My Version Of Thomas The Tank Engine
Decorating By wendysue Updated 31 Mar 2006 , 3:48am by tripletmom
I just finished this cake and have to admit that making Thomas isn't easy. I'm neither pleased nor displeased with the way it turned out. It's just ok. Anyway, please feel free to critique me. It will only make me better!
To see the cake: http://cakespace.blogspot.com/
One problem I had was I was looking at my son's Thomas case for most of the process, then late last night looked at the actual train itself... wouldn't you know they looked different??? 
Hi there WENDY SUE i'm not to from from you in spring hill.
love the thomas cake it's wonderful great job
thought i'd ask you where in the metro are you getting your cake suppkies from?
the bakers rack in lenexa is the only place i know of do you know of any other cake supply places
you can pm me if you want to
Wow! What a great cake. I do have a question though. I have a little boy who wants a Thomas cake and I don't know how to make the face. Any advice would be great. How did you do it?
I made the face out of fondant using my gumpaste tools. Used the little green tools with the balled ends and the one with the fan looking end. Pushed the fan end into a fondant shaped disk and pushed upward, then placed a very small ball of fondant inside the hole I made... sorta like doing plastic surgery! Basically stretching the skin to form a nose over the ball. : ) Then took my fingers and one of the gumpaste tools to smooth over the nose... used a little Crisco on my fingers to make it smooth. I also used the fan shaped tool to push up and make cheeks, which I then also smoothed with my fingers and the tools with the ball shaped ends. Then just added fondant eyes, brows, and mouth. Made the face about 4 days ago, probably should have let it dry even longer.
I added the face over the buttercream covered cake once the buttercream had crusted. I added the Thomas face by carefully inserting a cookie stick (cut to size) into the face from the bottom. Pushed it up about half way, so it looked like a cookie on a stick. Then placed it into the cake. The back of the face was covered in piping gel to help it stick to the cake. So far it's staying on nicely. I just did this a couple hours ago!
If you don't mind I would love love love love love the directions for the cake part and how you frosted it so well.....I have to make one in two weeks thanks so much
Tina
I'll do my best! Here's the directions I just emailed to someone:
1. Made the face out of fondant using my gumpaste tools. Used the little green tools with the balled ends and the one with the fan looking end. Pushed the fan end into a fondant shaped disk and pushed upward, then placed a very small ball of fondant inside the hole I made... sorta like doing plastic surgery! Basically stretching the skin to form a nose over the ball. : ) Then took my fingers and one of the gumpaste tools to smooth over the nose... used a little Crisco on my fingers to make it smooth. I also used the fan shaped tool to push up and make cheeks, which I then also smoothed with my fingers and the tools with the ball shaped ends. Then just added fondant eyes, brows, and mouth. Made the face about 4 days ago, probably should have let it dry even longer.
2. I made this cake from an 11x15" sheetcake. Once the cake was done, I wrapped in wax paper and shrink wrap and placed in freezer.
3. Once frozen, cut the edges of the 11" side, about 3/4" off each end. Did this to get rid of the slope and the dry edge. I didn't want to level off too much of the height of the cake. Then I cut the remaining cake into three equal sized strips, layed them one on top of the other with buttercream between and froze again.
4. Once frozen, I started sculpting. I used my son's Thomas case as a model, which by the way doesn't look like the smaller toy version. So, if I had it to do again I'd probably look at both and not just one.
5. I cut through the first two thirds of the cake, about 1" deep, then took that piece and cut it down the middle. Used the two pieces from that strip together to stack on the back 1/3 of the train for the height you see. I still had to add a scrap there to make it the right width.
6. Cut the rounded shape very carefully... actually cut more than I should have, once again because I wasn't looking at the actual toy!
7. Used scraps to make the front section that extends outward, the smokestack, and the bell.
8. Cut a section from the back to model the case I was looking at.
9. When frosting, made a crumb cut over the entire train first.
10. Found it helpful to pipe a boarder and then fill when frosting the various colors on the cake. Especially with the black. Also, using a small cake spatula worked best for me. I used it clean each time I placed it to the frosting. Wiped the frosting from the spatula each time and wet it under the faucet to help me smooth the frosting down.
11. Once the buttercream was dry I added the Thomas face by carefully inserting a cookie stick (cut to size) into the face from the bottom. Pushed it up about half way, so it looked like a cookie on a stick. Then placed it into the cake. The back of the face was covered in piping gel to help it stick to the cake. So far it's staying on nicely. I just did this a couple hours ago!
A final tip... it's easiest to sculpt when cake is just out of the freezer, so if you need to stop and come back to it, I'd cover in wax paper and then cling wrap and place back in the freezer before beginning again.
If there's a demand for it, I may post a complete tutorial on my blog with photos. Should have done it this time around, but didn't take enough photos of the process.
I think it looks amazing! I know exactly what you mean about the different Thomas things being different. I did a cake for my 4 year old in February (you can see it in my gallery), and I was NOT pleased with the results at all. I got the cake idea from a Wilton book but I tried to modify the front train to look like Thomas and it was NOT easy! And just like you - I found that his design changed a bit, depending on what toy you were looking at! But my son liked it, so that made me happy, but on a personal level, I was a bit disappointed. But I think yours is amazing -you could enter it in a kid's themed cake decorating contest right now and win top prize! The face is especially perfect! I've never used gumpaste but I'm about to experiment on something I working on for next week - I hope it goes well!
I thought about using gumpaste, but never have so opted for what I new and went with fondant. I have all the Wilton gumpaste tools and a can of gumpaste, just haven't played with any of it yet. These gumpaste tools are good for fondant too. I have discovered that!
Maybe someone who uses gumpaste will know this... does it dry lighter than fondant? Thomas' face is very heavy. I would have rather had something a bit lighter. I think it's going to stay in place, but I still wonder about the car ride. It's traveling 35 miles tonight to a bday party. Hope it fairs well.
Wendy, it is really a beautiful cake. The only thing out of character is the wheels. You drew spoked wheels instead of train wheels. Nobody would notice except you asked us to look for something; so I was more observant. You did a fabulous job.
Wendy, it is really a beautiful cake. The only thing out of character is the wheels. You drew spoked wheels instead of train wheels. Nobody would notice except you asked us to look for something; so I was more observant. You did a fabulous job.
Thanks for telling me. 
I knew they looked off, but believe it or not my son's Thomas case has wheels with this spoke look. They also have a little half circle in each corner... left that off and my son told me I should add it. Maybe I should do that?
Gee, Wendy, you got me looking at pictures of Thomas all over the internet! Some of them show spokes, so my apologies. Some of them have nothing at all (these were pictures of toys). Some have the wheels I was thinking about where the train wheels have a rod connecting from wheel to wheel. Anyhow, like I said, the cake is truly gorgeous.
I always love to see other people's Thomas cakes because mine was absolutely hilarious! Wendy, I think yours looks so great....mine had spoked wheels because my son's toy did, but the Thomas in his storybooks didn't...so who knows!?! I've debated on wether or not to post my Thomas cake picture in the 'Cake Disaster' section!! I think I will try your sculpting technique with the frozen sheet cake next time...what a great idea, you could use that method for so many things. I used the 3-D train pan and placed the train cake on top of a 9-inch round double layer cake....bad idea! Thomas was way too heavy and his back end fell off and tumbled onto the floor of the fridge overnight! I was so worried that the dark icing colors would never wash off of the fridge!! Because of the weight of Thomas, the layer cake started to bulge out at the sides....thank goodness it was just family at the party...we all had a good laugh! Here it is, I can't believe I'm posting this..... 
Pancake,
Your cake doesn't look so bad! You're being way too hard on yourself!!! I think it looks very cute. Maybe if it had been on a larger cake it would have stayed intact... funny story, lol, sounds like something that would happen to me. I don't have stains on my fridge, but you know I'm sitting here typing with blue fingers from making Thomas. Have some other colors too that I don't recall using on my cake! There's a purple stain on my left index finger... I think it's somehow from the black.
Anyway, glad you shared your cake with us! I have decided that you can build nearly anything out of a sheetcake. I made a car a couple weeks ago, now the train. I think I'd take almost any challenge. It's a lot of fun! My son's bday party is a week away and I'm going to make a moon shaped cake along with a cake shaped like a rocket. Can't wait!
Gee, Wendy, you got me looking at pictures of Thomas all over the internet! Some of them show spokes, so my apologies. Some of them have nothing at all (these were pictures of toys). Some have the wheels I was thinking about where the train wheels have a rod connecting from wheel to wheel. Anyhow, like I said, the cake is truly gorgeous.
Wierd thing about Thomas is that every train I pick up looks a little different! Guess that means you can get away with almost anything when you're making him!! lol
Pancake, you Thomas the train looks great! Your description was making me expect a train wreck! Then I saw the picture and said, "What's so bad about that?" I can see that it sunk a little, but it still looks like a cake! It looks good.
That is a fabulous Thomas! You did a really, really nice job on it. I've always done the stars but the flat coating really make a huge difference, looks like you pick him up and start playing!
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