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.
Hi Ann, I just wanted to thank you so much. I made your Thomas cake for my sons 2nd birthday and it was amazing! I can’t thank you enough
Hi Sarah, Your Thomas cake looks amazing!!
Hi Ann, I’m going to purchase the template this week but I just have a question about making the cake. You say you need to make two and a half times the cake mixture and put it into 5 tins 25cm X 38cm. How much of the cake mixture goes into each tin? I will only have one tin this size so will have to make in bathes but I’m finding it hard to work out how to cook it all right. Any information you can give me will be great fully apprichiated. Many thanks Jo
Hi Jo, If you watch the video, you can roughly see the depth of the finished cake layers. Ann uses a shallow tray and fills it 2/3 of the depth of the container which is roughly 12mm deep
I cannot thank you enough for sharing this tutorial, I bought the template and made the cake and template pieces 2 days before the party, it was very easy to follow and use! So happy with how my cake turned out, I’d urge anyone thinking about it to buy and try, you won’t regret it!
Hi Sarah, Great job on your Thomas cake! it turned out beautifully.
Hi! I’m making this cake for my neighbor who is turning 3 and I was wondering what the diameter of Thomas’s face is. Thanks!
Hi Madi, You can find this by measuring the template.
hi, i bought this tutorial last year and i´m not able to use the templates now.
can you reset them for me please?
thank you
Hi Ivone, You can email support at howtocookthat_support ( at ) iinet.net.au for assistance
Hi I’m just wondering if the cakes are poured in the pans to full depth or are you keeping it shallow? They don’t look to be as deep as a regular cake in a 9 x 13 pan? Thanks!
Hi Heather, the depth of pans varies quite a lot. Ann suggests just sharing the batter evenly between the trays.
Hi Ann ,How can get the Thomas train template?thank u
Hi Anna, Just use the Buy it now button to purchase the template.
Hi Ann, how soon before assembling do you make your cake? As I work fulltime I can only assemble the cake in the evening, which gives me limited time. How long can your chocolate cake be kept in a air tight container on the bench top? Can I apply the frosting and leave it in the fridge overnight or will I have to apply the fondant the same day?
Many thanks 🙂
Hi Ann,
How can I scale this recipe down to about 20 people?
same question,
I bought the templates but I don’t know how to resize them to match 20 servings.
please help me with that
thanks
Hi Ziba, This cake has a lot of details in the decorating. It would be very fiddly to resize it. I recommend making it as designed. It will give 30-40 kid sized serves, so if you actually do have cake left over at the end you could freeze it or use to make these: https://wellness-wave1.news/public_html/cake-scraps-fudgy-brownie-recipe/%3C/a%3E . If you did want to resize the template then you adjust the settings on your printer, so it scales the picture when printing.
thanks
But I really need to resize it as my customer has only asked for 20 serves and I can’t charge her extra.
could you do me a favor and tell me how tall is each layer of the cake? (the height of each layer before stacking). with that I will be able to decide on new dimension. I believe that the base layer is a rectangle with this dimension 30*14, can you please confirm this too?
thanks
Ziba
Hi Milena, There is a lot of detail in the decorating of this cake that won’t be easy at a smaller scale. It is best to keep it at the size given. It is a very workable size and if you have left over cake, it can be frozen or re-used: https://wellness-wave1.news/public_html/cake-scraps-fudgy-brownie-recipe/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
i made the Thomas cake for my sons 2nd birthday, needless to say he loved it! Had a few hiccups and ran short of cake and buttercream.. Though made it in the end and very happy with the end result!
Wow Michelle, Your thomas Cake looks fabulous. Well done!
Hi ann,
Just wondering if I could you packet mixes for the cake and if so about how many would I require 2-3?
Thanks Lexi
Hi Lexi, You could use a good packet mix but the quantity of cake each packet produces is not great and will vary from brand to brand. One packet would be equivalent to maybe half of one batch of Ann’s chocolate cake. So you will need more like 5-6 packets of a cake mix. Another solution if you wanted to reduce the baking work, in Australia you can order a plain ‘slab’ or ‘sheet’ cake from some supermarkets (that have in house bakeries), which you can shape and decorate yourself.
Great thank you for the reply, I may just make the cake in advance and freeze if that would work. If so would I bake the cake and freeze or assemble cut cake and freeze?
Thanks
Lexi
If I were to buy a slab, how thick are each layer of cake? I was thinking a half slab would be big enough as a full slab feeds 100ppl. Does that sound right?
Thanks lexi
Hi Lexi, You can freeze and then assemble the cake when you are ready. If the cake is frozen when you add fondant, you may find moisture seeping through. Let it defrost completely before decorating.
Hi Ann! I just found your recipe and guide to making Thomas the train cake – it looks perfect for my sons birthday. However, I need quite a lot less of it as I am also making another cake. Do you think the template would still work if I make it 4 times smaller? Or will the elements be too small? Thanks for your help, it looks amazing:)
Hi Aja,
This cake has a lot of details so it would be hard to make much smaller. You could reduce by half if you wish.
Okay. I bought the template:) Do you have the measurements/template if I reduce it to half? Thanks.
Hi Aja, To adjust the size of the template you just need to adjust the print properties on your computer to scale the template to the desired size.
Thanks Ann I made ur Thomas cake for my son’s 2nd bday he loved it although he wasn’t so thrilled when I had to cut up the cake!!
Oh dear! Your cake looks fabulous Liz G. Great detail!
Is there a special paper I need to use to print the templates as my paper keeps pasting into my fondant after keeping it on fondant and cutting the shapes?
The fondant doesn’t come onto my hands when I touch it, it pastes onto the tmrpmate paper.
Thanks
Kumi
Hi Kumi,
That is unusual. Ann doesn’t use any special paper for printing the templates, but it is not a good idea to leave the paper on them for too long.
Hi,
I went and bought blue fondant and realized when I started rolling it out that it’s too dark. The only other blue I can buy is pastel blue. What did you do to get the blue to match the color of Thomas?
Hi Patti, If you can’t get the colour fondant you want, you can get white fondant and colour it. It will be easier to start with the light blue fondant and add colour to create the Thomas blue. Ann recommends getting a small piece of the blue fondant and test to see how much colour you need to add. Here is a link that may help: https://wellness-wave1.news/public_html/sugar-paste-fondant-cake-decorations/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Many thanks for providing this easy-to-follow tutorial! While still a bit challenging, it really made assembling my 3D Thomas cake much less daunting. Since I used my own carrot cake recipe & a thicker cream cheese filling between layers, I did decide to add supports and dowels. But other than that–I followed your lead. Thanks again!
Hi Maggie, You have done a superb job. The fondant work s excellent.
Hello Ann. Love your cakes and the clear instructions. For the Thomas tank engine cake, do you have the template for us to ise to cut out the details to go on the engine? Appreciate if you could point out where i could get it in your website. Thanks!
Hi Nornonie, You can purchase the template via the Buy it NOw button on the page OR go to the shop page: https://wellness-wave1.news/public_html/shop/?orderby=date .
Hi Ann,
I have never worked with fondant and I’m trying to make this cake for my son. I have tried to find good tasting fondant based on customer reviews and have been unsuccessful. Also tried to make the fondant at home at it has been a disaster. Can you please recommend a good tasting fondant that you normally use which I can purchase online or over the counter? Thanks
Hi Kumi, Ann hasn’t got a favourite tastting fondant, though you can add flavour if you like. Ann did a review on fondant brands here: https://wellness-wave1.news/public_html/the-great-fondant-review-which-fondant-is-best/%3C/a%3E%3C/p%3E
Hi Ann, I’m rather confused at the frosting… It says to use buttercream of your choice (and I think in the video you use raspberry) but then to use chocolate ganache and to add the buttercream to it and that you do this after you cover the outside of the cake. Confused, sorry!
Hi Kathryn, make a batch of ganache and leave at room temp overnight (use white chocolate if you are making a flavor other than chocolate). Make up a batch of buttercream and whip it together with the ganache. Use that to cover the cake 😀
Hi. I’ve purchased the template, watched the video and am about to start cutting my fondant. However, before I bake the cakes, in the frosting section it says you’ll need 2 quantities of the ganache recipe but the instructions and the video don’t mention or show the ganache. Is this required? Or can I just cover the cakes directly with the frosting before the fondant? Many thanks, Laura
Hi Laura, mix the ganache in with the buttercream 😀