How To Make a Fire Truck Cake
“Can I (excited gasp) have a firetruck cake for my birfday? With a ladder and, and (insert excited movements here) and a fire hose?” Big smiles. This request came as no surprise, fire trucks and fire engines take pride of place in every game whether it be in the house, sandpit, bath or the car. There must be some sort of rescue vehicle present. Preferably a firetruck with a ladder but at a pinch a yellow taxi can pass as a rescue car when back up is needed.
My baby boy is turning three! Which means this blog is also turning three. I posted the very first recipe when he was just one week old. It is amazing how little things can grow into big things in such a short space of time. While my now three year old is a big boy and wants to do everything himself, I am much the opposite. The bigger the website gets the more I am asking for help. Thus far I have programmed, coded and debugged everything on the website, but I have now reached the stage that I am going to need some help so hopefully within the next few months the website will have a bit of a makeover to make it run smoothly on all devices.
This cake serves 20, you can scale it up if you want to serve more.
To make the fire truck cake, you will need:
* The Fire Truck Template
* Fondant: Light Grey 111g (3.92 ounces), Dark Grey 70g (2.47 ounces), Red 1 kg (2.2 pounds), Black 200g (7.05 ounces), White 200g (7.05 ounces), Yellow 20g (0.71 ounces), Blue 20g (0.71 ounces)
* 6 mini oreos
* Fondant extruder to make the hose (optional)
* Gold luster dust for the end of the hose (optional)
* Green food colouring for grass
* Cake: Double the sponge cake recipe baked either in trays or in a box 25cm (9.84 inches) x 25cm (9.84 inches) x 10cm (3.94 inches) deep. If baked in a large tin or box expect it to take at least 2 hours to bake. Only use boxes that do not use glue and do not have plastic laminated shiny pictures on them.
* Frosting double recipe of frosting of your choice, I used the french buttercream. See the recipes and taste tests for seven different frostings.
* Cake leveller or serrated knife to cut the cake
* Cake board to put the cake on, the one I used was 25cm (9.84 inches) x 38cm (14.96 inches)
* Firm cardboard to support the base of the firetruck
2014
by Ann Reardon How To Cook That
My Cookbook
Stores that sell my book listed by country:
http://bit.ly/ARcookbook
All recipe quantities in the book are in grams, ounces and cups.
Good Morning,
What is the size of the truck? is is 25 cm x 10 cm?
Hi Madelon, The finished cake is about 14-15cm high and 24-25cm long.
What is the surface you are using to work on?
Can I move the truck to put on a cake?
Hi Amir, Ann decorates the cake on a cake board. The firetruck has quite a bit of weight. If you want to put it onto the top of another cake you would need to use supports or it would sink into the lower cake.
I am in the U.K and am unable to purchase the template. Any advice please?
Hi Chloe, UK residents should not have difficulty using the purchase system. I have checked the page and the process and all looks okay for UK purchases. Perhaps check your local permission settings. If the problem persists then let us know.
Hi Ann
Based on your above recipe for fire truck, I noted that you used a box to bake the cake.
I would like to bake a fire truck cake and I will be using a shoe box without glue or any shiny picture on it. Is this safe? I am just afraid the box will get burn
Please advise
Thank you in advance
Lil
Hi Lillian, It will depend on what your box is made of. Ann recommends a sturdy box and as you note, ones free of glue or shiny images. The temperature used shouldn’t cause the box to burn in that case. If you are concerned use a commercial tin.
Thank you for this awesome tutorial. My first fondant cake! My little guy isn’t going to want to eat it i think – I don’t know of I’ll have the heart to cut it 🙂
Hi Donna, That is great to hear. Well done!
Fantastic instructions, recipe and template. Warning to others who might try to ad lib – i ad libbed the frosting rather than following the recipe and my fondant slipped off the cake overnight and I had to start over only 3 hours before the party was due to start. Everything else I followed Ann’s recipes and instructions and they turned out wonderfully!! Thanks very much Ann, I certainly couldn’t have done it without your help!
Hi Catherine, So glad that your cake turned out well!
Thank you so much Ann!!! I’m not very good with fondant but your tips and tricks let me make an awesome fire engine for my boy (who also wanted it for his 3rd birthday- must be the age!). Thank you again.
What a fantastic job Jackie! Well done, I’m sure you made his day!
Thanks for an awesome tutorial. We are very pleased with how it turned out.
Your Fire Truck Cake looks awesome! Well done Amy. I love the ‘fire’ cupcakes too!
Could you please send the dimensions(length,width and height) of the finished fire truck cake?
Hi Lorrie, The dimensions can be obtained by printing the template out at 100% and joining the template pieces as described.
HI Ann, I downloaded the template for this spectacular fire engine cake last night, and am preparing to attempt it for my son’s birthday party (I have never worked with fondant icing before, so fingers crossed!). I notice that the cake templates default to printing on A4, however the cake seems much bigger than that in the photos/video. Should I be printing the template on A4, or enlarging it to A3? I just want to make sure I end up with the right size cake for the fondant qualities you outline above. Many thanks.
Hi, just ensure that the printer is set at 100% and it should print over several pages. This will be the correct size 🙂
Here is an other picture of it .
And thanks again from Israel 🙂
Hi, I wanted to thank you for your guide movie and the template . It got out perfect and my son was so happy 🙂
This cake looks amazing Viket Sadi Raz. Great Job!
Hi Viket Sadi Raz’
could you please send me the template?
thanks
Hi Deby, The template can be purchased using the link above.
Hi
I’m nearly ready to go, and have got my list of ingredients and things. Upon rewatching video I wonder what colour the hose is? This isn’t one of the colours on the list? Also can I make all the cutouts including doors etc beforehand, or are some of them best still soft when applying? Thanks heaps.
Hi Greer, Ann mixed the hose colour using left overs bits from the other fondants. You can mix red, blue and yellow together. Then add just a little black to the mix – not too much as black fondant usually has a blue base. Mix to get a brownish colour you are happy with.
Hi Ann,
Just wanted to say a HUGE thankyou for uploading such a great tutorial. I have never used fondant before let alone make a decorated cake but i thought i would give it a shot for my little man’s 3rd birthday as he loves fire trucks… i found the tutorial so easy to follow and the outcome was great considering i had no idea what i was doing! Ha!
Thanks again Ann
Holly
Well done Holly. Glad it worked well for you.
Thank you for a great tutorial. If using two baking tins what size should they be please? Many thanks
Hi Chrissie, If you want to use 2 trays, aim for trays that would be close to 25cms long (loaf style pans), to get the length you need.
Hi. Thanks so much for great tutorial and template. Just wondering what size baking tins are needed if you are using two for making this particular design? Many thanks : )
Thank you very much for uploading this tutorial! My son will love this cake for his upcoming Fireman Sam birthday. Can I ask – how big is the final cake if you don’t enlarge the template? I’m just trying to work out how many people it might serve. Thanks again!
Hi Ro, We helped eat this cake, so I know that it easily serves 20, though it all depends on how big you want your serves to be. This cake easily feed a group of 20-25 adults and kids (combined).
Hi, Ann. Huge thanks for your great tutorial and template. I made a fire truck cake for my good friend’s son who is a super fan of Fireman Sam. No doubt, he loves the cake very much. I just want to ask you if I can use your sponge cake recipe to make a cake which will be decorated by several fondant figurines. I used to use butter cake to decorate with fondant but I love your sponge cake so wondering if it’s firm enough to support several fondant figurines. Thanks!
Hi Angie, It really depends on how high you want to make the cake and how big the figures will be. If they are just small figures, then it should be fine on a standard 2 layer cake. Beyond that you may need to look at supports.
Hi, great cake! My little boy is 3 at Christmas and j need to make this cake!!
I am in the uk, just checking I am still OK to purchase the template?
Many thanks.
Hi Keri,
Uk residents are usually able to purchase without issue.
if u was my mommy i would want u to make me a fashion cake