Monday, February 6, 2012

Monster Truck Birthday Cake

For Lincoln's third birthday, the kid wanted a monster truck birthday cake.  So, of course, I had to oblige. 

 

Unlike last year, I didn't take very many pictures of the process.  I did take a few to show how to make a monster truck fly over the cars on the cake, though.  And at the end of the post, I have a quick list of the cake basics.

Making a Monster Truck Fly

First buy a monster truck and some bamboo kebab skewers. The matchbox brand of monster trucks have the following handy quality if you're using them for this purpose: a random hole in the bottom of the frame.


I don't know why, but I'm not going to question it.  Check that your skewer will fit (flat side pointing in):


Now take the skewer out for a minute and squirt a nice glob of hot glue into that hole.  Now quickly insert the skewer, hold it as straight as possible, and wait for the glue to dry (about a minute):


 And seriously, that's it.  Now break off however much you want to depending on how high your cake is, and stick it in the cake over the cars or the "road" or what-have-you.  (It's not a coincidence that I used the superman truck for this part, either.) 

(Note: If I do this again, I think I want to paint the skewer brown or black so it doesn't stand out so much.)

Lincoln loved his cake and couldn't wait to finally get to blow out the candles:


And then I suppose it shouldn't have surprised us that the kids thought they needed to drive the cars on the road:


All in all, a culinary birthday success!
Quick Cake Info:
  • 2 stacked 9x13" cakes (I used a boxed vanilla cake on the bottom and chocolate on top with canned cream cheese frosting in the middle)
  • Buttercream crumb coat
  • Sides are frosted with wilton buttercream and then sprinkled.  The best info I could find about how to apply the sprinkles was to just kind of throw the sprinkles on.  I found it worked best to put them in a little bowl, cup a few in my fingers, and then try to gently pat them on.  Then I wet the tips of my finger to pick up the sprinkles that had fallen and added them to the cake.  I also worked in sections around the cake.  (And I realized that I definitely don't have the patience to achieve something like this.)
  • Whip canned chocolate frosting and then apply to the cake top.
  • Scrape filling off of oreos and then coarsely grind the remaining cookie.  I used about a third of a package and had more than enough.  Use a big spoon to apply the cookie crumbs across the diagonal.
  • Press (washed) matchbox cars into the crumbs.
  • Add the monster trucks, happy birthday banner, and candles.
That's about it.  Let me know if you have any questions!  And if anyone uses any of these ideas, I'd love to see the results!

18 comments:

  1. Very cute :) I have done the sprinkles thing before too.... I don't have the patience either.

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  2. That is too CA-UTE!! I love the bunting as well... that's adorable. This is so fun with the monster truck crushing the little cars. And love your little man's reaction. Would be delighted for you to link up with us at Mop It Up Mondays: http://www.ishouldbemoppingthefloor.com/2012/02/mop-it-up-mondays-party-2.html
    {HUGS},
    kristi

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  3. I saw this posted on Today's Creative facebook page. This cake is awesome. I'm doing a construction themed party for my two year old, and you've given me some great ideas!

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  4. I LOVE this idea! I've copied it into my "birthday Party Idea's" folder. I have a grandson and LOTS of nephews that would love this! THAnKS for posting how to do it!

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  5. Did you make other decorations for the "Monster Truck" party?

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  6. Thanks, Tisa! No, I didn't really do other decorations for the party because we just did a family party with cake and presents. But as I was looking for cake ideas, I saw some parties that had some cute ideas, like serving chocolate-covered cake donuts as "Monster Truck Tires." I'll keep my eye out for other ideas if you're still looking. Send your email address to whimsikel@gmail.com and I can send them your way. :)

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  7. This is great what a fun cake! I would love you to add this and any of your other projects to my What We Wore and Made party over at http://raegunwear.blogspot.com/search/label/WWWMW

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  8. Seriously? How fun of a mom are you? My boys would be leaving me for you in heartbeat if they saw this. :D Too fun. Thanks for sharing it on Motivated Monday at BeColorful
    Pam

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  9. My son is absolutely obsessed with monster trucks. He would go bananas over this! :) I shared your idea in my Saturday 7 Spotlight today. Thanks so much for linking up this week!

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  10. Replies
    1. I cut colored cardstock into 1-inch (I think) strips and then folded them over the string, stapled them, and cut the little triangle shape out from the bottom. I stamped the letters onto white cardstock, cut out the squares, and used a glue-stick to attach them to the little pennant shapes. I might have gone in a different order, but those are the basic steps I used. Then I just kind of eye-balled hot-gluing the string to a kebab skewer. Let me know if that still doesn't make sense, and I can try to find a tutorial for you. Thanks for reading!

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  11. Wow, I love this. Perfect for my guy's 3rd birthday. Thanks for the inspiration. You are so clever.

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    Replies
    1. Thank you so much, Lynnette! Glad to help with an idea. :)

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  12. I'm doing a monster truck party for my 3 year old this October and I love your idea of the skewer to make the truck fly over the cars! thanks for sharing!! :)

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  13. Thanks so much for the idea I made this last night for my 5 yr olds party today...it was a hit!

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  15. This is such a wonderful Monster Truck Birthday Cake. I am just in love with these photos because these are making me remembrance of the last month’s birthday bash of my niece that had been hosted at one of the local party venues in Chicago. Everything was fabulous but the main attraction was the designer cake.

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