The Little Fire Engine That Could

This cake was for my littlest boy, who turned two back in February (this is how behind I am with my blog!)  He was obsessed with fire trucks for a few months, and I knew a fire engine cake would absolutely thrill him.  I just about didn't do it since I had no idea how to go about carving a fire engine. But after searching on the internet for awhile and finding a really simple way to stack and carve the cakes, it all came together in my head.  Getting my head around the cake is half the battle!

After stacking, carving and covering the cakes, my DH and I worked on the decorating together.  It was a lot more fun to do it together, and my DH had all sorts of ideas how to make the cake special with some cute details.  He kept asking if he was taking over my cake, but I couldn't have been more thankful for his help!

The last little detail we added was our little boy's name written with the hose.  I rolled that hose so many times!  The fondant kept on drying and cracking each time we tried to write his name.  I'm glad we persevered, though.  It just adds so much to the cake.

Our son was a little overwhelmed with all the people, so didn't show terribly much emotion during his party.  However when the cake came out, his eyes got just a little wider.  I think he approved.  I love making these cakes for my kids. 

Speaking of kids, we'll be welcoming a third addition to our family this Fall!  Hopefully early this coming October!  Sadly this pregnant body is just in no shape to create cakes so I am taking a break.  It's really hard on the back to hover over a cake for hours on end.  Not to mention the fact that I've got two little boys to run after!  I've got a few more cakes to blog about that I completed earlier this year, and then it will just be a post here and there about cakes I create for my kids. 

Can we build it? Yes we can!

No, not Bob the Builder, but this cake makes me think Bob the Builder with all the construction going on! This was the first cake where I used plastic toys on top. I like it! It really works well with the whole construction theme.

I looked around for awhile for some inspiration for this cake. The only thing that was super cute was a cake decorated to look like a large chunk of cake was being taken out by a backhoe. The backhoe I had to use was pretty small, so my DH suggested cutting a hole into the middle of the cake to make it look like it was digging. I loved that idea! So I cut the hole, smeared in some buttercream and pressed in some oreo crumbs to make it look like dirt. I also put a little piping gel onto the hoe of the backhoe in order to dirty it with more oreo crumbs. My DH also gave me the idea of piling a mound of piping gel beside the backhoe and cover it with crumbs. It worked beautifully and won't just fly off the cake with the slightest bit of wind. Even though I've got two boys, I'm not terribly familiar with how all the construction vehicles work together. My DH is responsible for the placement of all the machinery on the cake. I'm so thankful for his input!

Once I had most of the elements on the cake, it was all looking a bit brown, so I added a strip of grass beside the road, and the colorful chocolate rocks in the dump truck and beside the front end loader are such a fun addition.

The last element was David's name being pushed in with the excavator. I love that part! I added some traffic cones and ribbon around the bottom to give a little dimension and called it good.