How To Make a Fire Truck Cake
“Can I (excited gasp) have a firetruck cake for my birfday? With a ladder and, and (insert excited movements here) and a fire hose?” Big smiles. This request came as no surprise, fire trucks and fire engines take pride of place in every game whether it be in the house, sandpit, bath or the car. There must be some sort of rescue vehicle present. Preferably a firetruck with a ladder but at a pinch a yellow taxi can pass as a rescue car when back up is needed.
My baby boy is turning three! Which means this blog is also turning three. I posted the very first recipe when he was just one week old. It is amazing how little things can grow into big things in such a short space of time. While my now three year old is a big boy and wants to do everything himself, I am much the opposite. The bigger the website gets the more I am asking for help. Thus far I have programmed, coded and debugged everything on the website, but I have now reached the stage that I am going to need some help so hopefully within the next few months the website will have a bit of a makeover to make it run smoothly on all devices.
This cake serves 20, you can scale it up if you want to serve more.
To make the fire truck cake, you will need:
* The Fire Truck Template
* Fondant: Light Grey 111g (3.92 ounces), Dark Grey 70g (2.47 ounces), Red 1 kg (2.2 pounds), Black 200g (7.05 ounces), White 200g (7.05 ounces), Yellow 20g (0.71 ounces), Blue 20g (0.71 ounces)
* 6 mini oreos
* Fondant extruder to make the hose (optional)
* Gold luster dust for the end of the hose (optional)
* Green food colouring for grass
* Cake: Double the sponge cake recipe baked either in trays or in a box 25cm (9.84 inches) x 25cm (9.84 inches) x 10cm (3.94 inches) deep. If baked in a large tin or box expect it to take at least 2 hours to bake. Only use boxes that do not use glue and do not have plastic laminated shiny pictures on them.
* Frosting double recipe of frosting of your choice, I used the french buttercream. See the recipes and taste tests for seven different frostings.
* Cake leveller or serrated knife to cut the cake
* Cake board to put the cake on, the one I used was 25cm (9.84 inches) x 38cm (14.96 inches)
* Firm cardboard to support the base of the firetruck
2014
by Ann Reardon How To Cook That
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All recipe quantities in the book are in grams, ounces and cups.
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Hi there,
I have purchased your template. My son is allergic to eggs and dairy. Have you got a suitable cake mix recipe that would work at all?
Also, I see the cake only does 20 people and you recommend doing a couple of extra buildings etc. Would there be enough left over cake to make these or would I need to increase the quantity? Thanks in advance.
Hi Suzie, The only egg free cake I’ve tried developing is the vegan cake – it is quite dense but should work. https://www.howtocookthat.net/public_html/best-vegan-chocolate-cake-recipe/. I’d suggest baking it in trays and stacking it.
You’d need to increase the quantity to make extra.
HI Suzie …do you have the template ? it is possible to follow this by mail ? thank you so much for your answer (i am french sorry for my english)
Hi Audrey, there is a link to the template above or you can get it here… https://www.howtocookthat.net/public_html/product/firetruck-cake-template/. ?
Hi Dearest
could you please tell me from where I can get the top red layer from? and how I can use it?
Hi Raufi, do you mean the red fondant icing that goes over the cake? You can buy it at most cake decorating stores or make your own from one of two recipes:
https://www.howtocookthat.net/public_html/marshmallow-fondant-recipe-for-cake-decorating/
https://www.howtocookthat.net/public_html/recipe-for-home-made-fondant-sugar-paste/
To colour bright red it see this video: https://www.howtocookthat.net/public_html/how-to-color-fondant/
When you said the chocolate cake recipe is perfect for this, do you mean just use as is or double like you do with the sponge recipe? Also, I only have square tins 20 x 20 – is it still possible to use these or do I need other ones? I also have 1 large rectangle tin 22.5 x 36.5 (it is very shallow), would this be better? Need to bake on Thursday so don’t have time to buy 25cm cake tins, also don’t really use square often so don’t want to have to buy more as this is a cake for my nephew’s bday so already out of pocket with fireman sam figures and template lol not to mention ingredients etc! Thanks in advance for your help!!
p.s. template looks great, have saved it as suggested! Can’t wait to try it!
Hi Gillian, I’d use the tray that you have to bake layers of cake then stack it up with frosting. 1.5 x the chocolate cake recipe will make 2 trays of cake 38cm x 25cm
Ah thank you so much!! Making it today 🙂 Will post a pic once it’s decorated next week. Thanks again!
Hello! I have purchased a 25 x 25 tin….. I’m going to double up your chocolate recipe that you suggested in an earlier post. Can you recommend an oven temp for the larger cake and double recipe and a cooking time.
Thanks!
Hi Joanna, I would keep the temp lower (160C) and bake it for longer (2hours) if it is all in one batch. Having made so may cakes since this one if I were making it again I’d bake it in your tin in two batches – so you have two thinner cakes. That way it bakes faster, doesn’t get burnt on the edges and is moister.
Thank you so much Ann! Great advice!. I will do it in 2 batches like you mention…. an hour for each batch?
Hi Joanna, When I bake 1 batch in a tray it takes 15 minutes, 1 batch in an 8″ round cake tin takes 40ish minutes. So check after 40 and see how it’s going, inset a knife into eh centre and see if it comes out clean or if it’s still runny in the centre.
Hi there and thank you for your video. I’m planning to make this for my little one who turns 3 in a few weeks to 🙂
I was just wondering how thick are the layers you have cut for the cake. And also what was the size of the board you used for the base of the cake please.
Thank you
Hi Maroula the layers are approx 2cm thick. The cake board I don’t still have so I can’t measure it for you sorry. If you print out the template then go to a cake decorating store with it and put it on a board, decide how much extra room you want around your firetruck for grass and buy a board accordingly. ?
Hi I am going to make this for my little boy I have not made a special cake for many years. What do you recommend for the fondant, is it easy to make do you have recipe or is it best to buy already made?
Hi Louise, you can make your own https://www.howtocookthat.net/public_html/recipe-for-home-made-fondant-sugar-paste/ but it is definitely quicker to buy it, especially for very bright colours like the red.
Hello my name is Achitopita I am from Germany. Excuse my English. I have a question. I have see your video on YouTube from the cake fire truck Sam. There you have a paper with a fire truck. Is it possible to have this paper? Because my son have Bithday and I want to make a fire trruck. Tank you so much. Best regards Achiropita
Hi
Where can I find the large box which you use to bake the cake in please? I can’t seem to find one anywhere
hi Abigail any box that doesn’t have plastic coated printing on it is fine – postage boxes are often useful. OR you can bake layers of cake in a baking tray instead.
Hi Ann, I’d love to make this cake but Teddy has requested chocolate cake for his 4th birthday! Can I easily convert your sponge recipe to chocolate, or can you suggest another recipe? I’ve already ordered the 25cmx 25cm tin.
Thanks,
Libby
Hi Libby, Yes, chocolate cake works even better. This recipe is great and the quantity is the same: https://www.howtocookthat.net/public_html/chocolate-cake-recipe/
Hi, how can i get a template sen to me please?
thanks,
sally
Hi Sally, Just purchase the template via the Buy it Now Button. On purchase a download link will appear. You will also receive an email with a back up download link. Just make sure the email address you provide is correct.
hey, im just wondering if i buy the templates for the fire truck do you send them through email??
so we can get them straight away??
thanks x
Hi Whitney, A download link appears immediately on purchase. There is also a back up link sent via email.
Thanks for providing this Ann! We had so much fun making this cake. A bit disappointed that our ladder was saggy but happy with our added cheeky addition of real flashing lights! Thanks clever hubby. I used the sponge cake delish and the cream cheese frosting! Everyone loved it 🙂 thanks I’ll be back to try some more goodies again I’m sure 🙂
That is great tara. Next time let your fondant ladder dry out well in advance and you should be fine!
Thank you for your tutorial and template. I had so much fun making this cake for my godson and will definitely return for more templates and tutorials in the future.
Thanks Helen. We hope Aiden loved his cake and appreciated all your hard work!
HI Ann. I’m keen to try this out for my son’s 3rd Birthday on Sunday but I’m a bit confused. The recipe says the cake is for 20 people but having downloaded and printed the template but it looks small and not to scale. What am I missing? Apologies if I’m being dim :). I’m only looking for a cake for about 10 people so can you suggest the best size tin or will that complicate things and mess up the template? I can always do the recipe for 20 in that case…
Many thanks. Alison
Hi Alison, If you are printing the template at full size 100% (no scaling) and joining the tempalte pieces as described then it will make a cake that can serve up to 20 depending on how large a serve you want. I think this will be fine for 10 people, there will just be enough for seconds for those who want them. The cake once decorated is a good size for your purposes. I wouldn’t try scaling it back as it will make decorating too fiddly. The template can sometimes appear small because you are looking at a guide for un-decorated cake.
I made this for my son’s 2nd Birthday – I had one very happy boy!!! Thank you!! (Although my ladder did collapse! Lol!)
Hi Rebecca, Your fire truck cake looks great. Had the ladder properly dried out? It still looks fab anyway.
Loved this video. Thank you
Thanks a lot for this blog….I made the cake for my son’s 4th birthday and it came out really great.
Hi Anu, your fire-engine cake looks fabulous. Well done!
Here is my version, which might be the first marzipan test for your template. It was real fun to make and my son had a blast! Thank you!!
Thank you for a great video and template. It was a perfect cake!
Great job Kate and we love the presentation!
I had loads of fun making this cake! My little son turned 3 the other day and he and his friends loved the cake too.
The instructions and template are easy to follow. I doubled the size of the cake though. We had 8 kids and their parents at the party and the size doubled was just right.
Thanks a lot!! A great success!
Great Baking Izzy. Your cake looks spot on!
How did you double it Izzy? How did it work for the template?