All Aboard!

This is the train cake I made for Nathan's 2nd Birthday. I used a recipe/instructions on the Betty Crocker website. Well, I had to alter it a bit, because on my first (failed) attempt the night before his party, I used 2 boxed cake mixes as it calls for. When going to "crumb coat" the cake after it was cut into the train cars and engine, all I got was crumbs everywhere, flaking off the cake. The cake was too moist and delicate (which is very yummy, but hard to cut and ice without it falling apart). Into the garbage with what I like to call the "train wreck"

Before completely giving up, I checked around online that night and came across a different train cake tutorial that recommended using frozen pound cakes. *Light bulb goes off above my head* Pound cake, being a more tightly packed cake, would fare much better being trimmed and iced and manhandled. So, in the end it all worked out, and we had an adorable train cake...and one happy little boy, yelling "choo choo" and "it's Thomas!" Certain people questioned why the heck I bothered stressing myself out for a monkey cake last year and then a train cake this year...Nathan's smile and reaction made it all worthwhile. THAT is why I put all the work, and deal with icing all over my kitchen, and curse at the thing at midnight, and throw it away to start over the next morning...for him...