Wilton 3-D Express Train Cake {Review & Giveaway}

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A year ago I never would have imagined that I’d start making homemade birthday cakes for my family. I used to buy a decorated cake for a fairly good price at Sam’s Club and was happy having one less thing to think about while planning a party. But one thing that I’ve learned is that it is hard to always find exactly what your child would love to have at a bakery unless you are willing to spend a lot more for a specialty cake.

After learning the basics of decorating from the professionals at Wilton headquarters, I’ve found out  is it not as hard to create an amazing cake as one might think once armed with the knowledge of how to do it, the right tools and a little practice.  Not much can top that feeling of accomplishment when you finish a cake that you know will make your child’s birthday special. I never would have imagined a year ago I would be making my son this..

But I did and you can too!  With the Wilton 3D Choo-Choo Train Cake Pan, which retails for an inexpensive 14.49, you can use two standard cake mixes like I did (I used vanilla, do not use white!) to get six cups of batter and have some left over for cupcakes. Simply fill to the top and I do mean the very top or you run the risk of it not filling the other side and therefore not even on both sides. (Trust me, I know.)

Next tie with string to keep it from being separated by the rising cake. You can just tie it in two places but my husband decided he wanted to “help” and tied it like this make sure it couldn’t move.

To check for doneness stick a toothpick in the hole in the top half and when it comes out clean you are done! After baking follow the instructions with the pan to prepare it for removal.

After it had a chance to cool it was surprisingly easy to transfer it upright and I was ready to start decorating!

With my icing all ready to go, it took about 1  1/2 hours for me to do the actual decorating. I did take a minute or two here and there to rest my hands.

Using the online instructions made it easy. With a color picture and arrows for exactly what tips and colors to use where, it wasn’t hard at all. It just took a little patience.

To see a more detailed tutorial, see my Wilton 3-D Express Train Cake Tutorial on my baking blog, Oh My! Sugar High!

The scariest part was transporting it to my parent’s house for Lucian’s birthday which was over an hour away. Miraculously it stayed completely untouched!

And my son was thrilled with his train cake! I couldn’t be more pleased by his excitement.  It felt so good to have been able to make him exactly what he wanted without having to turn to a bakery. And truly you can too! The zigzags and stars used on this cake are some of the easiest decorating techniques to master and instructions are included both online to teach you how. Even if you can’t afford or make the time to attend a Wilton Method of Decorating course near you, you can make this cake if you take the time to practice the star and zigzag a bit beforehand. Just be sure to not decorate the cake the day of the party. Give yourself plenty of time the day before so you aren’t stressed and don’t feel inclined to rush!

How would you like all the materials necessary (and even some that aren’t) to make a 3-D cake with the Wilton Choo Choo Train pan? Wilton has generously offered all you see below so you too can make this fun and show stopping cake!

Buy it:

The Wilton Choo Choo Train Pan Set retails for $14.49 and is available at Wilton.com or at your local craft store such as Michael’s, A.C. Moore, Hobby Lobby or Jo-Ann’s Fabrics.

{ Giveaway }

Wilton would like to give one of my very lucky readers the prize bundle worth more than $75 as shown above to make a 3-D Train Cake!

MAIN ENTRY: Take a look at all the Wilton specialty pans and tell me another pan that caught your eye and for what occasion you’d love to use it!

Want more entries? (There is no doubt in my mind that you do!) After answering my question do any of the following and leave a comment telling me what you did. Each is worth one entry unless otherwise noted. Your comment is your entry so please leave the appropriate number of comments for each extra entry.

-Subscribe to A Piece of Cake blog by Wilton
-Follow Wilton on twitter
-Like Wilton on Facebook and leave them a comment on their wall telling them what you think of this contest (2 entries)
-Like Baby Loving Mama on Facebook
-Follow my blog with Google Friend Connect
-Subscribe to my feed in a reader or by email
-Follow me on twitter and tweet about this giveaway (Leave me the link. You can do this daily!)

Win a Wilton prize bundle worth $75 w/ a 3-D Train Cake Pan & more! @babylovingmama from @wiltoncakes http://ow.ly/1qPAtw #giveaway PLS RT!

-Add my button to your blog
-Subscribe to the Oh My! Sugar High baking blog
-Blog about this contest and link back here and to Wilton (3 entries)

This contest will end on 9/21/10 at 11:59 pm CST. U.S. residents 18+ only. The winner will be drawn via random.org and will have 72 hours to respond to winning notification email before  I draw another winner or do a live giveaway.

Disclosure: I am a Wilton Mom Ambassador and have received some sample products that were used in the making of the train cake. However the 3-D train pan and all baking ingredients were purchased my myself.  No monetary compensation was received and my opinions and experiences with these products are 100% my own.