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. 3altruism

  2. Rating: 5

    I made your dump truck for my nephew and the firetruck cake for my son’s 3rd birthday. Now my son is saying “for my next birthday I want a garbage truck with the big forks at the front!” Can you please help?

  3. Rating: 4.5

    Thanks Ann, you are wonderful. Look what I made with your tutorial.

    • Hi Veronica. How did you get your windows so clear? Did you use sugar or isomalt?

  4. Rating: 5

    I loved making this cake so much Ive made it twice for friends. I’ve watched so many of your cake tutorials and over the years I’ve used your tutorials to make six different cakes. About to make your 3d unicorn for my daughter and my son has already put in his order for the minecraft garden. Thank you for being my guide through this adventure in cake decorating.

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  6. Rating: 5

    I made this truck cake for my son’s 7th birthday. He got super excited to see the cake!!!!
    The templates and the detailed video gave me a good level of confidence to make this cake.
    Thank you Ann for making me a “SUPER MOM” …

    • AMAZING, well done! Be warned your son will most probably want you to make him a creative cake every year now. ?

  7. Rating: 4.5

    This was the first full fondant covered cake I have ever done. I was so scared it wasn’t going to work. I had made a couple minor adjustments. But in the end it worked out amazing. It was the centre decoration on the table and most people at my sons birthday didn’t even realise it was a cake. The instructions were super easy to follow and the video also helped heaps. Thank you Ann.

    • Just another photo

    • Wow, it looks fantastic, you’d never know this was your first cake. Your son is going to be requesting all sorts of exciting things for his birthday cakes now. Happy Birthday to your little one.

  8. Rating: 4.5

    Your little son is the forerunner for our almost 3 year old Grandson.
    Last September he requested a Fire Truck !!
    Not wanting to disappoint him Granny started her research and thankfully found your Website.
    It was the most adventurous cake decorating I’ve ever done – even for our own 3 sons but with the help of Granddad (who doesn’t even cook) it turned out to be amazing. We were thrilled.
    This year the request is “A Dump Truck Granny” so once again I’ve turned to your Website and found your son has thankfully also been Dump Truck mad.
    I’d love to send a photo of our Fire Truck from my phone but I’m technologically disadvantaged.!

    • ? That’s so cute, well done on making his cake dream come true. What an amazing granny ??

  9. One more picture:)

  10. My little boy wanted a monster truck for his birthday. With help from your excellent template I constructed this cake. First time for me working with ganache. Understand why it’s used so much. I used marzipan, sponge cake, american buttercream flavored with raspberry and white chocoate ganache. Had to fill some gaps between the pieces with rolled marzipan, but still very pleased with the result.

    • wow, it looks amazing in blue well done Anna. Happy birthday to your little boy.

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