Easy Train Cake

Jonah had a fantastic birthday this week. Thanks for all the birthday wishes!

Since Jonah is really into trains this year, I decided to try to make him a birthday cake shaped like a train. I searched online and was amazed at all the fancy train cakes people have made. I couldn't believe all the exact replicas of Thomas the Tank Engine (probably done to scale, no less!) and fancy fondant-iced train cakes. How much time do you people HAVE?

Since this cake was for Jonah (who is only three, after all!) and he's not as much of a perfectionist as I am, we went for a more simple train cake made from mini cake loaves. Jonah got to help me decorate it, and he loved it!

What do you think?

Hosted by Cecily and MamaGeek It was actually a really easy cake to make. If you want the directions you can keep reading, or just skip to the bottom to comment!


So I started by using a cake mix and filling four mini loaf pans. You could make more mini loaves to create more train cars, but we decided that an engine, a freight car, and a caboose was plenty of cake for our little family.

After baking the loaves I cooled them in the refrigerator so they wouldn't fall apart when I cut and frosted them. Then I cut up one of the loaves to make the engine and caboose. Here is what they looked like before I frosted them.

Attach the extra bits of cake with frosting. Then I did a quick crumb-coat of frosting and returned the cake to the fridge for a little while. Then I frosted the cake again to make the outer layer of frosting nice and smooth.

Next came the fun part-- decorating! I bought sandwich cookies for the wheels, licorice for the caboose roof and outlining, and M&M's for lights, wheel hubs, and cargo (and people's heads- that's what Jonah says). You could use whatever candy you want.

Jonah had a great time helping to decorate the train cake, and I think it turned out pretty darn cute.