Second Birthday Train Cake
Dec. 18th, 2010 09:56 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
foodie(Only six months late. Improvement!)
(Click to see a bigger picture)
:♥: The base cake is apple butter cake, super-healthy but still tastes pretty good (as opposed to angel food cake, which tastes like eating air @_@). Concentrated apple juice instead of sugar, apple butter instead of filling, cream cheese + berry jam instead of frosting, added wheat germ, etc.
:♥: The train carries a load of mini marshmallows, blackberries, halved chocolate wafer sticks, halved cherries, blueberries and green grapes. I glazed the fruits with melted apple jelly to preserve their appearance.
:♥: The animal passengers are food picks bought from Daiso. They also help the train stay put.
:♥: Train wheels and train tracks are made from snickerdoodle cookies and wafers.
:♥: Leftover candy pebbles and m & ms spell River's name (I threw away the candy after I cut and distributed the cake. One 2.5-y.o. girl looked at me with betrayed eyes =P)
I esp. bought this Baker's Edge brownie pan to get perfectly square building blocks for the train.
Cake, flipped on the pan.
I pushed the two cookie cutters down at the same time with my palm to make the wheels. Otherwise, the cookie is too brittle and it breaks.
Dry run of fruit arrangement before I applied the cream cheese frosting. The frosting helps keep the fruits in place.
I added the wafer sticks last because they'll get stale otherwise. The train chimney stays put with the help of a toothpick.
This year I have a different colored grape (and blackberries instead of strawberries). River loves grapes. And trains, cars, penguins, doggies and chickens ;-)
(Click to see a bigger picture)
:♥: The base cake is apple butter cake, super-healthy but still tastes pretty good (as opposed to angel food cake, which tastes like eating air @_@). Concentrated apple juice instead of sugar, apple butter instead of filling, cream cheese + berry jam instead of frosting, added wheat germ, etc.
:♥: The train carries a load of mini marshmallows, blackberries, halved chocolate wafer sticks, halved cherries, blueberries and green grapes. I glazed the fruits with melted apple jelly to preserve their appearance.
:♥: The animal passengers are food picks bought from Daiso. They also help the train stay put.
:♥: Train wheels and train tracks are made from snickerdoodle cookies and wafers.
:♥: Leftover candy pebbles and m & ms spell River's name (I threw away the candy after I cut and distributed the cake. One 2.5-y.o. girl looked at me with betrayed eyes =P)
I esp. bought this Baker's Edge brownie pan to get perfectly square building blocks for the train.
Cake, flipped on the pan.
I pushed the two cookie cutters down at the same time with my palm to make the wheels. Otherwise, the cookie is too brittle and it breaks.
Dry run of fruit arrangement before I applied the cream cheese frosting. The frosting helps keep the fruits in place.
I added the wafer sticks last because they'll get stale otherwise. The train chimney stays put with the help of a toothpick.
This year I have a different colored grape (and blackberries instead of strawberries). River loves grapes. And trains, cars, penguins, doggies and chickens ;-)
