Birthday cakes- I think I need some help

[kbaby]

I have never made any cakes apart from the usual victoria sponges but thought it would be good to make DS his 1st birthday cake.
Ive found a cake I like the look of www.cinderellacakes.com/images/Bday1st/slides/Bday1st-33.htm and im going to make the decoration a bit easier ie ive found some play doh car/bus cut outs to do the vehicals so im not freehand drawing.
But heres what I dont know what to do
1)How can I get make a number 1 like on the top of this cake
2) how do I paint the cars etc do I use food colouring?
3)do I need any supports to put one sponge on top of the other?
4)ive bought a cake board but how do I decorate that? do I just use icing?

As you can see I need lots of help
Thanks

He is 1.
He will be utterly wowed by a Victoria sponge smeared in glace icing with a '1' on the top made of smarties, and/or a candle.

Save your energy till he is 8 and demanding a cake featuring the Power Rangers fighting the Pirates of the Caribbean.

Its a beautiful cake. I would imagine that the icing is royual icing - the one that sets hard. You need two cake boards and buy stands (like the ones they use for wedding cakes) to support the upper cake. The cars are probably made of coloured fondant icing which you can either buy in different colours or buy colouring paste to colour white icing. The number one is made of gelitin icing, which sets really hard, but its an art in itself to make. You can buy big No1 candels though, which would do just as well.

i remember making a cake years ago with a car on it. i had to trace the car onto grease proof paper then pipe the car shape, then fill it in with icing. then let it set. it took about 8 attempts.

Forget the stands, I've just looked again and the second cake is just sat straight on top of the first one! As long at the icing is set hard, i'll be fine.

Ok, well I would just go for a modified version of it. Buy a cake board and don't worry about the tracks unless you want it to be perfect, after all at 1 he really won't even know what tracks are.

Stick your sponge on the board and cover it in white ready to roll icing. Do the same with the smaller cake. Set the smaller cake down on top of the big one. The first thing you're going to do after blowing out the candle/s is dismantle the cake so you can cut it, so don't worry about attaching the small cake to the big cake, just carry it carefully.

Get some writing icing for the birthday message on the side, and roll out some ready to roll coloured icing, or colour your own using food colouring (you don't need much, and the more you add the sloppier it makes the icing, so have spare icing sugar on hand and knead everything well. Roll it out and cut out the playdough car shapes)

Stick them to the side of your cake using a teeny bit of apricot jam and a pastry brush (brush on the car shapes not the cake) then add detailing using writing icing and sweets for headlights etc. Just use two or three colours for the cars, he really will think it's awesome even if it isn't!

As for the massive number 1, I would cut it out of card and add some glitter, then sellotape it to two cocktail sticks and jam it into the top cake. After all, you just need it to last for the big reveal and a couple of photos, it doesn't have to be edible!

I am no expert but have made cakes recently in a bid to start being the typical SAHM!!!

Ready roll fondent icing is available in all supermarkets "Super Cook Ready to roll regallace icing" it is like edible playdoh. You can use this to decorate your cake board too. Cover the victoria sponge in thin layer of buttercream (you can cheat and buy this in a tub too or make your own)this fills all the little holes in the cake. Fridge it for a bit then coat it with a bit more to "glue" the fondant icing to it.

Use icing sugar to roll it onto a flat surface and to get rid of creases once it is on the cake use your hands to ease it down, turning the cake as you go.

If you want to colour icing use paste colours or gel and not the liquid stuff. I got mine from Hobbycraft. It means the fondant doesn't go runny to get a deep colour. The playdoh cutters are a great idea.

The number 1 will be difficult. You could pipe coloured white chocolate onto greaseproof paper or personally I would use a number 1 candle.

I would aim for one cake not one on top of the other. Start small you may find it more fiddly and time consuming than you think. I practised my son's 1st birthday cake a few weeks in advance. It was a monkey in a tree using a flake for the trunk and a monkey and leaves made from coloured fondant. For my oldest son's 4th birthday I put a toy digger and dumper truck on top, filled it with chocolate sprinkles and other "ice cream toppings" to look like a construction site. Simple but he loved it

Get some books from the library to give you ideas.