The Making: Thomas the train and friends (Percy and James) cake

Today my post is about a toddler favourite, Thomas the train and his friends James and Percy. Being a mom to a toddler myself, I understand how much a favourite character on TV can make little eyes grow bigger with excitement and put a smile on their little faces. Lemme tell ya..these train figurines ain't easy to do! I'd take whole lot of pics to show you how I did it but there were so many details that I'm worried that this would be a very long post. I'll just describe the basic process here. Again some people may be worried that sharing my skills will affect my business but really I'm not worried because it all comes down to your own ability to make yourself a success. If you worry about that and is selfish about your knowledge, then you might as well not do anything with your life right? Okay enough preaching :D Let's get on with it!

Well first find yourself a nice clear pic of the trains, like the above.This will help you visualise the design that you are supposed to replicate.

Get the body of the trains ready.I supported the structure using plastic corrugated material as the build up of fondant will make the figurines quite heavy.Once that is done you may start following the details that are on each train with the help of the pics you have of them.

Now this is why I love my Iphone. I swear it's the most useful thing I have. I can store cake pics, recipes, do my planning, contact my clients and answer my emails all in one device. Seriously can't do my business without it. My rule of thumb though is to never let a phone rule my life, there are other things more important and worth putting down your phone for like your family or a LIFE!. Okaaayyy I promise the preaching stops now haha! 

Anywaaaay, I found a pic of the train with clear facial features and tried to follow it for my figurines. It was quite tricky getting the expression just right. Once that was done, I let sit to dry for a couple of days.
This is why you need to confirm your order at least a week before for cakes with figurines because it will take a few days for me to complete even one figurine.This also why it will cost you extra because it is a LOT of work and time taken!

Once the cake was baked and covered with fondant, I prepared the rocks that would surround the entrance of the train tunnel.Basically I mixed some grey fondant and a little black to create a rocky marble effect.

Then I started to arrange it on the side of the cake at the edges of the black fondant tunnel. 

Next I needed to make the train track that surrounded the base of the cake. You can actually use an imprint mat with woodgrain on it to create the look but if you don't have one, you can just use the scallop tool like shown above.

Once the track was arranged, I rolled out some grey fondant to create the metal railing and stuck it on with some gumpaste glue.

Finally, I attached the birthday message and put the heavy train figurines on top and this is how the cake looked like from the top. So there you go..a Thomas and friends custom made cake! Thanks for reading!