A few months ago, my dear friend Brenda asked me to make her nephew's 3rd birthday cake. And because he is just about the most adorable little guy on the planet, I had no choice! Javi's favorite movie is Cars, so naturally Bren requested a cake featuring his favorite character, Lightning McQueen (or, as Javi calls him, "Lining A Queen"). I'd never made a 3-D car cake before, so while I knew it would be a challenge, I also knew it was going to be lots of fun! The experience did not disappoint.
I worked so intensely on Lightning, that I forgot to take any pictures of the process. However, my friend Stacie has a great tutorial on her website that you should check out:
http://naturepixie.webs.com/3dcarscakeprocess.htm
This is my finished Lightning McQueen, sans wheels:
Instead of using an edible image for the "Rust-eez" logo, I decided to customize it for Javi by cutting out individual fondant letters.
I had originally planned for Lightning to sit on a fondant street surrounded by grass and trees, but at the last minute I changed my mind. I decided that Javi would probably dig a checkered racing flag more. After all, what says "race" more than a checkered flag?
In the end, I was really glad I chose the flag backdrop. I think it looks pretty cool!
The car was made from a sturdy almond sponge cake, while the base was dark chocolate cake filled with white chocolate raspberry truffle.