I only make and decorate cakes for my son’s birthday (he just turned three) and now I have 2 sons so there will be two cakes each year. I have always put effort into the cakes I make and have gathered interest from my wife’s friends to see what kind of cake I’m going to reveal for the birthday party.
This Homemade Lightning McQueen Cake is my third cake ever. I used this site for ideas and inspiration, so I thought I should contribute. I can’t offer too much in the way of advice, and please forgive me for my lack of technical knowledge.
The first thing I did was searched on the net for an image of all the stickers over the body of Lightning Mcqueen. I stumbled across a forum which was based upon model cars for the “Cars” movie where the forum members made their own art for the model cars. These were probably created on some sort of CAD program. I found a high resolution image of all the stickers that I would need.
I then searched for a profile image of Lightning Mcqueen. I used a computer to scale and overlay the sticker images over the profile of the car and adjust them where required. This was done, so I could print the stickers (decals) on edible paper – it was actually like edible icing sheets (very thin), but I don’t know the name. I had it printed at a patisserie anyway.
I printed out a couple of copies of the profile of the car on A3 normal office paper, so I could use it as a guide to size rims and tyres and use it as a stencil to carve the car. I used a toy car to scale the approximate dimensions.
I made the wheels out of red and black precoloured fondant. I just moulded them over a plastic egg that I found in the boy’s toy box. Then used an icing (frosting) pen to add the wheel details. These were made the night prior to cake construction.
I used a few large tins to make a chocolate mudcake for the body, which took forever to cook – amateur mistake. I should have used smaller tins and more of them. Anyway, I let them cool and stacked the cakes and went to work on carving the cake. I would use the stencil I printed on A3 to get the profile right, but the rest was carved by eye.
The next step, I made up some dark coloured butter icing (frosting) and covered the entire car. I chose a dark colour in case any of the fondant I would apply later did not cover some areas (this wasn’t an issue, but I just covered all bases).
I then started with the windows. I had white fondant and precoloured black and red fondant at my disposal. I rolled some white and black fondant to get the grey for the windows. I cut just enough to cover the windows and then tapered the fondant near the edges of the windows so that the red fondant wouldn’t have a bump under it. The white fondant was rolled and used on the mouth and windscreen. I then rolled the worlds largest sheet of red fondant and found the best way to transfer it over the cake was by putting some baking paper over the fondant and rolling it all around the rolling pin. I then unrolled it over the car body. I don’t know how the professionals do it, but that worked.
Using a small ball of red fondant, I rolled this over the body to smooth it out as I saw this trick on a youtube video. Once happy that the body was smooth (or smooth enough for my skills), I cut the mouth and windows out to reveal the white and grey fondant that was underneath. I then rolled out the rear spoiler ant propped it with toothpicks until it could support itself as it hardened slightly. The tooth picks were then removed.
Next it was time to add the stickers. From memory I just cut around them with a knife and added a touch of water to the surface that they had to be applied to. The edible images were added where needed – even the text on the tyres are edible images. That part was very easy.
I went to bed at around 3am, so I could get a solid 3 or 4 hours sleep for the party the next day. Our boy was impressed with Dad’s efforts.
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This is incredible! I wouldn’t even attempt it! Looks great!
Wow what a great cake. I have grandkids that I Make cakes for but they are not as detailed as yours. Great, Great, Great Job.
This is the best Lightning McQueen cake I’ve seen! I am attempting to make one myself and this will help me a lot. Thanks for posting.
I do have one question … Where do I get the stickers from?? I can’t find any high resolution images on the net. You didn’t save them by any chance?
Do you remember what forum you used to get the decal/sticker graphics?
And how did you do the eyes? They look amazing! The whole car is amazing!!
Man if you were my husband I would get you to make all the Birthday cakes. I think you have topped it on this one. Looks great its for eating. Bet it tasted great.
Thanks for such detailed instructions! Especially handy advice for applying and smoothing the red fondant. Your kids are blessed to have such a daddy!
I forgot to add:
Once you have applied the white fondant for the mouth and eyes, cover it with a small piece of baking paper about the same size as the eyes and mouth, so that when you roll the red fondant, the red doesn’t colour the white. Once the red fondant has been applied, remove the baking paper when you cut the eyes and mouth shapes out of the red fondant.
The best Mcqueen cake ive seen! :)
I’ve probably had 30 requests for the sticker emails since posting up the pics. I’m still happily emailing them out, so if you want them, just ask.
Thanks
Kirk
Great details. Very talented dad. Thanks for your detailed discription on how you did the cake. It helped me with making one for my nephew.
Hi, Your cake look amazing!! Congratulations!!! i would like to know if you could please send me the pictures of the stickers. I need to make a cake and it is very difficult to find them, Thank you
chabelanyc@gmail.com
I really appreciate it.
Have a sweet day!!
Hi everyone,
I really appreciate the interest in this cake. I have recieved heaps of emails over the past year requesting the sticker templates (about 2 or 3 per week). Elad has helped me out by hosting the templates on this page. Please see just above the start of the comments above. There should be two links to the template pages. I am still recieving requests via email. Could you please look on this page for the links to the templates. If you still can’t find them, then feel free to email. :)
Thanks again.
Kirk
Very impressed – im attempting one this week – if its half as good I will be ecstatic ! well done
you are truly bless man, for no experience you are gifted. just plain out amazing.
thats wicked could you please send me the files i cant wait to try it out
What size cake pans did you use and how many? What method did you use to carve the cake? It has been the best one I have seen so far, so I am interested in getting mines to look just like yours!
For your third cake ever…this is AMAZING!! It’s great that you can learn so much from the internet. I was wondering if you have the template for the profile of the car as i’d like to attempt making one myself (although i doubt it will be anywhere near as awesome as yours). Could you email it to me at tegancook@hotmail.com
Thanks you!
What an amazing cake.
I’m very glad that I’ve found your description. Because of you, I have the posibility to make my boy the happiest child on his 3 year old birthday next tuesday, if I can make it look just it bit like yours :)
Thanks a lot for sharing your great work
Annette, Denmark
Your boys are blessing with an amazing father. I spent three days finding the stickers and template for my grandson cake, until I found yours. Thank you so much for share. Will you please send the template to my email – iortizb@prtc.net. I appreciate. Thank you.
Please, I going to make mcqueen, will you send the template. I appreciate, thank you.
Irene,
Thankyou for the comments, I’m flattered.
I sent you the sticker templates along with a side profile and tutorial document yesterday. Sometimes it is best to email me directly (my email address is on a comment above) as the comments on this site can take a few days to be put up after you submit them. Links to the 2 sticker templates are on this page – Please scroll up.
For others looking for the templates, please check this page prior to contacting me. The templates are on this page. If you require further information I am more than happy to help.
Thanks again to everyone for the interest and comments.
Kirk
Kudos to you, fantastic job on the cake! Thank you sooooo much for sharing your instructions and the sticker templates. I was wondering how on earth I was going to make a Lightning McQueen cake and am so thankful I stumbled upon your instructions. You are very talented, can’t wait to see what you come up with next year!
Please, I going to make mcqueen, will you send the template. I appreciate, thank you.
I loved yout take on this cake, very practical, the stickers can save a lot of time, have loads to do for my kid’s party and this will save me hours. Thanks for all the good tips
If I make a cake the exact same size as you made, will the sticker templates you provided be the same size as the ones on your car or will I still need to size them?
Thanks!
You need to know that you are a Godsend. If I didn’t have those sticker templates, I would’ve sunk my face into the car cake and cried. And the fondant colours would’ve run everywhere. THANK YOU!
Jen,
To be honest I cant remember. I had it all set to a certain size on my computer and when I had them printed out at the patisserie the stickers were slightly smaller than I had planned and slightly smaller than the test sheets I had printed on test paper at home, but I just went with what I had. Best to search for a side profile on the net and check against that. I just checked on my computer and the images above are set for a 36cm (14.1 inches) long cake. Open a profile image up and view at 100% – stretch the profile image up to 36cm or 14.1 inches. If you are viewing at 100% you should be able to measure with a ruler on the computer screen for a rough size. Print that on A3 paper and use that as a side stencil to carve the cake. The option is there to resize the stickers. Always print them off and check against the profile before paying for edible images.
Found this while searching for templates and then found that you’re located in Perth WA too! So awesome and so good of you to offer these out to people! Brilliant work.
Hi
Thank you sooooo much for the templates. I do party cakes for a living and is always looking for the lighting mcqueen signage, now i have them for life.
Hi Kirk! I have found your beautiful McQueen cake in the net while searching for template for my 3-year old son’s birthday cake. If you would be so kind and give me some more information about how you make your cake I would be appreciate. I have following questions:
-what was the measurement of the silver pad under the cake?
-have you got some pictures during making the cake?
-are there 2 layers of cake with the sugar filling between them (I mean the part with eyes and windows)?
-have you got the template you used to curve the outlines?
Thank you in advance for your help!
Hi Ann,
To answer your questions:
I don’t have the board anymore, but it was about 450mm x 450mm – at a guess.
Yes I have more pics, and a bit of tutorial.
The cake itself isn’t fancy – think basic… I probably just joined the cake blocks together with butter icing or jam.
Do a google image search for lightning McQueen side profile and you should get some low resolution images. Just enlarge them for a profile to get the size you want. It doesn’t matter if they become pixelated.
Thanks
Kirk
Hiya I love your car and am thinking of doing the same with the stickers, what was the size of your car cheers x
Thanks. 36cm or about 14 inches when printed on A4… You can resize them to suit whatever you want. Search for a side profile of Lightning McQueen in google images… They are low quality images but they are ok to enlarge to your desired size and print on A3 to make a stencil.
I Wanted to say awesome job on the cake, but most of all thank you for supplying the templates for the car decorations, I actually found a place on line that would print them on sugar paper for me and mail them! My grandsons 5th birthday is next month and he wants this cake so he shall have it, thanks to you!
This is so great! I am travelling two days I need to get this cake done and I was freaking out thinking about how I would manage to get it done and get my packing done as well! This saves me so much time. Thank you so much for sharing.
Great job, by the way! It’s the most authentic looking Mcqueen cake I’ve seen so far… and I’ve seen a LOT of them :)!
Thank you for posting such detail and sharing your hard work – its refreshing to come across people willing to share tips with others. Going to try this in 2 days for my son’s third birthday. Thanks!
wow. this is amazing, exactly what my little boy asked for. Any chance you can send me the pngs so I can edit them with his name instead?
Absolutely brilliant!!! Best one I have seen so far!
This is awesome! You are very talented. Obviously I like most others are having to create a lightning mcqueen cake for a upcoming birthday…can you please email me the sticker templates so I can get them printed and also the instruction tips you mention in other posts….thanks so much! Nicole@tronic.com.au
hi I REALLY NEED THE STICKERS BUUT I CAN’T DOWNLOAD THE STICKER CAN YOU SEND ME THE PICTURES PLEASE
Hi everyone.
Once again, thanks for the continued interest and comments via email and messages. I have a few people comment that they can’t download the templates and some saying they have to sign up to a monthly subscription prior to downloading (???) the templates. I have tried both saving the template images and printing them directly from the web. Both seem to work just fine and I haven’t subscribed to anything. The links are above. Directly under the heading “Sticker Templates”, it has written “Sticker Template 1” and “Sticker Template 2”. Click on those links. They are just jpeg files. If you still are having troubles, please send me an email or leave your email address so I can send them to you.
Thanks again.
Hi,
I’d like you send me the original file, so i can resize it, because for the size of my cake, i get a little trouble with quality of the image.
lenningomez@gmail.com
Thank you very much.
Hi Amy
Thanks for your comment. You can download the images from a link on this page if yyou scroll up just above the start of the comments.
Hi! I have been browsing the internet for a Lightning McQueen cake template for weeks now…only to find yours today (3 days before I must deliver the cake!) Can you please send me the templates?! My e-mail is kuzettedt[at]gmail[dot]com. Your cake is so nice!!
Thank you!!
Regards
Kuzette
The templates are being kindly hosted on this site.
Scroll up and click on “Sticker Template 1” and “Sticker Template 2”.
I will continue to send to email addresses supplied, but messages can take some time to appear here.
Please search first. You could probably put “Lightning Mcqueen Template” into google images as well and they will appear in the first few results too.
Thanks for the interest.
Kirk
Hi,
Thank you for sharing the template.
It helped me a lot for doing my first 3D Lightning McQueen cake. :)
chokiesstore.blogspot.sg/2014/09/3d-lightning-mcqueen-cars.html
Hi!
First, I want to thank you for sharing your experience with us.
I want to make the 3D Lighting Mcqueen cake, but I am very confused about the cake size and dimensions. Please let me know the cake dimensions and if it fit with the template. I don’t have experience with 3D cakes. I want the cake to serve 25 people. Can you tell me the dimensions of cake and size of the pan. Thanks!
This cake is amazing!!
I would like to receive the templates please!! My email is dkmussali[at]gmail[dot]com.
Also, how many people does this cake serve?
Hi! First off, best Lightning cake I’ve seen. Very impressive. Just wanted to ask about how you got the cake dimensions. I understand how you got the length and image, but how did you get the width or depth of the cake.
Hi! I’m very interested in the original image templates used for this cake.
My mail is solcitasantana[at]gmail[dot]com
Thanks and regards!
Great job! BEST I have seen.
That’s the best McQueen cake I have ever seen. My son will turn three after two weeks. He loves McQueen and I want to bake and make him one. Can you please share dimension templates with me? I really can sort out dimensions of cake.
Hi! This cake is so well detailed. Please send me an email with the pdf details. Please! kemie@live.co.uk
I would be so grateful! And once again, good job.
Also, what size pan did you use for the car (assuming you carved it out)?
Hi. Thanks for your comments.
If you use this side profile (hopefully this link works, or else cut and paste into your browser / web address bar)…
rlv.zcache.ca/cars_lightning_mcqueen_profile_disney_ringer_mug-r4eedeed8df454848b154aac6cea2f851_i3v75_1024.jpg?rlvnet=1
Print that out on A3 paper so the car itself is 36cm (14 inches) from front bumper to back bumper. You may need to stretch the image. Use that as a side template. Print the images in the links two template links at the top of this page and print them as full size images that take up full A4 sheets. You can resize these to whatever you require, but just remember to resize the side template too. As for the width of the car, I’m trying to remember how big it was, but it was 4 years ago and most of it I just cut by eye. I would guess the width to be about 18 – 20cm (7 or 8 inches). You can make the block out of 1 big cake or lots of small ones joined together – It doesn’t matter. The links to the sticker templates, are at the top of this page. Thanks and good luck with your cakes.
Kirk
Thanks a lot for the templates, I have used them twice and the results were great!!
Hi There,
I am building a cardboard McQueen for my 4 yr old and was wondering if it would be posible to obtain the files of the flashes, rusteze etc stickers to finish off the design. The is about 2.5 m’s long and 1m tall!
Thank you for any help you can provide
Douglas
douglas@doulasclarke.com
Such an amazing job! Was there a template or outline of the car that you used to cut the shape of your cake?
I used your templates to make a lighting mcqueen cake. Thank you so much for sharing all this. You can see the cake from my facebook page sweet & tasty llc. Thanks again.