Cool Train Birthday Cakes and Decorating Ideas

I first want to thank you for having such a helpful website. I used this site and several of the recipes for ideas for train birthday cakes. I made this for my son’s 2nd birthday party. I would definitely recommend using the frozen pound cakes for the engine and cars. I used a total of 3 cakes and cut them all in half which allowed me to have the engine and 4 cars.

To start with, lay out the tracks (I used chocolate wafer cookies) and I spread brown sugar around to look like dirt. I also had my son and his grandpa go outside and collect rocks to use as decoration around the tracks.

I bought ready made frosting. Everyone seemed to like the butter cream and decide which colors you want for the cars. Then spoon about half of each container of frosting into a glass bowl and add food coloring and mix until your desired color is reached. I recommend putting the train car you are decorating onto an upside down paper plate to frost then move the car over to the tracks and touch up as needed.

I used Oreo cookies for the stacks on the engine with a dollop of frosting on top. Then I added different types of candy to each car. I also used Oreo cookies for the wheels with a drop of frosting to hold an M&M.

To connect the cars to each other I used chocolate twizzlers. This was my first attempt at anything like this and it turned out very nice my son loved it. Give yourself at least 2-3 hours to decorate train birthday cakes.

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Train birthday cake by Denise C., Sugar Land, TX

I made this train cake for my son’s 3rd birthday. I combined ideas from a few pictures of train birthday cakes I saw on this website. (Thanks!!) I started with train tracks and used graham cracker sticks (stuck down with frosting) for the crossties and black licorice for the tracks. I put some graham cracker crumbs around the tracks to fill in a little and make it look like dirt around the tracks.

I baked 2 cake mixes in a loaf pan a 9X13 pan and a green bean can (for the round part of the engine). That was more cake than I ended up using but I would’ve needed more than just one cake mix. I cut up the various cakes into the different cars (an engine, a coal car, an animal cage car, a “miscellaneous” car and a caboose) and frosted them with buttercream frosting that I made. The only one that was very complicated was the engine.

For the engine I started with the bottom which was cut from the 9X13″ cake (it was shorter) into a rectangle with a point at one end to be the cattle catcher. I frosted this portion. Then I put the cake from the green bean can on top (and I cut off just a little off the bottom so it would sit flat easier) and frosted it. Behind the round portion I put another rectangle for where the engineer would sit. I used more cake for the smokestack and then some polyfill (stuffing–yes inedible but it looked good) for the smoke. I just stuck a toothpick into the polyfill and then stuck it into the cake.

I used Oreos for the wheels and for the light at the front of the engine. I used M&Ms stuck onto the Oreo wheels and red rope licorice to make whatever that thing is called that connects the wheels together. The other cars were pretty simple. The “coal” was crumbled up chocolate graham crackers. The bars on the animal cage were stick pretzels with gumdrops on top.

I frosted a blue pond into the center, wrote “Happy Birthday” in the middle and stocked it with goldfish crackers. The grass was coconut dyed green with food coloring. The train birthday cakes wasn’t that difficult but was time consuming. I think it was worth it and my son absolutely loved it!

Train birthday cake by Corrine K., Palo Alto, CA

My son had two birthday parties – one in school and the other at home with our friends. The birthday cake for the home celebration was a large Black Forest cake while the school celebration one was a chocolate cake covered with chocolate ganache. Both train birthday cakes I used the same train decoration which I made from gum paste. I got the idea from one of my kids’ pull along train toy. I had to let the train dry and harden which took about 2-3 days so it’s great to make this ahead of time.

The train tracks and all other piped decorations were either whipped cream or buttercream. The flowers and stars were cut out using colored marzipan which is almond paste and is edible. The train birthday cakes are surrounded by cherries that I dipped the top with a little melted chocolate and then with sprinkles for that glitter effect.

Train birthday cake by Deana T., Santa Cruz, CA

I wanted to make a 3-D train cake. I looked at the ideas on this page for train birthday cakes and came up with this.

I used 2 tin foil loaf pans (standard loaf size) and one mini loaf pan. I used one box of standard cake mix. I filled both standard loaf pans about 2/3 full and then filled the mini loaf pan slightly higher (so it would puff up higher and rounder to make the boiler).

In one of the 2 standard loaf pans I stuck in a piece of tin foil (to act as a divider) so the pieces would be 2/3 and 1/3 of the cake. The larger piece becomes the coal tender and the smaller piece is tipped on its end and stands up vertical as the cab of the train (behind and attached to the boiler (rounded part on the engine).

I used store bought white frosting and added a lot of gel food color to get the red (choose a different color than red if you can, my son who was turning 3 wanted a red engine) because you have to add so much gel color to the frosting that the frosting tastes bad. I laid the cake out on Kit Kat track and black frosting for the rails.

I put the full standard loaf pan cake upside down (so it had the flat surface on top). Then I put the mini loaf pan cake rounded side up on top of the loaf (using frosting to secure it). Then I put the tipped up 1/3 piece of loaf cake on the back to make the cab (again using frosting to secure it). The coal car is the 2/3 piece of standard loaf cake and the rounded side is on the bottom. I scraped the inside of Oreo cookies out with a knife and crushed the black cookie parts to make the coal. The light and dome are Rolos with wrapping and the funnel is made with 3 unwrapped Rolos. Thanks to your train birthday cakes, ours was great.

Train birthday cake by Sarah R, Lule, Sweden

Thanks to this website most of the ideas for this train birthday cake are borrowed from the submissions already here- thanks everyone! I made four ordinary loaf cakes and cut shapes to use for the caboose and carts.

The logs are Kit Kat’s and the coal is wine gums. I iced a track on the base and covered with crushed digestives/graham crackers. I chained together the carts with wine gums on a bit of wire. The wheels were just round flat chocolates.

Train birthday cake by Jennifer P., Lakewood, CO

I used medium bread loaf pans and baked 6 different loaves (2 boxes of cake mix bake as directed) for these train birthday cakes. I stacked three loaves for the engine after cutting them to size.

Use ice cream cone for the smoke. Stack small peanut butter cups for the wheels, Oreos for the bigger wheels. The animal car I used a piece of cardboard for the top that I covered with tinfoil and then the same color frosting as the cake base.

I used wooden skewers trimmed to size for the cage. Animals were plastic ones I had lying around. Oreos for the coal car crumbled up. I used “pull-apart” liquorices in bold colors for the trim on all the cars. For the caboose I used two layers of cake trimmed to size. Again I used cardboard for the top and I used chocolate sticks for the poles.

Train birthday cake by Fran R., London, UK

My little boy loved trains so for his first birthday I decided to make him a train birthday cake.

I had absolutely no idea where to start so I baked two oblong Victoria sponges. I placed one standing upwards and one lying at the foot of the first. I put blue icing all over it and made the windows, chimneys etc. out of all different sweets.

Not the best cake – but my baby loved it!

Train birthday cake by Abigail S., Roseburg, OR

My son loves trains so we decided to make him a train cake for his third birthday. For the engine we used a Wilton train 3d cake pan. I couldn’t get it to bake 3d so I baked the halves separately and put them together with toothpicks.

For the middle and the caboose I used loaf pans to bake in. I stacked Ho-Ho’s on the middle car to look like logs and tied them down with Twizzlers vines. We used Oreos for the wheels and red vine ropes for the train birthday cakes track.

Train birthday cake by Gony Y., Be’er Sheva, Israel

I made this cake for my cousin’s son 2nd birthday. The cake itself is a simple cocoa sponge cake, the kind children like, and it is baked in a large oven pan. When the cake is ready you cut as many trailers as you like. I don’t fancy using too much food coloring so I covered the cake with melted chocolate.

At the top of each trailer I dug out some of the cake and inside the “hole” I put candies – it can be M&M’s or any kind you like. The wheels are cookies and the tracks are sour candy sticks. The engine is made of a few pieces of cake: one lying down, one standing up, and another one, which I tried to make in a cylindrical form.

Train birthday cake by Stephanie C., Laval, Quebec, Canada

These types of train birthday cakes are so much fun to create! I did it for my son’s birthday. I used store-bought white cake mix and baked it in mini-loaf pans. For the engine of the train birthday cake, I used a loaf and then cut a cube from an extra loaf for the back and a triangle for the front, and just sort of sculpted it, sticking it all together with vanilla frosting. I decorated with vanilla frosting and embellished with candies and cookies.

Train birthday cake by Cheryl C., Suwannee, GA

My idea for this cake came from the abundance of train birthday cakes seen on this website. Twelve children were invited to the party, so I decided to make one train car for each one. I baked one cake recipe in four small bread pans and then divided them up. I bought a Wilton’s frosting mix at Hobby Lobby as well as canned black and blue frosting that came with the little decorator tips. Not so easy to use, but it worked.

I set up the train the night before to make sure it would all work and I had all the right pieces (see picture). The following day I simply frosted it and put the decorations on. I bought candy at one of those candy stores with a zillion to choose from and just got enough for each train car. It was much cheaper than buying a whole bag of candy for each car. The gravel is grape nut cereal; the railroad ties are Keebler Fudge Sticks (Walmart); the wheels are mini-Oreos.

The cake recipe is an egg-less, no diary recipe I used due to allergies. It doesn’t taste the best, but was great to cut and handle. The kids were more interested in the candy and frosting anyways!! 3 cups of flour, 1/2 tsp of baking soda, 2 TBSP vinegar, 2 cups of water, 2 cups of sugar, 5 TBSP of cocoa (optional), 3/4 cups of oil, 2 TBSP vanilla. Beat together until smooth. Bake in well greased pans. Bake at 350 degrees until toothpick comes out clean.

The kids absolutely loved the whole thing. The birthday boy got the engine. I printed out a face for Thomas and put it on the front of the engine. It wasn’t perfect, but it worked.

Train birthday cake by Suzy S., Utah

My son is slightly obsessed with Thomas the train. So I made this cake for his third birthday party. I wrapped Thomas wrapping paper around cardboard for the bottom pieces. I also wrapped a small piece of cardboard for the “roof” of one of the cars and held it up with some frosting and suckers.

I decorated each car with candy, cookies and really anything I had on hand at the time :).

I hooked the cars together with licorice. I used mini loaf pans for the cars. I let them freeze before trying to frost them so that the train birthday cakes wouldn’t crumble.

My son LOVED his train birthday cakes!

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