How to Decorate a Child's Birthday Cake With Lightning McQueen

Lightning McQueen is the main character from the Disney and Pixar movies "Cars" and "Cars 2." Lightning McQueen is a racecar that learns important lessons about friendship and loyalty in the movies. The movie is well-liked by children in a range of ages. Many children would love to have a Lightning McQueen-themed birthday complete with a 3D cake of the main character himself. While this cake can be a challenge to create, you can add as many or few details as you like to make the process easier. Does this Spark an idea?

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2, 9-by-13-inch sheet cakes
Cake board
Butter-cream frosting
Spatula
Serrated knife
Fondant in black, red, yellow and white
Rolling pin
Pastry bag
Round decorating tip

Instructions

- 1
  
  Place the cake on the cake board. Stack one cake on top of the other to make a large rectangle. Frost the entire cake lightly to lock in crumbs. Place the cake in the freezer for two hours.
- 2
  
  Cut the top of the cake into a sloped shape to resemble the outline of Lightning McQueen's shape. Leave a high area at the back to resemble McQueen's spoiler.
- 3
  
  Frost over any cut areas. Freeze the cake for another hour.
- 4
  
  Roll the red fondant to 1/8th of an inch thick. Cover the entire cake with the fondant. Roll out the other colors to an 1/8th of an inch as well. Cut out windows, eyes and wheels from black fondant; windshield and mouth from white, the lightning bolt and number 95 from yellow and hubcaps from red.
- 5
  
  Stick the pieces onto the cake in the appropriate areas. Use a small dab of icing to glue the pieces in place.
- 6
  
  Pipe on additional details with the pastry bag, such as the headlights, tail lights, sponsors and the word "Lightyear" around the tires.