3D Thomas Train Cake Recipe
Would your Thomas obsessed pre-schooler love a themed birthday party with an amazing cake in the shape of the famous little blue train? Well, you’re not alone. Thomas the Tank Engine toys are amongst the best-selling preschool items in the US, UK and Australia. Kids everywhere love a Thomas party and thankfully, plenty of other brave parents have paved the way (check out their party ideas here). And read on for step by step instructions to make the 3D Thomas train cake.
To make this Thomas Cake you will need:
The Cake & Fondant Template
This Thomas cake will serve 40 people, you can scale it down if you have less guests.
Cake: two and a half times the rich chocolate cake recipe baked into five trays 25cm (9.84 inches) x 38cm (14.96 inches) baked at 356F (180 degrees Celsius) for 20 minutes.
Fondant for thomas train cake
400g (14.11 ounces) black fondant
650g (22.93 ounces) blue fondant
450g (15.87 ounces) red fondant
30g (1.06 ounces) yellow fondant
160g (5.64 ounces) grey fondant
Note: Fondant quantities are actual amounts used on the cake, so allow extra for rolling out.
Frosting for train cake:
Two quantities of buttercream recipe in flavour of your choice
Two quantities of ganache recipe, allow to cool completely at room temp overnight. Whip together with the buttercream, use to cover the outside of the train before adding fondant.
Equipment needed for train cake:
Fondant extruder (makes it quicker and easier but optional you can roll long skinny snakes instead).
Circle cutters
Ruler
Pizza cutter (optional)
drinking straw to cut small circles
rolling pin
non-stick baking paper
spray oil
metal piping tip or something with 1.7cm (0.67 inches) diameter to cut circle
To make the thomas train face see this previous post:
Instructions
1: Make the fondant details ahead of time so they can dry out (see video)
2: Bake the cakes, prepare the frosting and make the simple syrup. This can be done 2 days before the party. See above for quantities.
3: Construct and decorate the cake the day before the party. See the video for demonstration. You will need a very strong cake board that is at least 35cm (13.78 inches) long and 20cm (7.87 inches) wide.
4. If it is very hot where you live, store in the fridge otherwise room temperature is fine.
5. Enjoy the birthday boy or girl’s face when they see their Thomas cake. Don’t forget to take photos!
by Ann Reardon
2013
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.
Ms. Ann, you are so gifted and my children and I enjoy watching your videos. So glad you are doing what God gave you a gift of talent to do.
Hi Ann
I just want to thank you for all the wonderful tutorials that you have painstakingly posted and unselfishly shared with us! I am a big fan of yours and simply love your accent!
Would love to share a pic of Thomas train cake which my daughter and I attempted for my grandchild’s second birthday. Thank you and wishing you all the best . Thank you once again.
Great work Catherine! Well done to you and your daughter.
Hi Ann…already made the cake…where can I store it.??its 4 tomorrow night
I made this cake using a yellow moist cake mix. The weight of the cake caused it to sag and the whole cake tilted backwards. Do you need supports to hold cake up to maintain its shape? Does this need s dense cake or light fluffy one?
Hi Julie, If you use Ann’s recipe it doesn’t require support. As you used a different recipe that was obviously denser it sounds like it did need support.
I am having problems viewing the video, are you getting other reports of the same?
Hi Michele, the video is working fine at this end and I have received no other reports of problems.
Hi Ann,
I am unable to find the link to the tutorial to make chocolate cake in flat rectangular tins (needed for the thomas cake). Could you please guide me to the link?
Thanks!
Parul
Hi Parul, for the chocolate cake recipe, use the recipe given here: https://wellness-wave1.news/public_html/chocolate-cake-recipe/%3C/a%3E .
Hi, I am making this cake for my son’s birthday. He is wanting a vanilla cake, would that be ok for this cake? Do you have a recipe please that would be suitable? I would prefer it not to be a sponge cake. Thanks!
Hi Natalie, Ann’s sponge cake would be the most stable and suitable for this recipe. https://wellness-wave1.news/public_html/sponge-cake-recipe/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Hi Anne,
I want to make this Thomas cake for my little girl’s bithday(she is obsessed with Thomas!). I have more than 40 guests,so I thought of making a rectangle cake covered in fondant and put Thomas on top of it(With a railway track).I am very much an amateur in this.I know you put Thomas cake on a strong cake board and work on it.Any ideas?
Hi Ashwathy. As it is a heavy cake you will need supports to make it sit on another larger cake or it will just sink in. It may be easier to add a few carriages instead.
Terrific template Ann, thanks! We had a room full of very excited pre-preschoolers and one Thomas-obsessed birthday boy in particular who was beside himself with excitement! 🙂 I did run out of cake and had to make a sixth one to finish off the cabin but other than that it was a very easy-to-follow design, so thanks again!
Hi Mark, Congratulations on a fabulous cake. It looks amazing. We hope the kids loved it.
Hi Anne,
Here is the Thomas cake I made for my grandson’s 3rd birthday party which is tomorrow. This is my first attempt at a fondant cake and it was a lot of fun to make. I had to make a couple of modifications to fix some mistakes I made, but overall I’m quite happy with the outcome. Thanks for the great tutorials – I look forward to receiving your emails each Friday. Hope you have a great weekend.
Regards,
Merril
Wow Merril, This cake looks amazing. Your details are very precise. Well done!
Hi Carlene, We would love to help but if you have an existing paypal account that is causing some problems, you will need to get in touch with Paypal to sort it.
Hi, i’ve tried to email it to you but your email address keeps bouncing back. Can you please confirm that it is the correct one as this is probably be the problem.
Hi aaliya, if the purchase went through properly the link should appear immediately. I will forward your comment to our support team to see if they can assist you.
Ive got it….youpi…☺ ive 1 question…which size should I print these templates??? A4 or A3? Thank u
Hi Aaliya, print at 100% on a4 paper.
Hi Aaliya, print them at 100% on a4 paper.
H Anne, Greetings from South Africa. I will be making this cake for my grandson’s 3rd birthday this weekend. Please can you confirm that your vanilla sponge cake is stable enough for this cake? If possible please reply soonest, as I plan to bake the cakes tomorrow. Thanks very much.
Hi Merril, Ann recommends her sponge recipe: https://wellness-wave1.news/public_html/sponge-cake-recipe/%3C/a%3E It is very stable and easy to work with. She has used it for a number of 3D cakes: https://wellness-wave1.news/public_html/sponge-cake-recipe/%3C/a%3E . You could use a syrup spray if desired to keep it nice and moist.
Thank you for this amazing template and video! I made one for my little boy and he was overjoyed!! Here is a foto of my attempt.
hi i am in the UK and was wondering what type of tray you use for your cake as i am trying to find one thank you .
hi i was wondering if you could please tell me what cake tray you use as i am in the uk and cant seem to find one thank you x
Hi, I just purchased the template to attempt to make this amazing Thomas cake. I am having trouble finding grey fondant. Any of idea of suppliers who stock it or how I can make it? Many thanks!
Hi Natalie, Ann has done a tutorial on how to colour your fondant: https://wellness-wave1.news/public_html/sugar-paste-fondant-cake-decorations/%3C/a%3E. To make grey you start with white fondant and use black gel food colouring to build the grey tone you are after.
I was wondering what colour blue fondant you use? As in the brand (if you don’t like to specify a particular brand, can you please advise the name of the blue. The one I purchased is more like a royal blue and that is too dark for Thomas.
Thank you in advance
Hi Nikki, Ann mixed her own colour for Thomas. You can adjust yours by adding white fondant. Check out this page for a colour guide and info on how to adjust the colour.https://wellness-wave1.news/public_html/sugar-paste-fondant-cake-decorations/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
can i use chocolate fudge icing in stead of buttercream icing
Hi Eilish, it will depend on what the chocolate fudge icing contains. It is not a common term for a type of icing in Australia.