Gus's Dump Truck Cake

Hey everybody!  What did you do today?  I did this - made this birthday cake for our grandson Gus.  Obviously, he is turning two today and he LOVES trucks.  I mean, loves, loves, loves trucks of all kinds so this is his birthday cake - a yellow dump truck.

Now, I am not The Ace of Cakes, make no claims to be, but I can find information on the world wide web and follow instructions.  Thank you ask.com for the information on how to make a dump truck cake.  My oldest daughter and I were just discussing what we did before the web.  Things definitely were not as easy to accomplish.  This would have been a trip to the library, praying the whole way that there was some kind of book that would tell you how to make whatever you were wanting to make.  You weren't always lucky enough to find such information.

Thanks to the graciousness of all those who share their skills and information, we lead a whole different life today than even 15 years ago.  This is one of those "who would a thunk back in the day" situations that we are all more than grateful for and actually take for granted.  From homework, to crafting, to recipes - I say YAY for the world wide wonderful web (and the genius who thought up Pinterest)!  Wish that idea had been mine.

Back to Gus's cake, it really wasn't that hard to make.  His momma has a week old baby and wasn't sure what she was going to do about his birthday which is today.  So, yesterday (yes, yesterday) we finally decided and I made a flying trip to "Wally world" to pick up supplies, made a mad dash home and set to work.

I baked a yellow box cake in a 9 x 13 pan  for the base of the cake, let it cool, dumped it out and iced it with chocolate icing (one of my favorite combinations and I wanted it to look like dirt).  For the dump truck, I cheated and used a Sara Lee frozen pound cake.  SOOOOOO much faster than baking your own pound cake and no risk of error.  I also used Pillsbury canned frosting because the consistency is great for icing fancy cakes.  I bought two cans of white so that I could tint them colors I wanted, and one can of fudge icing for the dirt.

I have icing tips that I keep on hand, and zip lock bags to use for piping the icing.  I bought Almond Joy bits to use as hub caps, headlights and some of the "rubble" the dump truck is dumping.  I also used chocolate teddy grahams for the rest of the rubble and a Lindt white chocolate bar for the windows.  Oh, and some mini chocolate donuts for the wheels.

These are not bad to eat while you are working on the cake!  Yum

Perfect little rectangles to use for windows!

Why didn't I put them all in one picture?  Heck if I know.

Start with this pound cake.  Remove it from the tin and turn it out on a cutting board.  Using a bread knife, cut a few inches off the end of the cake to make the cab of the truck.

Turn the cake on end and slice a wedge out of the cake.

Lay the remainder of the cake on the cutting board and trim the top to make it flat.   Like this.

I cut about 1.5 inches off the end because the bed of the truck was going to be too long.

Now, put the base of the truck together.  The cab on the end, lay the wedge slice next to the cab with the wedge on top.  Lay the remaining piece on the wedge to form the bed of the truck.  So easy and you didn't have to bake anything.

Now, place the "truck" in the middle of the sheet cake and decorate however you want.  I chose yellow icing for the truck.  I scooped out some of the canned white icing, put it in a bowl, added drops of yellow food coloring and stirred until I got the color I wanted.  Next, ice the entire truck form trying to get the icing as smooth as possible.

Now for the detail.  I tinted some icing black for the detail piping.  Black icing tastes gross.  Sorry, but it does so I tried not to use very much.  I put mini chocolate donuts next to the truck for wheels.  If you put a bit of icing on the back of some of the Almond Joy pieces, you can put them in the center of the donuts for hub caps.  I also put two cream colored Almond Joy pieces on the front for headlights.  Cut a few squares of the white chocolate for windows, and a longer rectangular piece for the windshield.

Next, fill the bed of the truck with "rubble."  It can be whatever you want to put in there.  I used Teddy grahams because Gus is only two and they are something he can eat.  I mingled some Almond Joy pieces in to look like rocks.

Now, for the trim work.  I piped some of the black icing all around the truck for detail and on the front to make a grill and bumper.  Next, I tinted some icing green for contrast and piped the number "2" for Gus's age and his name on the top of the truck.  I also piped a little around the truck and the base of the cake to look like grass.  All done.  I think it's really, really cute and he is going to flip out when he sees his truck cake!

Well, I have had my fun for the day and it's time to head over to Gus's house to party down.  We'll put his #2 candle on the cake for him to blow out, open presents (he loves presents) and eat cake.  Grandma's are such lucky people.  We get to do so many fun things in a day's time.  Pure bliss.

Everyday Donna

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