Coolest 2nd Birthday Race Track Cake

My 2 year old is obsessed with Cars (the movie) so when I started to look for a Cars cake to do for his 2nd birthday I stumbled across this website and the car race track cakes. I felt like this would be a much easier option than doing an actual cake that is a car as I am a true beginner (my son’s 1st birthday cake was a slight disaster!). I was well prepared and started planning a month out, I hired a #2 cake tin, ordered fondant (and even the cake mix) and also bought cars figurines off eBay. I spent a little bit extra by going to a local Cake Supplies shop that supplied me with the essentials, I found this a big help.

The day before the party I decided to do the cake. Once I had baked it, I cut the cake in half and put chocolate ganache through the middle, this gave the cake some extra height and also some added flavour (it was a sponge cake mix). I lined my cake board with allfoil and then iced the #2 in butter cream icing (I added a tiny bit of vanilla essence for taste) and then added green food colouring until I was happy with the depth of colour.

Once iced, I then started to do the road, I had done research about how to use fondant (I have never used it before) and even though it was so hard when I started to work with it, after 15 seconds it softened – I couldn’t believe it; fondant was actually quite easy to use. I added a tiny amount of black food colouring until I the fondant turned grey, I sprinkled the bench with cornflour and rolled it out, I then used the #2 cake tin as a cookie cutter to get the road, then carefully placed it onto of the cake.

I used the left over fondant to cut out the white lines and do the lettering on the big tyre (I used a super sharp kitchen knife), make the tyres (very fiddly but well worth the fiddle!), make the stars on the side of the cake (I had star shaped cookie cutters) and make rocks (the brown balls around the start and finish lines and also the Happy Birthday sign). I then had to make more green butter cream icing to pipe around the edges (to cover where the edge where the fondant meets the cake) – I had to buy the head for my piping bag (I told the cake supplies lady that I needed to make grass!).

Lastly, I put up the signs (which I just did at work on the computer) then put the cars on the cake! It took me literally ALL day but the look on my son’s face was so worth it and all the adults at the party couldn’t believe it after my deplorable cake the year before!!

PS: It tasted amazing! No one even knew it was a “packet” cake mix – not even my husband!!

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