Another year older

My son turned 3 last week... where did the time go!? I remember last year this time, I was making one of my very first novelty cakes – an Elmo cake for Jake's 2nd birthday! Then 8 months later, my younger son James got a two-tier fondant Thomas the Train cake. And all the cakes made between then and now for good friends and new friends have been such an amazing experience! I'm constantly thankful for being able to stay home with my boys while pursuing my passion for baking.

So what did Jake get this year... well, he didn't get just one cake, he got three!

Cake No.1 

Here comes the rainbow train...

I made a simple round cake and covered it in baby blue fondant. Inside is Jake's favourite rainbow cake; multi-coloured layers of vanilla butter cake with cream cheese frosting! I found an amazing train candle holder that I know Jake would love to have on his cake. It's a great toy too since you can chain link all the trains - it comes in 5 colours! Then M&Ms for the border and a happy face on his cake. It was simple enough but oh so fun to look at and play with after.

Happiness in a cake

Cake No.2

Thomas and friends

Trains and tunnels

There is no running away from a Thomas the Train cake. Jake's love for Thomas is still as fervent as ever so it would be unthinkable to not make a Thomas cake for his birthday. I opted for an easy way to do this cake. I found some cupcake toppers of Thomas, James and Percy (all his favourite trains) and so I decided to just set the scene with the cake. Now if you recall a recent post on gum paste where I made a standing rainbow, you'd know why I chose to make a brick wall. However, I have to say I'm quite disappointed with the Satin Ice brand of gum paste, it didn't dry out hard even after a whole night of air-conditioning! Sadly the brick wall was not as sturdy as I would have liked it but some toothpick foundations did the trick. I'm sticking with Wilton from now on.

I also love my brick wall embossing pattern, it turned out very nicely. Then I made three little tunnels from which the trains look like they are emerging. The tracks are made of chocolate Kit Kat pieces - many of which ended up in the mouth as I chugged along. The cake was simple enough, not my best effort but it made the boy's day nonetheless ; )


Cake No.3

I actually forgot to take a proper pic of this third cake. It was a rainbow cake of course. Here's one of the boy and his cake at school. 

Happy Birthday Jake

Come Aboard the James Train

My elder boy is a HUGE Thomas the Tank Engine fan, this means my younger boy is expose to the funny-face trains a lot earlier than I would like. We celebrated James' 1st Birthday over the weekend, and it was quite obvious what sort of cake I would have to bake for the occasion – a James train cake.

You see, my James has an affinity for the little red engine of the same name. He would flail his arms in excitement whenever he sees the bright red train on TV! He often plays with his brother's extensive train collection and always ends up with the James train in hand. I was sure a James train cake would make him light up so I pored over lots of examples of cakes with the Thomas and Friends theme and specially researched on how to craft a James train with fondant.

It was a big task with lots of expectations, mainly of myself. I was going to make a tiered cake (for the first time) and construct the train topper with fondant.

Here's my James train topper...

Notice how I went for the cartoon look, simply because it was cuter and admittedly less exacting and more forgiving to make! Then the hubby comes along and thought he'd give a go at it. Here is B's James train...

I may be the baker at home, but B is the crafter. He took the train to a whole new level, check out the form and features! Naturally, we went with his topper.

Here are the three main characters...

Percy, James and Thomas

I love the colours of the trains. They look fantastic against a baby blue fondant cake. My elder boy can tell you which colour belongs to which train and the number at the side of each car. I have a feeling I would be making a Thomas train cake again come November when he turns 3!

Hooray James is 1

The cake was a hit with the kids, and the birthday boy (even though he couldn't quite say it yet). They all wanted to a piece of the trains, the rolling hills, and the clouds and of course the moist chocolate cake inside. It's worth the many hours I spent working on it, but now, what do we do with the James topper?

Happy Birthday James