The simplest Character Cake Tutorial. We made an easy Thomas the Train Cake for our train birthday party theme, but this cake can be done with your child’s favorite character including Elmo, Paw Patrol, Dora and more.
Character Cake Tutorial – Easy Thomas the Train Cake
Have you ever seen a cake at a party and thought they must have spent a fortune, then to find out the hostess made the cake themselves. I am always impressed by people’s talents only to find out that some things just aren’t as impossible as I think. With the dawn of Pinterest, Instagram and more, creative food crafts are much easier than one would think. We had fun with this Thomas the Train Character Cake*. Using a coloring sheet and some creativity, we made this cake look like a million bucks! Follow our steps with Thomas and make your own character cake to fit your party’s theme.
*In retrospect, I wish I would have done white on the outside instead of blue because it would have made Thomas stand out more!
Supplies:
- Baked Cake (any size works, I did 2 9×9 round cakes stacked on each other)
- Picture of character (the more simple the picture the better!)
- Printer/copier/scanner – or you could go to an office supply store that has copiers that enlarge or shrink images
- Frosting – I used the Wilton’s Buttercream Recipe and find that this works best
- Food Coloring
- Frosting Bags
- Frosting Tips – I used either the plain Circle Tip or the Star Tip
- Scissors
- Toothpicks
Directions:
- First decide what size cake you want to make (see the cheat sheet below to help with sizing.)
- Find the image of the character you want (I just Googled ‘Thomas the Train coloring pages’), like I said, and go for simple and easy when choosing!
- Print out the image, then resize it according to the size cake you want to make.
- You can either do this with a home scanner, or you can go to your local office supply store where they have those capabilities (usually costs under $1.00)
- Be sure to have 2 images printed out. You will be cutting one up and using the other one as a reference guide.
- After you have baked your cake and its cooled and your frosting is prepared, divide up the frosting and add the food coloring according to your character’s colors.
- Place colored frosting in frosting bags with tips.
- Cut out your image around the border and place on the cake.
- Trace with a toothpick.
- Pick up image and cut along a different border in the image, working your way inwards, align to the traced edges you just did and trace a little more with the toothpick.
- Once you have all your lines traced, use your other image as a guide (because it can get a little confusing just looking at all the lines and trying to figure out what is what), and start filling in with colored frosting!
- I used the simple dot method to fill in and find this the easiest and most effective way.
- Slice and enjoy!
This Cake Sizing Chart from U Create is very helpful when deciding the size of your character cake!
Also take a look at our Monster Snacks for Kids and Monster Party Ideas. Pin to Pinterest.
Also enjoy one of our favorites, Cookie Monster Ice Cream. Pin to Pinterest.
Print
PinIngredients
- Baked Cake (any size works, I did 2 9×9 round cakes stacked on each other)
- Picture of character (the more simple the picture the better!)
- Printer/copier/scanner – or you could go to an office supply store that has copiers that enlarge or shrink images
- Frosting – I used the Wilton’s Buttercream Recipe and find that this works best
- Food Coloring
- Frosting Bags
- Frosting Tips – I used either the plain Circle Tip or the Star Tip
- Scissors
- Toothpicks
Instructions
- First decide what size cake you want to make (see the cheat sheet below to help with sizing.)
- Find the image of the character you want (I just Googled ‘Thomas the Train coloring pages’), like I said, and go for simple and easy when choosing!
- Print out the image, then resize it according to the size cake you want to make.
- You can either do this with a home scanner, or you can go to your local office supply store where they have those capabilities (usually costs under $1.00)
- Be sure to have 2 images printed out. You will be cutting one up and using the other one as a reference guide.
- After you have baked your cake and its cooled and your frosting is prepared, divide up the frosting and add the food coloring according to your character’s colors.
- Place colored frosting in frosting bags with tips.
- Cut out your image around the border and place on the cake.
- Trace with a toothpick.
- Pick up image and cut along a different border in the image, working your way inwards, align to the traced edges you just did and trace a little more with the toothpick.
- Once you have all your lines traced, use your other image as a guide (because it can get a little confusing just looking at all the lines and trying to figure out what is what), and start filling in with colored frosting!
- I used the simple dot method to fill in and find this the easiest and most effective way.
- Slice and enjoy!
WHAT’S TRENDING? How to Trap Elf on the Shelf in a Balloon or the TV. Your kids will love this!
Also access our Free Elf on the Shelf Printables! We are here to help you with your North Pole friend! Make sure to visit our Elf Store to cover you on printables for the entire season!
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