Coolest Train Birthday Cake Photos and Cake Decorating Tutorials

Here is a train birthday cake using the Wilton 3D cake pan as the engine car and three loaf pans as the other cars. I put a cupcake on top of the caboose. It was very easy to do. Just ice the train birthday cake and add candy and Voila!

Cool Black Train Birthday Cake

Train cake by Lisa R., Lancaster, PA

This train birthday cake is the Strasburg Railroad’s Canadian National Engine 89. My son is obsessed with trains and one of his favorite books is “Steam Train Ride” which features this actual train from the Strasburg Railroad in Pennsylvania. So although he spends hours playing with his Thomas train, his request for his 3rd Birthday cake was, hand down, Engine 89. This really was not as daunting a task as I thought it would be! You could customize this for whichever train your child cherishes. I used the pictures from the book as a guide, and it ended up being much larger than I had anticipated because the pans I chose for the wheels were fairly large; it took 5 cake mixes.

Carving and Decorating

As I’m not a professional cake decorator, I chose chocolate so that I wouldn’t have as hard of a time covering the train birthday cake and dealing with crumbs from all of the cutting and piecing together. I used chocolate icing to hold pieces in place. This portion didn’t require much icing, as it is only half of the train and things are really standing up. To frost the rest of the train birthday cake it is required to have 2 boxes of Wilton buttercream frosting and a LOT of black food coloring.

I used 2 large rectangular sheet cakes, 2 loaf cakes (1 for the tender, the other where needed), and 5 small deep round cakes for the tank and the wheels.

The wheel cakes were sliced horizontally, and the rest were sliced in half vertically and placed cut side down for the tank. I cut out a window of the top layer of the cab to insert a picture of Brendan doing his “All aboard” and used various “scraps” to fashion the lights (which had yellow licorice candies inserted), the steam dome and smoke stack. The bell is cut out of the orange licorice candy.

For the small wheels, I used fudge cookies. The backdrop was pretty last minute and could be easily embellished. I simply used icing to create my design and then sprinkled the appropriate color of sugar; non-parels for the smoke. Have fun with your train birthday cake! Add some cars, fill them up and go crazy!

Awesome Carved 3D Cake

Train cake by Ira J., B.C., Canada

I didn’t have a cake pan to make a 3D train birthday cake, so I had to just cut and trim by hand. I ended up with having a main train and then three train cars after it. The first one carried different colored animal cookies. The rails are made of chocolate wafer roll and the roof is a Hershey bar secured with frosting.

The second one is just filled with candy. The last is supposed to carry a small birthday cake. I decorated the last with lollipops to imitate balloons around a cake. I then topped off the mini cake with one candle.

Longest Ever Train Cake

Train cake by Jae H., Yorkshire, UK

This train birthday cake is a construction job rather than baking. Each truck is a Cadbury’s Mini Swiss Roll, balanced on a Rolo (or 2) with a bit cut out to put sweets in and mini Jammy Dodgers as wheels. The engine is a bigger chocolate covered Swiss Roll, balanced on 3 Rolos with 3 Rolos for the funnel and 1 for the dome.

I used a cake bar as the cab, but any chocolate covered bar would do. Big Jammy Dodgers make the wheels. Each child gets to choose a truck. Very easy and kids think it’s great.

You can either balance everything together or use a bit of chocolate icing to stick. You could draw a track / flowers etc. on a paper table cloth if you wanted.

Easy Homemade Birthday Cake

Train cake by Jennifer G., Pride, LA

This train birthday cake was exciting and easy to make. To make the three train engines, we used frozen pound cakes. Some we cut in half and stacked and the others were just halves. We used regular vanilla frosting and food coloring to make the Thomas blue, James red, and Percy green colors.

To decorate, we used KitKats as the tracks that the trains were set on, a Rolo for the funnel, animal crackers for the circus train, M&M’s for the coal, and a lot of sprinkles.

Oreos made the wheels and Twizzlers connected the three engines together.

It was a hit!

FYI – to keep any leftovers, it was refrigerated and it made the icing so delicious.

Incredible 3D Train Cake

Train cake by Julie D., Alvin, TX

For my son Ryan’s 1st birthday, we went with the train theme. This train birthday cake was inspired by several others on this website.

I used loaf pans to make the train cars. I cut one loaf up to make the caboose, and another to make the engine. The round part of the engine is a frosted soup can. The wheels are Oreos with M&M’s stuck on with frosting. Also, the track is just black licorice and Rice Crispies.

This train birthday cake was not that complicated, but it took a few hours to decorate.

In conclusion, it was worth it! He loved it!

Tasty Zoo Themed Train Cake

Train cake by Christina P., Kansas City, MO

This was my daughter’s second birthday cake. She loved the zoo so we had a “2 the Zoo” train birthday cake. I got the idea from looking at lots of different ways to make train cakes.

So, I made the train birthday cake using mini loaf pans. Then, for variety I cut some of the cakes into different shapes. The steam engine is from cutting the top off one of the loaves and cutting it in half. Also, the wheels are Oreos with M&Ms.

The smoke stack is a big marshmallow with a wire that has caramel corn strung on it. In addition, I used jellybeans, Twizzlers, and candy fruit slices to decorate the train cars. The cake was a big hit…especially the wheels!

Fun Homemade Train Birthday Cake

Train cake by Karen A., Lexington, KY

I made this train birthday cake for a 2 year-old boy I baby-sit for and he was very excited about it. It’s very easy to make.

I used 3 mini loaf pans for the cars. The locomotive is made of one loaf to make the body and the cab (just make it shorter than the other cars). Then, the smoke stack is a marshmallow covered in colored sprinkles. Also, color the cars any color you want (I used primary colors).

Then, the wheels are Oreo cookies and an M&M candy in the center of the wheels. To make the smoke – I used a skewer and mini marshmallows and then angled it to look like smoke.

The coal car actually looks like coal when you finish – I used the small packet of 100 calorie Oreos, crushed them but not powderized. Then I added a small amount of black icing paste and there you have it – coal., The logs are tootsie rolls (mini if you can find them otherwise I just cut them to size). Finally, the rails to hold them in are made of red licorice sticks.

Cool Wilton 3D Cake

Train cake by Tarra M., Caldwell, ID

My son Dillon loves trains so it was no surprise when he picked a train birthday cake for his third birthday. I looked through this site and got some great ideas. So, I was going to build the engine but my husband had already picked up the Wilton 3D pan. I loved it. It was easy to do and came out very well.

I basically followed the directions for that just changing the colors and a few things. I used 3 mini loaf pans for the cars, which works out perfect because the engine takes a little more than one cake mix. Then, I used black icing and a large round tip to lay down the tracks first and then put the cakes on.

I iced the cars smooth and added the Oreo wheels, crumbled Oreos for coal and pretzel rods on the other car for logs. The only thing I would do different really is to build up the caboose by layering another piece of cake on it. It just looked like it needed something after all was said and done. Decorating went fast and Dillon LOVED his train birthday cake!

Coolest Train Cake Cars

Train cake by Lisa S., Traverse City, MI

This train birthday cake was built from rectangular shapes cut out of a 1/4 sheet cake. Then, oreos were used for the wheels and placed underneath each car train to give it the look of being off the ground. In addition, graham cracker crumbs were used as gravel around the train.

Delicious Candy-Stuffed Train Cake

Train cake by Sara P., Gilbert, AZ

This train birthday cake was so much fun to create, although it took a long time! I just used store-bought chocolate cake mix and baked it in mini-loaf pans. The train cars are the loaf-pan upside-down, so they would be flat on top, and I sliced a little off the rounded part so they would sit flat.

For the engine of the train birthday cake, I just used a loaf and then cut a cube from an extra loaf for the back and smokestack, a triangle for the front, and just sort of sculpted it, sticking it all together with chocolate frosting. The gold metallic balls were a nice touch on the engine (available at any cake decorating store).

I hollowed out just about 1/2″ deep for the jelly belly car (coal car) and the same for the zoo car (animal crackers). I decorated with buttercream and embellished with candies. Also, I made cupcakes for the kids at the party since I wasn’t sure if I could bear cutting into the train cake!

Yummy Train Cake Idea

Train cake by Erika G., Milford, MA

I did a Train theme for my son’s first birthday. I used store bought cake and frosting and tinted the frosting with gel food color. Then, for each train, I used a loaf pan and for the engine. I used a loaf pan with about a third of a loaf pan on top.

I used dowels to secure the train birthday cake so that it would not tip over. For the log train, I cut the loaf cake down so it was a flat bed and bought cookies filled with chocolate for the logs. I cut out a reservoir and filled it with Dark chocolate Milky Way Popables for coal., Overall, the train birthday cake was pretty easy and everyone loved it.