Turning 5 is a big deal! It’s definitely a milestone birthday that’s worth celebrating and my soon-to-be 5 year old wanted to do it race car style. He was very particular about the type of cake he wanted for his birthday. It had to be cut in the shape of a 5, have a race car flag around the side and be topped with cars. The last bit was the eastest request!
When I started searching for inspiration 5 race car track cakes, I was definitely daunted at how much work was involved, especially when it came to the fondant around the edges…who had the patience for that! That’s when I came across this clever hack that I can’t wait to pass on. Here’s how you create this cake the quick and easy way!
If you’re looking for a number 3 race car track cake, head here!
Baking the Cake
I always like to bake cakes a day or two in advance – just to avoid the inevitable hiccups along the way. This one was nice and easy to make a 5. I simply used a circle cake tin for the bottom of the cake and simply cut out a whole in the middle.
To make the top of the cake, I simply used our bread loaf tin and just cut the pieces to size to match.
Voila! The first part of the cake was done and dusted and the birthday boy was happy.
Buttercream Icing
The next thing you need to prepare is the buttercream icing. Keep the recipe nice and simple: butter, icing sugar and a touch of milk. This will come in nice and handy when it comes to decorating time!
If you’re looking to keep things even more simple, you can see our race car cake hack here just using a Coles cake!
Decorating a 5 Race Track Cake
Here comes the handy hint for this cake: baking paper and napkins.
That’s right, no fiddly fondant bits around the cake. Instead, simply cut some race car napkin to size and glue it to baking paper and cut it out. You want the height to match the height of the cake. When it comes to length, don’t stress too much, you can join pieces together as you go.
You simple wrap the napkin/baking paper around the 5 race track cake and then stick it with buttercream. So quick and easy and it looks so great!
Topping the cake
Use the rest of the buttercream icing on top of the cake and smooth it out as much as possible.
In a separate bowl, crush up some oreos ready to go on top. The more you can crush them the better to get that nice and fine consistency.
Start sticking the m&ms onto the cake to cover the edges that have been made by the baking paper. My son’s request was for all red, so I bought this packet especially online, but you can just go with a storebought packet and mismatch the colours.
Top the cake with the crushed oreos and then add tic tacs down the middle to create the road look.
My son finished off the cake himself by popping the cars on! He loved picking what cars to use for his number 5 race track cake and placed them in order from winner to loser. You can discover more boy birthday ideas here!
Need more tips when it comes to planning that next important occasion? Check out our DIY party planning checklist and get started today!
