Anyone made a Fireman Sam cake?

[RamblingRosa]

DD has let me know in no uncertain terms that she wants a Fireman Sam cake for her birthday and nothing else will do. I was thinking fire engine will be easier than making Fireman Sam himself.

I'm thinking a couple of loaf tins/square tins to make the main shape, lots of red icing, some oreos for wheels. Any tips from anyone who's managed to make a successful Fireman Sam cake would be very welcome! Thanks.

Wow!I am about to do a fire engine cake, first sponge for years!! how old is your DD ? My DS will be 3 next week.

I've decided against loaf tins as mine have sloping sides, but will make a sponge in my square tin, which is 9"x9"x3" deep, then cut in half and sandwhich together.

I have bought some pots of spreadable icing from Saino's in vanilla (so white) and some red food dye paste from a specialist baking shop. It is proper red, will be "fire engine" red, not wishy washy pink like ordinary red food dye.

I'm planning -
Oreos for wheels too.
Midget gems for lights
Liquorice spirals for hoses
Roll out icing for windows
Matchmakers for ladder on roof.

Have you seen this on You Tube?

Good luck!

And top tip from my sister - make the cake in advance, freeze it and ice when frozen. Keeps crumbs out of the icing!

That's brilliant. Thank you. Midget gems and liquorish hoses are inspired! Hadn't thought of freezing. I might be lazy and get ready made red icing rather than try to mix colours. I tried that last year for a butterfly cake and it didn't work well.

Another top tip, this time from MIL (excellent baker) - use madeira cake rather than Vicky sponge. It is denser, so easier to cut and better for icing.

I made my cake today and it is in the freezer. I made a 9" square madeira, using a recipe I found on MoneySavingExpert!

I made a fire engine cake for DS2 birthday - get some blue licquorice allsorts for the siren lights.

we tried matchmakers for the ladders but it wouldn't come together - curly wurlys worked alot better

we used jaffa cakes for wheels

if you have any problems "sticking" the accessories to the cake then use cocktail sticks to hold them in place - but do count how many you've used so you can count them all out again before cutting!

i wasted alot of time and effort trying to mix and make my own icing and just ended up with lots of runny pink icing. get some roll out icing - it is very easy to use (hobbycraft stock it). however rolled icing shows every bump so i would advise covering the cake with marzipan first so you can even out the bumps etc

we used victoria sponge and froze it - you can then shape and assemble the cake whilst it's frozen which makes it very easy to work with

I'll see if i can do a link to the photos of the cake.

Good luck Rosa and Bikerun - hope your DC's have great birthdays

I've made this before - I second the freezing the sponge before you put the icing on. Melted chocolate is also good for sticking the bits together.

It's very difficult to get icing red rather than pink, it's worth investing in some proper scarlett colouring or use paste. Adding green as well is a tip I've been given but never managed to work.

This is icing you can pour on (and sets like rolled icing)

Liquorice shapes are good to use.

Or use somewhere like www.eatyourphoto.co.uk/ to get pictures of Fireman Sam - you could get www.btvision.bt.com/kids/fireman-sam/ made up and stick it to the front windscreen; or get the markings from the fire truck so you can just cut them out and stick on.

Thanks everyone. I'll let you know how I get on (still a few weeks to plan it...just thinking ahead so I don't have the usual last minute panic!)