I love baking, but have never done anything fancy or too difficult. I have never made a sculpted cake nor

have I ever worked with fondant or anything of this sort, but I am very creative and artistic, so I believe I can do this, with the help of some of you guys! 

My boyfriend's birthday is coming up and he is OBSESSED with his truck, so I wanted to make a replica

of it, but I have NO IDEA where to begin.

From what kind of cake to use, to the tools I will need, to what kind of icing and fondant and everything.

Someone please help me.

This is the truck.

ok --great picture btw--get the front and rear too all the same scale--blow them up the the size you want your cake and cut them out for your patterns--also it helps to have an aerial view or a bottom view if you can get one online--but you can make that part up -- or if it's a newer vehicle you can get the pictorial sales book from the dealer --

so you're gonna want a base and then a cake plate that is elevated to set the cake on --

out of foam core cut out and build something to be the cake 'plate' that you're gonna set the cab & bed of the truck onto-- i make mine so that i can hide the pieces that hold it up off the ground (so you can see all the way under it like a real truck) i hide that behind the wheels -- you can place some fat dowel or something into a piece of foam that you will later cover to be the 'road' under everything--which would be the base of it all --

then just bake & stack up the cake to fit the patterns--

last car i made i used rice krispie treats so i could take my time more--

does that give you enough to go on to start? any specific questions?

when it comes time to decorate--you'll want to lay two pieces of fondant where you can cut out the windows & windsheild where you can place grey fondant first then do the cut outs and then brush that with luster dust to make them look like windows-- you can make bumpers and mirrors all in advance--to get the real shiney shine on the finish of the truck you can brush on some gum arabic mixed with water --

huge learning curve -- if you have enough time to do a lot of practicing you can do this--if it's next week i'd recommend maybe getting it drawn on a cake --

I wish you the best of luck! I would start with a standard 9x13 cake pan, bake 2 so you can stack them. When they have been cooled for several hours or overnight cut each cake in half Lengthwise.  Level each cake so they stack nicely!  If you have cut the 2 cakes down the middle you should have 4 long strips of cake. Cut a cake board to the exact measurement of that stack of cakes, so approx. 4"x6".  Ice and stack 3 of those. Now you should have one strip of cake left which you may or may not use depending on how tall you want the truck.  Freeze overnight! When I take my frozen cake out I usually just eyeball the cake and start cutting away the "shape" of the truck. However, if it's easier you can draw the outline of a truck on some paper, cut it out and use it as a cutting guide.  When I am making any kind of vehicle cake I always buy a piece of styrophome that I can cut about half an inch smaller than the actual cake and then stack the cake on top of that to lift it up so you can add the wheels. For ease, you can just cover oreo cookies in black fondant for the wheels and I would probably just buy white fondant from your local craft store if this is your first and possible only fondant cake. Then the rest is just trying to get it to look just like the truck.  I hope that helps!!?

I highly recommend getting a copy of Mike McCarey's Cakenology Vol 1: Car Cakes DVD.  He walks you through all the planning, baking, and decorating steps of making a carved car cake.  He even gives you the recipes he uses.

Best of luck!!

AIt's May 23, so I'm hoping between school and work I can fit in a practice cake!

This all helps so much! Thank you all!

Is there a certain cake mix you would recommend to use?

So bake the cake, freeze, stack and do a crumb coat, freeze, then carve?

I might have more questions after I go buy the supplies lol.

Thanks fr all the help!

carve then crumb coat

AOh okay!! After crumb coat, do I freeze again? And then I'm seeing after that people frost with buttercream, then use fondant?

Or what..

there are miles of answers for questions like these ;) 

typically one would not re-freeze after crumb coating unless they were going to hold the cake for an extended period, say several days--

in this case, 'frost with buttercream' could also reference the crumb coat itself--in other words you have cake then crumb coat, with as much buttercream as you want --then fondant 

i'd say use about a nice quarter inch maybe more of buttercream on it give or take

then the fondant

but keep asking questions if you need to because i want to see if you can do this --  and if we all can talk you through it -- 

it would be a lot easier on you -- 'cause 3 weeks is not a lot of time to get this all down -- if you just did that side of it sticking up off another cake or just off the board laying down like that rather than standing up all 3-d -- just a thought

AThank you so much! I will let you know what I decide to do and how it goes! Lol hopefully good.. Fingers crossed.

AWait, still need to know what cake mix to use. Would rather use box mix UNLESS it'll cause problems in all this process.

AYou will be better off using a firm cake like pound cake. I'm pretty sure you can get it in a box mix at the grocery store.

AGood! Pound cake is exactly what I was thinking!

i would recommend baking it in loaf pans--maybe there will be instructions on the box for how to bake it in a 9x13--so just go by what the box says for baking for best results-- but you could carve the whole truck out of one loaf or two loaves too --you could also model it out of marzipan or fondant --

just tossing out ideas

i looked for a double cab chocolate mold but i can't find one

ATry to see if blue prints dot com has the specs available. That will help in getting the right dimensions.

Here is a doctored up box mix that I use and love!  Wish I could remember who to give credit for this recipe but it's so old I had to reprint it and no longer have the original! I did find it here on Cake Central I believe.

1 box cake mix (any flavor)

1 box coordinating pudding flavor

1 C cake flour - not all-purpose

1 C sugar

1-1/3 C water

1 C sour cream

1/2 C vegetable oil - or 1 stick melted butter

3 whole eggs

*optional 1 Tablespoon vanilla and/or almond extract

I mix all dry ingredients in my KitchenAid then gradually add water, then oil, then sour cream, then eggs 1 at a time.  I bake at 350 and bake time depends on pan size.  Anywhere from 30 min. for smaller pans to 45-50 minutes for larger pans.

AThank you guys SO SO SOOOO much!