My dad was a John Deere engineer for 30 years and my family has been delighted that my now two-year old son loves John Deere tractors. For my son’s birthday, I did a John Deere tractor cake with a hay wagon behind it.
I used standard loaf cakes for the tractor and trailer, and stacked two thick slices of one loaf for the cab, which I secured using wooden skewers. For the wheels, I used large chocolate donuts for the back wheels and small “donettes” for the front and trailer, and filled the centers with yellow frosting.
I stacked Rice Krispie treats for the hay bales on the wagon. I think I used 4 bottles of green food coloring to achieve John Deere green! A trick to get the really black frosting: I dyed two batches of white frosting green, and when I had completed all of the green parts, I added black dye. It was an easy mix to start with the dark green and get up to a nice rich black color.
I tossed coconut in a Ziplock with yellow and red to get the dirt road, and in green in a separate bag for the grass. My son was very surprised to see a tractor in the fridge on the morning of his party!
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I love the cake. The doughnut wheels are brilliant. I’m sure it was very tasty, too!
I’ve never had the honor of meeting the obviously talentd and loving person who made this very special cake. But I do know her father and how touched he was by this cake. Never before did I realize how special–even magical–a BD cake could be.
Here is a cake which creatively celebrates the joy of a child’s birthday. But even more, it reflects the keen interest grandson and grandfather have in tractors. Could this child’s strong attraction to tractors at such an early age coupled with the grandfather’s distinguished career at John Deere be one of life’s mysterious secrets? I don’t know. What I do know is that no better gift could have been created by a mother for her son. AND for her father!
Alice, it makes my heart happy to think of the fun you had creating the JD tractor birthday cake. Reminds me of the “Miss Nelson is Missing” cake I made for you in elementary school!