A few days before my son’s 3rd birthday party, I asked him what kind of cake he wanted. “A car! …No, an elephant!” Then, after some thinking: “A train!!!” So a train it was. I looked for train-shaped cake tins but couldn’t find any in the local stores, and found the ones online simply too expensive for one-time use.
I decided to skip the carriages and only do a train engine. I used a 10 x 24 cm (4 x 9.5 in) loaf-shaped cake tin for the base, plus made a 10 x 10 cm (4 x 4 in) square tin from cardboard covered with aluminum foil – this cake cube was later set on top of the base to make the engineer’s cabin.
I knew I wouldn’t be having much time on the day of the party as I had a bunch of other food to prepare, so I chose to keep the decoration simple and frosted the entire cake with a no-sugar frosting, added round biscuits as wheels and piped some simple decorations on the cake. It is by no means perfect but I think considering that I was juggling a slightly squirmy baby at the same time, it turned out ok! The birthday boy loved his cake, which was the main thing. 🙂
Recipe tips
You can of course also make this as a regular shaped round or rectangular/square cake. You might need to adjust the baking time according to the size of your cake tin(s). Check the color of the cake in the oven (it should be golden brown) and do the toothpick test – a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake should come out slightly crumbly or clean.
Ingredients
150 g (1 c) raisins
250 g (3 c) wholemeal flour
2 tbsp baking powder
pinch of salt
2 1/2 tsp pumpkin pie spice
2 eggs
4 egg whites
90 ml (1/3 c) vegetable oil
250 ml (1 c) unsweetened apple juice concentrate
80 g (1/3 c) unsweetened apple sauce
60 ml (1/4 c) water
350 g (2 1/2 c) carrots, finely grated
Frosting
250 ml (1 c) whipping cream, chilled
200 g (1 c) cream cheese
1 tsp vanilla extract
2 tbsp maple sirup
1 tsp cocoa powder *optional*
6 round plain biscuits *optional*
Method
1. Preheat oven to 175°C/350°F. Grease cake tins.
2. Soak raisins in water.
3. Mix flour, baking powder, salt and spice in a large bowl.
4. Mix eggs, oil, apple juice, apple sauce and water. Pour into dry ingredients and mix together with a spoon, careful not to overstir.
5. Drain raisins, fold in raisins and carrots.
6. Fill cake tins and bake for 35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center of the cake comes out clean. Leave to cool completely on a wire rack.
7. For the frosting, whip cream until stiff peaks form. Set aside.
8. In a separate bowl, blend cream cheese, vanilla and maple sirup in a mixer until smooth.
9. Fold whipped cream into cream cheese mixture until just combined.
10. If you are doing a train cake, set your small square on top of the long rectangular cake. Frost entire cake with cream cheese frosting. Press biscuits on the sides of the cake as wheels. For extra decoration, mix some frosting with cocoa powder until well combined, fill into a small freezer bag, cut off one corner and pipe onto cake.
11. Chill until serving. Leftover cake can be refrigerated in an airtight container or freezer bag for up to 7 days in the fridge, alternatively kept in the freezer for up to 4 months.
Preparation: 30 min | Baking time: 35 min | Servings: 20
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