A Fire Engine Themed 3rd Birthday

10 May 2016 Sharon Wee Creations

Last weekend my nephew turned 3 and every year I take his birthday as an opportunity to indulge in something I really enjoy – creating a dessert table. But only as a once a year affair! The whole thing takes me so long to plan and arrange that I am always left wondering how in the world professional people do them every week. I can say for sure that the whole styling and arrangement of everything does not come to me naturally but I enjoy spending weeks and months researching and collecting little things while I travel.

We chose a fire engine theme this year because of my nephew’s current obsession with fire engines. I think he has more than 10 of them all in different shapes and sizes. I wonder what it is about fire engines (and police and ambulances) that all little boys seem to love. Maybe it’s all those sounds and flashing lights 🙂

This year, to keep it a little less stressful for myself, I decided to outsource some elements of the dessert table and to keep the cake itself simple. So to make it stand out I decided to create a cityscape backdrop for it. I downloaded the vector images from Creative Marketplace and arranged them onto an A2 sized backdrop. I then had it printed on regular paper, glued it to foam core and then cut all around it. It’s temporary and it doubles as a nice colouring activity for my nephew after the party.

Want to see how the rest of the fire engine cake came together? Check out the progress pictures below…

The base of the truck was cut out of foam core.
Once the cakes are stacked, a circle cutter is used to mark the wheels.
Once the cakes are stacked, a circle cutter is used to mark the wheels.
Then I used a spoon to carve out the wheel holes.
Then I used a spoon to carve out the wheel holes.
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The crumb coat – the cake was filled with strawberry buttercream and covered with white chocolate ganache.
I covered the cake in seperate panels which makes it easier to manage.
I covered the cake in separate panels which makes it easier to manage.
The details! The ladder was made from gum paste. The wheels were made from fondant that were allowed to dry overnight. And the railings were also made from gum paste.
The details! The ladder was made from gum paste. The wheels were made from fondant and were allowed to dry overnight. And the railings were also made from gum paste.
It's slowly coming together!
It’s slowly coming together! The lines were made by pressing a ruler into the fondant.
No fire engine is complete without a dog on board!
No fire engine is complete without a dog on board!
The background gets stuck on with hot glue and coconut grass is added.
The background gets stuck on with hot glue and coconut grass is added.
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The dog gets his spots 🙂
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The whole table set up 🙂
And the birthday boy gets a cupcake :)
And the birthday boy gets his cupcake 🙂

And finally… more close up pictures from the table…

Adorable cake pops from Sugar Pop Bakery.
Adorable cake pops from Sugar Pop Bakery.
Little take home buckets for the kids.
Little take home buckets for the kids.

 

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