How to Make a Lighting McQueen Cake
Lightning McQueen is the star of the animated movie "Cars" and is a favorite character of many children. A 3-D cake shaped and decorated to look like the red race car would be appropriate for the birthday of a child who enjoys the movie. The exact features and design of the cake can vary depending on your level of expertise and the level of detail you would like to have. However, the basic technique involves a process of making and decorating a 3-D cake. Does this Spark an idea?
Things You'll Need
- 9-by-13-inch cake pan
- 8-by-8-inch cake pan
- Cupcake pan
- White frosting
- Knife
- Round 2-inch cookie cutter
- Red fondant
- Black fondant
- White fondant
- Yellow food coloring
- Fine-tipped icing bag
- Black food coloring
Instructions
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1
Prepare your favorite cake batter and bake a 9-by-13-inch sheet cake, an 8-by-8-inch square cake and four cupcakes. Remove the cakes from their pans and allow them to cool thoroughly.
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2
Place the 9-by-13-inch sheet cake on your cake platter. Spread icing over an 8-by-8-inch square on one end of the cake and set the square sheet cake on this spot.
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3
Carve the cake into a race car shape with a knife. Round the front corners of the car hood. Cut the front of the square cake at an angle to make the windshield and cut a wedge off the top of the square cake so it angles down toward the back of the car. Make any other shaping cuts as desired.
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4
Cut out four wheel wells with the round cookie cutter. Each well should be about 1 inch deep.
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5
Spread a crumb coat of white icing over the entire surface of the cake. Refrigerate the cake until the icing hardens.
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6
Cover the entire surface of the cake with a sheet of red fondant. Smooth the fondant so it hugs the contours of the cake.
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7
Cut the cupcakes into tires about 2 inches in diameter and about 1-1/2 inches thick. Cover each tire in black fondant. Cut a red hubcap for the center of each tire from leftover scraps of red fondant.
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8
Cut front and rear windshields, side windows, a mouth and two headlights out of the white fondant. Cut off the top 1/8 inch of the left side of the windshield to make it look like Lightning McQueen's eyes. Apply the fondant to the surface of the cake in the appropriate locations.
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9
Dye some of your icing yellow with food coloring. Spread it on the side of the car in the shape of a lightning bolt.
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10
Put yellow icing in an icing bag and write "Lightyear" on each tire. Also draw a circle on the hood of the car and write the child's name in the circle to look like the "Rust-eze" logo.
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Dye your remaining icing black with food coloring and put it in an icing bag. Use this to add details such as eyeballs, an outline around the lightning bolt and the outline of a race car number on the top of the car. Use either the number 95 or the child's age.
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Tips & Warnings
Some specialty stores sell 3-D car-shaped cake pans. If desired, you can use one of these to bake the cake instead of carving your own car shape out of sheet cakes.
References
- Photo Credit Rayes/Photodisc/Getty Images
