My 1st Trial...Train Cake 101

My son is a HUGE train fan...HUGE! So, I thought I would try my hand at creating a train cake for his birthday. I figured since I am not a cake decorator, I would try it prior to the actual day to see what I could come up with.

I usually don't use a box mix, but when I told my hubbie my aspirations, he came home with a few boxes of cake mix and some frosting. So, I thought...why not!

First, I let AJ do some mixing. I think he did some tasing too behind my back!

No tasting though once the eggs are added. And, yes, I know I should have lightly beaten the eggs first, but my taste tester would not have waited.

Then, I let him pour the batter into the pans.

It took a bit of trial and error in baking times because of the size of the pans.

AJ enjoyed the cooked version as well!

Then, I sliced the tops off to make nice rectangles.

Then, I put on the crumb frosting. This will allow me to put the colored frosting on without all the little crumbly parts.

Then, I used two of the mini muffins to make the smokestack. I also gave them a crumb coating.

 Then, I mixed some blue coloring to the frosting and started to decorate. I didn't really decorate with much other than frosting. I just wanted to see if I could make the shape! It turned out pretty good!

AJ definitely enjoyed it.

Guilty as charged! How can you get mad at that face!