How to make a train cake

My baby boy turns 4 this week so the pressure has been on to equal last year’s digger cake! So, after a lot of time on Pinterest and a few experiements, here’s how to make an easy train cake…

Luckily, J loves my vegan chocolate cake so that part was easy. Then, when I was thinking about how to make a train cake, I had the idea to make the carriages out of Bourbon biscuits with mini Oreos for the wheels and top them with Haribo and marshmallows. The whole cake and decorations are dairy free (Oreos are may contain), egg free, nut free (and vegan if you replace the marshmallows).

I made one standard 8in cake and used a cake board as the base but if you were feeling adventurous you could layer it on to another cake at the bottom.

How to make a train cake

The cake was a huge hit with J and his friends and surprisingly straightforward and sturdy.

It took a while to get the slope around the edge right but after that it was just about adding the track and creating the carriages – and of course, adding Thomas The Tank Engine! The carriages were still going strong even after the whole cake had been devoured. Now I guess I better start planning next year’s…

How to make a train cake

You will need:

8in chocolate cake and buttercream (I use my vegan chocolate cake recipe)

6 Bourbon biscuits

8 mini Oreos

Few handfuls of sweets

Two packs of fizzy cola straws

Green spinkles

1 Thomas toy

Directions:

1. Layer together sponges with buttercream
2. Lightly map out the slope with a knife or using cocktail sticks (I used this tutorial) and then cut away the sponge.
3. Cover the cake with buttercream (This can help even out any bumps from the previous step!)
4. Lay the train trackround the edge by cutting fizzy cola straws to length.
5. Add sprinkles
6. Cut a Bourbon biscuit in half width ways and remove side with filling. Stand two Bourbon biscuits on their side and attach a half at either end, using buttercream, to make a box. (There is not much space inside when it is complete.
7. Cover the top with buttercream and stick on sweets.
8. Repeat this process for second carriage.
9. Carefully position carriages on the base and add Thomas to the bottom of the train track.