Bust my Buffers! Thomas the Tank Engine Birthday Cake

My youngest, Francis, is a boy who LOVES all things Thomas. Even at 3 years old, he knew what he wanted, and he wanted a Thomas the Tank Engine cake. There was no alternative I would have to attempt it!

Using fondant icing seemed to be the most sensible way to decorate and I was now becoming more confident in using it. Of course, the internet and storing images in Pinterest was the first line of research. Steve suggested doing a Thomas face, rather than a more intricate and probably more difficult train (which I tried to attempt for Francis’ 2nd birthday).

I found a YouTube tutorial on making a ‘small’  Thomas face for a cake which I used to help me make the face.

There wasn’t much opportunity for poetic licence on this one, it had to look like Thomas. Once I had the face (as per the YouTube video) the rest was pretty straightforward. The only way I would improve would be to make the fondant slightly thinner as there was a lot of it!

Well, it won’t win any prizes, but Francis recognised that it was Thomas and that was good enough for me!

Eating (a rather large!) slice of Thomas with his beloved Monkey…

Incidentally, a friend gave me a recipe for a easy chocolate cake to try and this proved to be ‘the one’. It’s an easy ‘throw-it-all-into-one-bowl-an-mix’ kind of recipe and makes a moist and chocolate-y chocolate cake. Highly recommended! :

Ingredients

• 200 g butter, soft
• 150 g Self Raising Flour
• 50 g Cocoa
• 1 1/2 tsp baking powder
• 200 g Caster Sugar
• 4 Eggs
• 2 tbsp Milk

Frosting (for middle and lightly covering cake for fondant to stick):

• 300 g icing sugar, sifted
• 100 g unsalted butter
• 50 g cocoa powder, sifted
• 40 ml whole milk

Instructions:

1. Pre-heat oven Gas 5.
2. Sift Flour, cocoa, baking powder into a bowl.
3. Add butter, sugar, eggs and milk.
4. Whisk everything together until smooth.
5. Divide mixture between 2 20cm round sandwich tins (greased and base lined).
6. Bake for 25 mins, middle shelf.

Frosting:

1. Beat icing sugar, butter and cocoa powder together and is well mixed.
2. Add the milk, couple spoonfuls at a time.
3. Beat until light and fluffy

(NB: No idea on source, I’m afraid)