Monster Truck Cake

As promised, I will post one of the cakes I made last week.
Monster Truck Cake.

I was given some pictures, then was asked to create what I wanted. Love that! There were a few things requested, but I got to have some fun with this cake.

I will take you from start to finish, so sit back, grab your cup'o joe and enjoy.

First, I made my favorite chocolate cake recipe, which I will post soon. I made a 10" cake in one pan and sliced it in half once it was cooled. In case you were wondering, I did not slice it with that butter knife. I have a wonderful cake cutting tool that I failed to take a picture of. I guess it will remain a secret. Bwahaha, I know most of you already know what I'm talking about, but humor me.

Next up, make some Oreo buttercream. I am new to blogging so I don't have all my recipes posted for you to go to, but it is coming, promise. Every Saturday I will be posting a new basic recipe that I use, so watch for my Simply Saturday series. Oh yeah, I came up with that name on my own, be impressed.

Spread the Oreo buttercream on one half then carefully place the other half on top. Mmmm, already looks delicious. Looking at this picture I should have put a thicker layer of buttercream. Ah well, maybe next time.

Crumb coat (put one layer of frosting on) then place in the fridge for about awhile to set, then spread another layer of frosting and another if you wish, the more buttercream the better I think. Buttercream is one thing I make that I can't keep my family out of.

I had made blue marshmallow fondant earlier so I rolled that on top. That awkward looking brown piece of fondant is being measured for a bleacher. I rolled brown fondant out and then squished it into a square form, see next picture.

M&M spectators, how cute is that! I would like to say this brilliant idea was mine, but I can not take credit for it. I found it on one of the many pictures I looked at for ideas. I love this idea, I may use it again, somewhere, somehow.

Now the fun part! My boys loved this! I took some black food coloring and diluted it a little with lemon extract to make it more liquidy. I then took one of my son's toy monster trucks and ran the tires through the coloring, then ran it along the cake. I am sure somebody else thought of this idea, but I actually thought of this one on my own. I know, impressive. Not! That's right, I am bringing "not" back. Not! Ok, I'll stop. Not!

One of the requests was for a ramp up to the cake so that it could be played with before it was devoured. The mom said she read that someone used a pop tart for this. Brilliant! So I did of course. I was trying to figure out how to prop it up without falling. I was thinking rice krispy treats, but then I would have had to make some and I was running out of time. I did have some cake pieces and extra buttercream though. I put the two together and smooshed it all up to be the support for the top ramp and the pop tart. I then covered it all with brown fondant. 

All that was left was the dirt. I crushed some oreos in the food processor and viola! Dirt! I also made some fondant 4's and his name and placed them on the sides. His mom bought some new cars and the monster truck to go on top. Great idea, cake and presents all in one!

I know he had some fun with this cake, watch out for the spectators! Still love those guys.

Happy Birthday Ian!