Want to make a cake for your little one? If I can do this – you can too! I tried doing a fondant covered cake for my little one last year – Lightning McQueen – and it turned out really well for my first time ever using fondant. This year, my now 4 year old insisted he wanted a “Monster Truck Tow Mater Cake”. Well – how could I resist that challenge! Having only worked with fondant once before – I set out to see if I could make this cake happen. Little did I know that with the right tools, the use of you tube cake instructions, and some hard work and patience, the cake turned out better than I could ever imagine for my 2nd fondant cake ever!
So how did I do this? Well, first was sitting down and designing exactly how I was going to make it. I took my son’s little toy and literally measured it out – timed everything by 2.5 and was able to figure out exactly how much cake I would need etc. Honestly – the planning took some time, but I wanted the end product to be in proportion and look like the real thing.
I made all my cake (chocolate for body/base & rice krispies for tires) and buttercream ahead of time, bought my fondant, and gum paste. I made the tires a full week in advance – 3 peanut butter lids full of rice crisps – perfect. Black and red fondant covering them for the detail – and popped them into the freezer for safe keeping. Next was the base. A tier of 4 cakes high cut into a rectangle – in freezer too. Cut out the body and cab out of cake, and froze too.
Grass was made out of gum paste – my first time ever using gum paste – love the ability to make rock hard details way ahead of time! I also made the towing apparatus out of gum paste. So 2 days before the party, I took out the base – wrapped black fondant around it and attached the grass using water. I also put 4 dowels in the base to stabilize it – although I noticed by the next day, the base was definitely leaning! So I put a bit of cardboard under one side and wrapped some wire around the dowels to keep them in place – and the problem was fixed!
Next the body, this was the part that was either going to make or break the cake. I was nervous about using an entire piece of blue fondant to cover the entire top, so I broke it into 3 pieces. The cab, the front, and the back. Ran into a problem doing the front though – the fondant ran way too thin so I ended up wrapping a separate piece around the front – which ended up looking just fine. In fact, I think it gave some nice definition to the hood.
The day before, I ended doing all the details – which I think make the cake. All the small gold pieces were fondant or gum paste painted with edible gold spray paint. The only thing that isn’t edible on this cake is the towing string – and some wire I used to attach the gum paste pulleys to the towing apparatus. I wasn’t able to get gum paste to attach to them strong enough.
Another challenge I had was getting 2 thumb marks out of the back – we had company over, and someone said “hey what’s this?” and grabbed the cake by the tail and squished it together – ahhhhh! My son was quick to say – You are not supposed to touch! Ha ha … too funny …he had only heard that about 100 times by then!
Once all the detail was on – I popped the tires on with a blob of black fondant to the aluminum foil base and it was ready to go.
Now, what a reaction! I felt like supermom X2! We had about 14 kids plus family and parents over, none of them had seen the cake – or even knew about it. The reaction was worth all the effort! No one could believe that I had made the cake as it was only my 2nd fondant covered cake ever. The kids crowded around and all wanted to see it. My son wouldn’t even let me put candles in it! So they went in a fondant blob in front of it! What a feeling – to make something that was so special for my son. His mind was blown.
I did it! I pulled it off! Now he is already thinking of what he wants next year!
That’s really well done. I thought your wheels were plastic ones off a toy until I read that you made them!!!
I made a lightning mcqueen last year and used a similar technique for the wheels. I like the recessed rims – It sets it off and makes your cake look like a toy – I mean that as a compliment. Outstanding effort!!!
Your cake is spectacular!!! That is one lucky boy. Amazing job… and the LOVE shows all over!!