Fireman Sam Cake

I am a few weeks behind on my blogging because I have been really busy with 2 big cake projects. I got 2 orders for fondant decorated birthday cakes. One is a Fireman Sam birthday cake for a 2 year old girl and another was a Transformer cake for a 6 year old boy. 
Both cakes are to be delivered on the same day! I had to make sure I organise my time very well to be able to deliver both cakes on time. 

I had about 3 weeks to plan for the cakes. Fireman Sam! Ok, who is this Fireman Sam? I have no idea. I am not familiar with kid's cartoon. But fret not, there is always internet. I am so happy that I live in this time and era where everything can be found on the internet. 

Even though I am doing a patisserie course now, we only have 1 lesson on fondant decorated cake and it is a really basic lesson. The class was not even on until after these cakes has to be delivered. So I had to do my own studies on this. I have to thank all those bloggers and people who shared their photos of their cakes because I looked at so many photos when I was researching on Fireman Sam cake. On top of that, I also watched a few episodes of Fireman Sam on YouTube to know more about Sam and his fire engine. I watched till I could sing the Fireman Sam theme song. Ha Ha Ha. 


I started with Fireman Sam figurine. I thought I should give myself ample time to make sure he looks like Fireman Sam. I took so long to make Sam. I don't even know how many hours. Yes hours! but it was worth it when I saw how cute he was. I only wished I made him a little taller. hehehe.... but I guess he is a young Sam so he is cuter with shorter legs. haha. 

Fireman Sam's head

Blue eyes

Sam needs a smile

I wanted the ladder to be resting on the fire engine rather  than be part of the truck, so I made the ladder and let it harden as well. Made all the small bits and pieces such as the logo on the truck, the siren, the lights, the safety cones and birthday girl's name, Ellie. 

Head lights

Logos and other little bits and pieces

Birthday girl Ellie

Then came the cake itself. This project is a really big cake. The size of the truck was 12" x 7" x 4 1/2". I baked a chocolate mud cake and filled it with chocolate ganache. Shaped the cake to look like a truck.. It was tricky on how to cut the cake and pile it up to form the shape. I had to draw templates before cutting the cake. A wise one told me, measure twice and cut once and so I did. Glued each piece together with chocolate ganache. I feel like I was building a house, brick by brick. Finally it looked like a fire engine truck.

Building a truck

Do I look like a truck?

Smoothing out the ganache

The day came for me to wrap the cake with fondant. Now how do I make the windscreen look like it is not protruding? hmm.... I have to do the windscreen before wrapping the cake. I actually had a workflow plan as to which piece goes on first and which is next. The time used for planning was worth it because it made the process of wrapping the cake much easier and it wasn't as complicated as I first thought it would be. 

Windows :)

I look like a truck now

I wanted to have Ellie's name standing on the board to have a 3D effect and the "Happy 2nd Birthday" on the logo. I used royal icing to pipe the words. The result was simple and sweet. 

Birthday logo

I spent one whole day from 9am till 9pm covering the 2 cakes with fondant and finishing all the detail works. I wonder if other people take that long. Maybe I am still an amateur and I admit I am a little pedantic. I nearly broke my back at the end of the day but felt really happy when I saw the end products. 

Happy Birthday Ellie!

Now this is a really big cake and I had it on a 16" square board. The cake shop didn't sell any box that big, which means I had to make my own box. Well, I didn't make the box, Andrew my box engineer made it for me. heheh... The box was a perfect fit because it was tailor made for the cake. I tied it with a ribbon to make it a little prettier and also to make sure it is opened at the right side. 

Tailor made box

Now Fireman Sam Cake was ready for collection. I am anxious to know what they thought of the cake. Did Ellie like the cake? Did Ellie's parents like the cake? I hope I did a good job.

Happy birthday Ellie

 Finally I got an email from Ellie's mummy saying that they loved the cake! Yay! I am so happy to hear that. They were so kind to send me a photo of Ellie with the cake. Unfortunately Ellie was a little overwhelmed by the attention that she got and they couldn't get a photo of her beautiful smile but she is just adorable. Happy Birthday Ellie! Thank you Ellie's mummy and daddy :)