Thomas the Tank Engine Cake

by Kelsey Price
(South Carolina)

This Thomas the Tank Engine cake was my first ever cake. I used the Nordic Ware cake pan that I got from Williams-Sonoma, but can be found online at nordicware.com.

I used a mix in this cake. After mixing it, I divided the mix into small bowls, and added different food colorings to get several different colors. Just don't forget to make the front of the train blue.

While it is baking you can make some coconut grass for it to sit on by putting coconut in a bowl and adding some green food coloring and mixing it up until it is a solid color with no spots.

After your little cakes have baked and cooled (the set comes with usage suggestions), make several colors of buttercream (recipe follows), and decorate (use candies too). I just googled pictures of Thomas and his friends for inspiration.

Buttercream recipe:

Cream two 1/4 sticks butter on high until it turns white. Then add two cups powdered sugar and mix until light and fluffy.

For Thomas, I took the long way around, but at that time I didn't know any better. I piped and smoothed out white buttercream, then hand painted a face with a tooth pick - super tedious. Do not do it this way.

The best way to go about this is making royal icing (make sure you add some meringue powder to make it dry faster, but still allow a day or so drying time). With a medium consistency, pipe a circle on wax paper. Then with a flooding consistency, fill in that circle, and then allow to dry.

At the craft store, they sell marker nibs in the inking isle. They look like the middle of the marker that holds all of the ink, but with a sharp edge. Make a combination of white alcohol and black food coloring or black airbrushing ink, and use the pen nibs to draw a face on Thomas (way easier).

Allow the whole thing to dry before peeling the paper from the icing, not the other way around. Give Thomas his face by adhering it with a little icing and your Thomas the Tank Engine cake is done!

Don't forget your licorice track and rock candy steam!