Lightning McQueen Cake

Our family made a big move in August - from Clifton Park, NY to Richmond, BC (we never thought we'd be back in Canada!) Leaving our friends in NY was extremely difficult...and many tears were shed when we left. Many months of unpacking and settling in later...I finally felt ready to make another cake!

I met the beautiful Chary through a mom's meetup group. She was so welcoming and friendly, and funny! And at our 2nd outing, she brought a portable BBQ to make these yummy meat skewers with Mama Sita's Adobo sauce as her secret weapon...It was then that I knew we had to be friends! :)

When she found out I made cakes, she asked for a Lightning McQueen cake for her son Aidan's 1st birthday party. Fun! It would be a white cake with a mango filling.

I started my research online, and bought a little LM car to look at. I thought about getting an edible ink printer to print out all the decals on LM, but it was way too expensive...so I ended up getting some Americolor edible ink markers and rice paper instead.

I made the mango custard filling from a recipe in Food and Wine magazine (Feb.'09) and let it set in the fridge overnight. I baked the cake in an oval pan, then layered it with the mango filling before carving out the shape. Then I covered it with lemon buttercream and red marshmallow fondant (which took a loooong time, and a whole jar of red food paste, to get the right shade)

Unfortunately, I learned too late that a custard type of filling is not the best idea for 3-D cakes...The next day the fondant started to "weep" from the wet filling, and the stuff was oozing out from the weight of the fondant. I had to scrape off all the filling that seeped out, but the fondant in some spots became very fragile. Yikes!!! In hindsight, I would have just put mango puree or extract into a buttercream recipe.

The wheels were made of cupcake bottoms covered with lemon buttercream and black fondant, which I scored with a knife for treads.

I made the decals with my new markers and rice paper - only to find that rice paper warps with the wetness of the ink! So I lay the pieces flat in plastic wrap, and tried to squish them flat with some heavy books...which worked...a little.

All the decals worked ok, except for the "lightning bolts" on the side panels...the rice paper was much too stiff to flex on the contours of the car. It kept breaking apart, and did not sit well on the fondant. So, at the very last minute, I decided to rip both panels off, sent my poor long-suffering husband to the store for more marshmallows and icing sugar, made a new batch of fondant, traced out new decals on the fondant, painted and outlined them with food colouring, and phew! They stayed on and were a huge improvement!

During our rush to the party, I noticed that LM's smile was drooping. The darned mango filling was melting away the fondant under the smile! I pushed the smile up and just prayed it would stay up until the cake was cut...


This was probably one of the most challenging cakes I have ever made - mostly because of my insistence on making that filling work. I definitely learned my lesson, and will be sticking to buttercreams from now on!!! It would have made for easier decorating, and a much smoother surface. I also learned about using rice paper and edible ink markers, as well as using food paste and a drop of vodka (it evaporates, don't worry!) to paint fondant.

All in all, it was a great experience, and I'm certainly relieved that Chary and her family loved the cake in the end! Phew! (And we had a terrific time at the party - with wonderful company...and great food, of course!)

Hope you had a happy first birthday, Aidan!!