Caroline's train cake

I made a cake. And a train. It's kind of a train cake. I used this basic pound cake recipe, and a store-bought buttercream (dis one!), and some food coloring. The "C-E-A" is a take on the A-C-E trains on the NYC subway system, only C-E-A are the initials of my friend Caroline. Though Caroline is a now 20 year old girl, this cake is perfect for 6 year old boys. Or girls. Whatever floats your boat. Regardless, it's really adorable and I'm proud of the result :)


For the train:

2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 tsp. baking powder
1 tsp. baking soda
1/4 tsp. salt
1/2 cup milk
3/4 cup canola or safflower oil
2 tsp. vanilla
4 eggs

Preheat oven to 325°F. In a large bowl, combine all ingredients. Pour into a standard-sized loaf pan and bake for ~35 minutes, or until knife comes out clean when inserted into pan. Let cool completely.

While the cake is baking, separate frosting into two parts (one should be 1 cup, the other should be 3 cups). One will be fore the main layer of the cake and the rest will be used for piping later on. Dye the larger 3 cups the color of your choice for the outside color of the train. Set aside.

On a cutting board, using a serrated knife, skim off the sides of the pound cake so the sides form a 90° angle with the board. Then, slowly frost each side, being careful to keep the buttercream even. Once the cake is frosted, put into a fridge for 30 minutes so the buttercream can harden (this will make it easier to pipe later on).

Use the remaining 1 cup of frosting to decorate the cake as you please. Obviously, I separated that 1 cup into 3 colors and did my piping thang. I used a 3 mm piping tip.

The rest of the cake is really open to creativity! So do what you'd like and happy trails!!