Train Cake with Spiral Tiers! - A Cake Decorating Tutorial
Today I'm going to show you how to make an adorable train cake with spiral tiers!
I just love incorporating the train theme with spiral cut tiers. The look of the winding train tracks and train is so unique! This design would make a wonderful young birthday cake!
Table of Contents
More Spiral Tier Cake Tutorials
There are so many different styles of cakes that work well with spiral tiers-- We have a sweet Sledding Snowman Cake with a spiral tier design which also demonstrates covering the tiers in fondant.
We also have a Snake Cake with a fondant snake that winds around a spiral cut tree stump!
Notes on the Spiral Tiers
There are a couple of points that I wanted to emphasize for our train cake.
In the video, I am using 9" and 6" stacked tiers. The 3" size difference works well for me because it allows me a difference of 1 ½" to work with all the way around, and therefore I am able to make a ledge that is 1 ½" wide.
If there is a 4" difference between your tiers, you could even bump up the width of your ledge to 2", if you would like to have room next to the track for more grass, flowers, etc., or you stick to the 1 ½" ledge if you would like to have a little more cake :0) ---
A 2" difference between your tiers would be more difficult to work with, because you would only have 1" of space around the base of the top tier to work with in order to create your track.
A track this narrow would of course require a train that is smaller and more narrow than the one in my video. For this reason, I recommend a difference of at least 3" between tiers.
Enjoy the Video!
Thanks so much for stopping by! If you give this train cake a try, we would love for you to leave a comment and photo below!
And then cover in fondant?
Hi Jass--Yes, you can (ganache & cover in fondant). I've always used buttercream when decorating this cake but we've had members who have covered spiral tiers with fondant.
Hi Jass28, yes, you can.
Thank you Trina!!!
I'm pretty new to this, so this might be a dumb question, but... If I'm using fondant, do I have to use all one piece/color, or can I piece together the green and blue? Thanks!
Hi Alisa! Not a dumb question at all! You could do it either way--but I think it would be easiest to cover the spiral tiers just as if you were covering a standard round tier...and then just immediately start smoothing the fondant over the curves and spiraled shape of each tier. I would cover in the most prominent color and then layer on the other contrasting colors of fondant. Let us know how it goes!
Hi
I think I am being a bit thick also, but just thought I'd ask as I am planning to do this at the end of the month.
Once I have covered the cake with white almond sour cream and refrigerated, do I then cover with more almond sour cream but coloured green or blue accordingly or is the coloured coat something different. Also, how are you colouring your cream? Is it food colouring or something else?
Many thanks and sorry for very basic questions.
Alexis
Hi Alexis, the white almond sour cream is the cake flavor. We crumb coated the cake with a thin layer of buttercream and refrigerated for a short while. Then we colored our buttercream with the various colors we were using. We use Americolor gel food coloring to color our buttercream.
How many people does this cake feeds?
Love this cake design/shape!! It is just the thing I was looking for. I am making a roller coaster cake for a co-workers son and I was stuck on how I can do it. THANK YOU!! :D
Hello i love this cake and would love to make it for my son;s 3rd b'day , he is crazy for trains.. Please tell me what kind of cake is used for carving and where can i find the recipe and how should I alter the recipe for different size pan.
many thanks for all these wonderful tutorials :)
Hi Sagarika, I think we used the White Almond Sour Cream - Doctored Cake, here is a link to the recipe, https://www.mycakeschool.com/recipes-tutorials/white-almond-sour-cream-cake/ It is in the recipe section. You will need to double the recipe to have enough cake batter. Good luck with your cake.