Candy Train Cake

My kids' god-brother was celebrating his 2nd birthday and his mummy requested for a train cake. She didn't want Thomas the Train. Just a generic train engine. I didn't just want to made a train engine though. I wanted to surprise her with the whole train!

retro candy Train cake

To minimize sugar and keep things simple, the vanilla bean cakes were left "naked", without any buttercream frosting or fondant covering. I simple used a variety of candies and Oreos to decorate the train! 

black licorice train tracks

Since Dominic was turning 2, I arranged the train tracks in the shape of a 2, using black licorice. I cut each licorice string in half lengthwise and they were sticky enough to stick on their own to the fondant-covered cake board. I took me three frustrating tries to roll out green fondant and texture it using a PME lined roller before I finally got a decent covering on the 13" square board! Grrrrr!

The train cars were baked in my brand spanking new Nordic Ware train cake pan. I was concerned that the cakes would be difficult to release from the pan after they were baked, but I didn't experience any issues. They came out really easily actually, since I did give the pan a generous coating of baking spray, which has flour in it. 

lots of candies, cookies and fruit

It was so much fun to decorate the train cars! I went nuts with mini m&m's, freeze-dried raspberries, marshmallow, oreos and a few lines of buttercream. I had to add some strawberries on the cake as well because the birthday boy loves them!

spot the duckies

I gave Dominic's mummy the choice of stick candles, candles that spell "Happy Birthday" or duckie candles, and she picked duckie candles! I gave the ducks a little pond to swim in by the train tracks. To finish the cake, I added a Happy Birthday messages written with edible ink food markers on pieces of leftover edible image paper from the Baymax cake.

Happy 2nd Birthday, Dominic!