Barney & Thomas the Train Cake

This post is way long overdue. We celebrated the kids' birthday couple of months back; K-girl hit the big ONE, while K-boy turned 3. Nothing too fancy, just an intimate celebration with the family & the cake with their favourite on it.

Initially I wanted to bake K-girl a birthday cake but I didn't have the time as it was just few days after my business trip to Europe. So we ended up with a Barney jelly cake, which we ordered from our favourite supplier in Taman Desa. The jelly cake was homemade, fresh, not overly coloured with food colouring, and it's not too sweet. And of course the little girl was really happy to see it.

As for K-boy, I promised him I will make him a Thomas the train cake. However, I didn't attempt a 3D cake for him. Just googled for some ideas and came up with a 2D design & with the help of a die-cast Thomas train. It was after this session, I understood how tedious 3D cake/figurine modelling could be as I was going dizzy with just 2D design and it took me a good 10 hours to complete the cake from baking to decorating it.

The result of 10 hours labour of love



And we have a very happy birthday boy!

The cake was a moist chocolate cake, layered with whipped vanilla frosting adapted from sweetapolita.com

Whipped Vanilla Frosting Recipe:

 

What You'll Need:

 

2-1/2 cups (5 sticks)(575 grams) unsalted butter, softened and cut into cubes

5-1/4 cups (600 grams) confectioners’ sugar, sifted

4-1/2 tablespoons (70 mL) milk

1-1/2 tablespoons (23 mL) pure vanilla extract

pinch or two of salt

How To:

1. In the bowl of an electric mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, whip butter for about 8 minutes on medium speed. Butter will become very pale & creamy.
2. Add remaining ingredients and mix on low-speed for 1 minute, then on medium speed for 6 minutes. Frosting will be very light, creamy, and fluffy.
3. Best used right away (for ideal spreading consistency), but keeps well once frosted.