I have twin nephews who were 3 last August. Like typical little boys, they are really into things like cartoons and toy trains. One of their favorites was Thomas the Tank Engine, although they seem to change 'favorites' every two weeks! We ended up having a Thomas the Tank Engine-themed party. Never satisfied with doing things the easy way, my sister insisted on making the cake ourselves rather than having it ordered from a bakery or pastry shop! Even though we're not exactly artists, I found some instructions on how to make a Thomas the Tank Engine birthday cake that we found very helpful. I'm here now to pass on those instructions to you in case your child also wants a Thomas the Tank Engine birthday cake for their next birthday. 

I found that one of the best sites to check out for birthday cake designs is www.coolest-birthday-cakes.com. It has a massive amount of pictures and instructions for making pretty much any cake imaginable! If you look at the Thomas the Tank Engine birthday cake designs, you'll find pages and pages of pictures and instructions on how to make Thomas the Tank Engine birthday cake. While quite a few of them look pretty difficult and time-consuming, but some of the others are more straight-forward.  We didn't copy any designs exactly, but the Coolest Birthday Cakes website is very good for inspiration. 

What we ended up doing was buying a Thomas the Tank Engine birthday cake kit and expanding on it. You can get them at any party supply store, some more extensive than others. Ours was pretty simple. Then, we went to the grocery store and got some simple white frosting, squeeze tubes and food coloring.  We iced a rectangular sheet cake with green-colored icing. The Thomas the Tank Engine birthday cake kit had tracks, but we decided to put them aside and make the tracks ourselves using thin black licorice rope pieces. We then put the plastic toy train from the kit onto the tracks and used some of the extra icing in the squeeze tube to make little 'bushes' at the side of the tracks. We put the little trees from the kit in the cake and used some brown M&Ms for rocks. The Thomas the Tank Engine birthday cake was finished, and didn't even cost a whole lot to make! Since they attacked it with their usual enthusiasm, I think the twins liked it. 

I hope now you have an idea as to how you might go about making a Thomas the Tank Engine birthday cake. Of course you don't have to follow my lead, but it's fun to make a special cake for yours special child.