Birthday Cake

Trac tor Cake!






Here's the birthday cake I'd been working on. I ran out of steam (and time) so I didn't really get to finish up the details as I should have; there are some ragged edges, etc., but I got my point across and the birthday boy loved it!
I used chocolate cake for the base, and then made 3 loaves of vanilla pound cake to stack and shape into the actual tractor. The back wheels are bagels, which were a little heavy and were therefore a bit difficult to keep attached to the tractor, and the front wheels are mini-donuts. I used a buttercream recipe to seal the cakes, do the writing, and act as an adhesive, and a marshmallow fondant that is really easy to use. I got both recipes from here. The smokestack is a straw wrapped in fondant. The whole cake held up very well, and was perfect for the John Deere themed party. It took me about 6 hours, which are hours with kids asking to help and to look. So not too bad overall. If I did it again, I'd wrap my cardboard with tinfoil, maybe use big donuts for the back wheels, as they are lighter than the bagels, and use a candle instead of a straw for the smokestack. (My husband's idea.) The next cakes won't be needed until April, so I have some time to plan...so far, Disney princesses have been requested. Maybe a castle will work.