Preface I: Alex is turning eight years old this week.
Preface II:
me: So Al, I would like to make you a cake for your birthday.
Alex: Well, I think my mom is already bringing a cake to my party.
me: Right, but I wanted to make a cake just for our house. Would that be okay?
Alex: Well...
Jason: You can never have too much cake, right??
Alex: Okay!
me: So what kind do you want? You can pick aaaaaaanything!
Alex: Chocolate! With white frosting!
me: Are you sure? Out of everything, that's what you want?
Alex: Yes.
me (thinking piece of cake, I got this): Okay!
Alex: Oh, and by the way, can you make it look like an army tank?
me: Uhhhhhhhhh...
Ha, I guess this is what it's like to have boys. : )
A quick Google search left me feeling intimidated, what with all of the marbled fondant and camo spray paint. But then I found a few "regular" cakes and went from there. And it was actually really easy!
Here's how I broke it down:
- two boxes of chocolate cake mix, one and a half in a 9x13 cake pan (buttered and floured), and the other half in a regular loaf pan (buttered and floured)
- increase the baking time by 10 minutes (for a total of 40 minutes at 325).
- cut the loaf cake in half for the tank hatch and stacked it on the 9x13.
- cut a rectangle at an angle out of the front of the 9x13 and rounded the front edges.
- army green = green food coloring + brown food coloring gel (by Wilton), in about equal parts into two cans of vanilla icing
- Oreos for the wheels
- Hershey regular size milk chocolate bars, broken into squares, for the tracks
- a hole cut out of the top for the hatch, just wide enough to fit an army guy
- an Oreo for the hatch door with a big glop of icing behind it to secure it
- black sparkle cake gel for the writing
- Alex's initials and age on the sides as the serial number
- a pretzel stick covered in chocolate for the tank gun
- leftover cake plus 4 graham crackers crumbled and crushed around the cake for sand and dirt
- total decorating time: 1.5 hours
Lori (Aunt Lu) and Alex.
It was a huge hit. Best army tank cake I've ever had. ; )
