Train/lorry etc birthday cake ideas needed!

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Help I have two days to concoct something wonderful for DS's 2nd birthday - am able to cook sponge oK - but am pretty average when it comes to icing! Does anyone know of a good way to make a simple train or digger or vehicle type cake that doesn't look as if I've cheated too much!!

Codswallop - read and forget this!!!

madiera cake form Waitrose(course) with licourice wheels? and icing of course..

Ps he's really cerute everyone

Get some of that roll out icing, and some madeira cake, with swiss rolls for a funnel, and wagon wheels for wheels (obviously!), and stick it all together with matchmakers and jam.

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Or a caterpillar cake is really easy (might be OK if he's just 2): get a swiss roll or 2, cover with chocolate icing or butter icing and make a face one end with smarties. You can also write on it in smarties or with icing, or give the caterpillar a colourful coat.

ooo I did this for my DS only a month ago.
a train.

took about an hr tops.

I'll send a photo & instructions if you like.

it uses ready bought cakes & the ready to roll coloured icing so no major decorating skills needed.

It is from a fab book
30 minute kids cakes by Sara Lewis
so many ideas & all dead simple

Am off to buy yards of roll out icing today!!
Still happy to have any other suggestions you may have. Thanks!

I have been making all the family's wedding, birthday etc cakes for the last 20 years. If you are going to make a train cake and want to make it simple, just use one big swiss roll as the main shape, with a cabin box made from a piece of madeira or something. You can buy those. Cover the two pieces individually with roll-out icing then stick together by lightly brushing the icing with water. You can use jam to stick down the swiss roll to the plate or board in the first place, that stops it moving about. Jam is good to make the roll out icing stick to the cake too. Heat it up and brush it on to the cake first.

Then roll out some more icing in a different colour and cut out shapes and strips which you can use to decorate your train. Also use biscuits to add extra decoration to the wheels and sweets for lights, etc.

How about this ?

I made two lorry cakes using this method this year (one for nursery, one for home). I made lemon sponges in loaf tins to do it. One for the lorry and half for the cab. Then we used the roll-out icing to cover. In the end we used icing for all the accessories (lights, number plates, wheels etc) because wagon wheels would have come up past the windows. I got a pack of icing with five colours in it for the decorating. Also DH painted some detail (eg wipers, writing on number plate) on with black food colouring. I could not have done that but DH is quite handy with a paint brush.

Last year I made a hedgehog cake which is the easiest and loveliest cake possible. A round choc sponge and then just stick in loads of (chopped up length ways) flakes and a couple of choc buttons for the eyes. Also sharpened flake for the nose. Made three of these (nursery, party and family party...).

That's a pretty cake, Bobsmum. It reminds me of one I made once which was a replica of a real steam engine, which I made for a colonel who was retiring from the army (don't ask!).

I used brown coffee sugar to look like coal in the wagons. I like the sweets in this one - much more colourful and appropriate for a child.

use smooth apricot jam for sticking icing to cake.
I used a marble cake for main train & carriage then a swiss roll for engine. jammmie dodgers make good wheels. matchmakers make good tracks.

I'd recommend cornflour when rolling out icing so it doesn't stick to rolling pin.

desicated (?spelling) coconut mixed with green food colouring makes fantastic grass

I made ds a Thomas cake last year - made two cakes (from Nigella's birthday cake recipe), cut one rectangle for the bottom bit of Thomas' body, aslighly smaller rectangle for the "barrel" bit, which I then cut slivers off to round it off a bit and a small rectangle for the "cabin" bit. I stuck it all together with rasperry jam. I bought loads of different coloured icings and smoe whote ready rolled stuff and some "writing icing". In the event I couldn't make a blue icing, so I ended up using the blue writing icing for Thomas's blue bits (on top of a sludgy gray I had created by mixing icings) and the pre-colured black icing for most of the rest. Licorice wheels were the wheels and smarties the bumpers. A wee bit of fluffed up cotton wool was stuck to the funnel as "smoke". If I say so myself, it looked pretty good.... home made.... but that added to the charm.

It did take most of the morning though!

This year (next Wednesday) I'm going to make him a Henry (ie No 3) - the green should be easier, as that comes pre-coloured!

Last year, ds wasn't into the different engines, so wouldn't have understood why he was getting James, No.2. As it was, he was SO excited when he saw his Thomas cake!

flavoured coloured icing (ready to roll) is yummy too. I used strawberry & orange & banana flavours for my train

go to cbeebies website and go to big cook little cook it will tell you a very easy and simple way to make a train go to cookery book and sweet the recipe is simple and i am going to make it on my daughters 1st birthday this Thursday i changed the wheels though to biscuits hope this helped!

There's a tractor cake on my profile. Reasonably easy - or you could just make the textured 'field' and put a toy tractor on it?