Ann Reardon

Truck Birthday Cake How To

truck cake construction party

“Truck truck” a cute little nearly two year old voice said when I asked him what type of cake he would like for his birthday. The next day the response was ‘raa raa’.  He swapped back and forth between the two answers like he was playing ping pong.  So the final decision came down to what he said on the day I started making it.

When it was finished and in the fridge he said saw it, smiled a beaming smile and then said ‘yuck yuck’.  It took me a moment to realize he thought it had real dirt on it, which I have to agree would be yuck yuck. After giving him a quick explanation and a little taste of ‘dirt’ he loved his ‘truck truck’.

To make your dump truck cake you will need:

* The fondant and cake cutting template

 

* 1 kg (2.2 pounds) white fondant (colour it to make 900g (31.75 ounces) yellow and 100g (3.53 ounces) light grey, to make the light grey mix a little of the black fondant with the white).

* Yellow gel food colouring

* 1.5kg (3.31 pounds) Black fondant (you will have approximately 200g (7.05 ounces) left over, store in two ziplock plastic bags for a later date).

* Thick cardboard to support the cake

* Aluminium foil

* Cake board.  The one I used was 45cm (17.72 inches) x 40cm (15.75 inches)  Tip: make sure it will fit in your fridge before you put the cake on it.

* double quantity of this moist chocolate cake

* ganache (see details further down in step 5)

* non stick baking paper

* isomalt or sugar for windows

* 2 packets of oreos for dirt

*silver luster dust

*rolling pin, knife & pizza cutter for cutting the fondant

* optional rock candy geodes for in the back of the truck

* rectangle cake tin Cake Tin Rectangle Extendable (or see video for alternative) slightly bigger than the cake template.

Step 1. Make the fondant details. This can be done up to a month ahead. You will need to leave at least a few days for the fondant to dry out before you want to decorate the cake. The downloadable template gives you a guide to cut out all the ‘make ahead’ fondant pieces. Watch the video for instructions.

Step 2. Once the fondant has dried hard make the centre of the wheels. This can be done ahead.

Step 3. Cover your cake board and make your cardboard cake board in the shape of the template.

Step 4. Make your chocolate cake. I used a double quantity of this chocolate cake recipe and baked it at 150°C (302 degrees Fahrenheit) for 3 hours 20 minutes. Place an empty baking tray on a shelf above it to shield the top for heat. Check that it is cooked through to the centre by inserting a knife into the middle. You can do this the day before you want to decorate your cake (ie 2 days before the party). Once it is completely cool cover in plastic wrap to store.

Step 5. Make your ganache and leave in the fridge overnight. The start of the chocolate cake recipe video shows you how to make ganache. For the consistency of ganache on this truck I used 875g (30.86 ounces) chocolate, a mixture of milk and dark chocolate, with 320 millilitres (10.82 fluid ounces) cream (35% fat).  If you are not covering the rocks in the back of the truck in ganache you will only need half as much.

truck cake ann reardon

Step 6: Cut out and decorate your cake (either on the day of the party or the day before the party depending on the time of day). Full instructions on the video.  Store in the fridge until ready to use. (If making ahead do not add your truck tray until the day of the party or it may crack or split when it becomes moist in the fridge).

Step 7: Fill your isomalt windows and add to the cake.  If using sugar not isomalt follow the sugar decorations recipe. Do this on the day of the party.  This cake should make 30-35 serves depending on how you cut it.

Step 8: Take a photo and upload it in the comments section below.

truck cake how to cook that

Popping sugar traffic cones: Use a traffic cone toy and reusable food grade casting gel to make a mold of your traffic cone.  Melt some candy melts or nestle white chocolate melts and colour using oil based red and yellow food colouring.    Fill the mold, wait a until it starts setting a little and tip it out.  Fill the middle with popping sugar or filling of choice.  Seal off the top with more melts.  Set in the fridge or freezer and then tip push out of the mold.

construction party food

by Ann Reardon How To Cook That

My Cookbook

ann reardon crazy sweet creations cookbook
Stores that sell my book listed by country: http://bit.ly/ARcookbook
All recipe quantities in the book are in grams, ounces and cups.

110 Comments View Comments

  1. How many people does this cake serve? And how can I purchuse your template? It will not let me pay threw PayPal. Thank you

    • Hi Kristy, If you are unable to purchase via paypal then purchase and download may not be possible in your area.

  2. What is the actual length and width of the cake suppose to be in inches? I printed my templates and they seem fairly small.
    Thank you

    • Hi Lisa, The template should be correct if printed without scaling (print 100%). The template will seem smaller than the finished cake.

  3. I never made a cake before but with your great instructions I could do it!
    To bad the warm wheather made the back of the truck melt a little. But the Birthday boy was happy

    • Wow Saskia, that is an amazing cake for your very first effort. Well done!

  4. Hi Ann, making this cake today & birthday is tomorrow. For the ganache, I won’t have time to leave it overnight, will this make a difference if I don’t ?

    • Hi Brenda, The ganache will need chill and firm up enough to use. A few hours will usually do the trick.

  5. For some reason I can’t buy the templet. Every time I click on it the page just relaods.

  6. Why do I have to leave the cake in the refrigerator?

    • Hi Thelma, You don’t have to but it is better to keep your cake fresh and at a stable temperature until the day of serving

  7. Just finished this dump truck! Love it so much can’t wait till tomorrow 🙂

    • Wow Simone, This turned out brilliantly. Well done!

  8. Hi,
    I want make this truck for my son but I need around 25-30 portion. Is it possible to make this cake bigger. How I can make this?
    Thanks you very much

    • Hi Veronique, A quick way to increase the quantity would be to make an extra quantity/tray of the chocolate cake. I would turn these into extra ‘rocks’ that you could pile on the board and perhaps a few extra on the truck. I think that would be easier then enlarging the truck itself.

      • Good idea, thanks you. But just the truck give how much portion?

        • Hi Veronique, You would get more than 20 serves from this cake. Maybe 30-35 depending on the portion size.

  9. Hi Ann,

    Thank you for posting this and publishing the template! I have an extremely happy 2 year old his morning. It took some late nights and a lot of stress but so relieved that the cake turned out so well!!! X

    • Well done Jennifer. It looks fantastic.

  10. Hello I want to make this for my sons second birthday. I’m from England and am on eBay trying to buy the fondant but am unsure which one to buy. There is a brand called renshaw and they do a regal ice ready to roll sugar paste and also a flower and modelling paste(gum paste) can you recommend one? Many thanks
    Karen x

    • Hello again also how come your chocolate cake only takes 20 minutes to cook, yet on your truck cake page it says make a double portion of cake and cook for 3 hours 20 minutes, is this correct? X

      • Hi Karen, The chocolate cake recipe is cooked in a couple of standard tins. The same mix is used in the Firetruck but double the quantity AND it is cooked in one very large cake tin. Therefore it needs much longer to cook. The time is approximate only. Ann recommends testing the cake to see it is done before removing it from the oven and especially with one large cake like this, put it on the middle shelf and place an empty tray on the top shelf to shield the top of the cake and prevent it from burning.

    • Hi Karen, Ann has done a review of some common fondants here: https://www.howtocookthat.net/public_html/the-great-fondant-review-which-fondant-is-best/ . Of course what is available locally to you may be very different.

  11. Hi Ann,
    this question has been asked before. Where is the templates to purchase for your truck cake? what you have listed isnt showing a link to purchase. such a cute cake..
    thank you

  12. Hi Ann, I love your channel and this cake is pretty epic. Could you give me an idea of how many servings it would make? Thank-you!

    • Hi Aysha, Ann made this cake for her son’t birthday. it will serve around 30-35 people depending on how you cut it. The ‘rocks’ and ‘boulders’ are included as ‘serves’.

  13. Hi, i made this truck for one litlle boy, he was so happy!! Thank you!!

    • Hi Kristina, Great job on this cake. It looks amazing!

  14. I made this cake for my son’s 3rd birthday and he loved it!! Thank you for your wonderful ideas

    • Hi Krisitie, Again your cake looks great. Awesome job. The rocks look so real.

  15. Where is the link for the template?

    • Hi Donna, The link to the template is listed in the recipe under the heading – The fondant and cake cutting template. Click the ‘Buy it Now’ button and you can purchase it for a small amount via paypal or credit card.

  16. Hi, i want know how many portion of cake you have. if we are 15 i will have anought???
    thank you.

  17. Hi Ann!
    I want to make this cake for my son but I can’t find the templates. Can you help me please?

  18. Hi Ann. I love all of your cakes and look forward to cake week every time it comes around. A friend has asked me to make the dump truck cake for them, but they are only having a small party and want it to be for around 10-15 people. Would this cake be larger than that and if it is, can you give me some guidance to downsize it.

    • hi Susanne this cake will be about right 🙂

  19. I’m taking on the challenge of the truck cake for my son’s first birthday. I’ve made all the fondant details; next stop is the cake itself. Assuming I make it to the end: how do you cut the cake?!

    • hi simon, good luck with it. Cutting will almost take care of itself with different kids wanting different bits (e.g. some kids will want a tyre while others won’t mind if they get a piece of the cabin).

  20. Hi Ann,

    thank you so much for making this cake. I copied it to the letter T – even put the name JEDD on it…. lucky for me my son is also named Jedd. lol He loved it & so did the guests. Even my hubby took part and did the rocks in the back of the tray. He said it was a “joint” effort… that’s men for you. Thanks again. can’t wait till I make some of your other cakes.

    • that is amazing Carmel, you did a fantastic job. I’m sure Jedd loved it 🙂

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