At some point in most little boys’ lives, since its release, Cars was a favorite movie. So it was no wonder that there were numerous requests for Cars themed cakes. The majority of the cakes I make are all different. Cars has been the most oft recurring theme, aside from pirate. Due to this, I made Lightning McQueen often enough to have tried out different methods of making this character, and finally settled on one way that is easy and relatively simple.
You will need:
Red fondant about the size of a golf ball. Yellow, black, and white fondant the size of a marble. Small amount of blue fondant, exacto knife, ball tool, scriber, dresden tool, circle cutters, marker tops with a design for rims on wheels, powdered sugar, and shortening.
A piece of baking paper, rolling pin, edible glue (or water), paint brush, wheel cutter, window and lightning paper templates.
Let’s get started.
For the base of the car, take the red fondant. Roll out a thick piece and trim to a rectangle shape.
Make an indentation in the middle for the roof of the car. Pinch the middle, smooth one end to give shape for the rear of the car, and round of the other end for the front.
Get a ball of red dough about 2.5 cm in diameter.
Using your fingers, gently shape into a rounded car roof shape. One end should be slightly sloping down, and the other end flattened on the front, to make the windshield.
Attach roof to the car using a bit of water or edible glue. Using the dresden tool, smooth the roof onto the car and make the front indentations for the hood.
Using the scriber, make an indent on the back of the car for the spoiler.
Roll a thin ended paintbrush, and using your fingers gently ease the dough up to form the spoiler.
Roll your black fondant about 3 mm thick. Cut out your wheels. Roll some red about 2 mm thick and cut out smaller circles for the rims.
Place the rims on the wheels with a tiny dab of glue. Using a top of a marker or pen of some sort that has a design, push on the red until it is even with the black. This forms the decorative rim. Set wheels aside to dry overnight.
Take a round cutter tool, whatever size of wheel you want. Mark the four places where you want your wheels to go. Set car aside to dry overnight.
Roll out some white, about 1 mm thick. Using the window template, cut out the front window.
Attach it to the car with edible glue or a tiny smear of water. Trim edges to make everything fit well, and make one side of the window slightly lower.
Roll out some black fondant, very thinly, and using the side window template, cut out the windows for the side of the car. Cut out a rounded rectangular window for the back.
Glue the windows on the car. Using the scriber tool, make indented lines on the back window.
Using the circle cutter, press on the indents on the car, already made for the wheels. Go as far in as you can.
With an exacto blade or very sharp, small, and thin knife, cut away the inner parts of the wheels, to leave a space to place your tires.
Roll out some yellow, very thinly, and using a template, cut out the lightning bolts.
Roll a tiny piece of blue fondant, and using a round nozzle, cut out the eyes.
Glue the eyes on the front window, and the lightning on the sides.
Glue in the wheels. While you do the rest of the work, have the car resting on a surface with the wheels not touching the ground.
With the scriber tool, or a needle point, draw the outline of the mouth.
Using the dresden tool, shape the mouth. You can also use any small flat item, like the end of a spoon.
Take some white fondant and fill the mouth shape to make the teeth. Take some yellow fondant and make small balls. Shape them to be the lights. Glue them on. Using a black food pen or some food coloring and a thin paintbrush, make the pupils on the eyes and lines on the lights. Roll a thin piece of red and outline the top of the windshield. (see pic below for a better view).
Lastly, roll very thin red lines and glue them on the back window just so. Draw a 95 on some yellow fondant and cut it out as much as you can around the lines. Draw another 95 on a small yellow circle. Using a paintbrush and some red powdered food coloring, brush on half the 95 cutout, the yellow circle and the lightning with the color. Glue numbers on to the car, and there you have it.
