My son had been planing his birthday for the last 3 months and as the date got closer he was even clearer on what he wanted for a present, what he would like to do on his birthday party and who he wanted to have over but most importantly the cake that he wanted for his birthday. His request was a very specific one this time - he wanted a Thomas themed party and a Thomas Tidmouth sheds cake with a turntable at the front. Tidmouth sheds is an engine shed in the Thomas and Friends series and over it years it has been depicted very differently in different seasons of the TV series. He also wanted the same toy for his birthday so I took the latest interpretation of this shed as my inspiration to make this cake. Quite frankly, I was very excited by the request - it allowed me to stretch out from my usual cake decoration and try something very different for a change.

Since his birthday was on a weekday, the party with friends had to be parked for the weekend but on the birthday itself we had our family over. I have never done a structure cake before - most of my cakes tend to be simple layered cakes and so I was not too comfortable experimenting for his birthday party with the friends to make this cake. I was on leave from work on his birthday so I used the time he was in school to prepare for the cake.

Kids' needs are simpler in terms of taste and flavors hence the cake batter was simple - it was the batter I use to make twinkies at home. I baked it in a 9X13 inch pan. I did not have 2 packets on vanilla/white chocolate flavored pudding mix so I made the second batch with banana flavored mix. I actually liked that one also as I love banana cakes but it did not receive the same level of appreciation from my son or my husband. One cake was used to make the base for the cake and the second cake was used to make the engine shed. I used white icing for the base and fondant to decorate the shed and make the tracks and the turntable. I don't have enough skills to make engines so I just ended up using some of the engines from my son's toys to complete it.

The recipe for the cake can be found here . For the recipe of the white icing, see below.

Ingredients:

1/2 cup unsalted butter

1/2 cup shortening

1/4 cup water

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

1/2 tsp almond extract

4 cups icing sugar

Method:

1. Mix all ingredients in a mixer - beat for a few minutes till well combined and fluffy.

Assembling the cake:

1. Level one cake on top and cut it horizontally. Put icing in the middle and put second layer of cake on top. Frost all around to cover it with a thin layer. Frost it with another layer to make a second layer of frosting.

2. Level the second cake and cut into 3 parts lengthwise. Stack two pieces one on top of other with icing in the middle. Cut the third piece to look like a slanting roof and place it on top. Ice all around with a thin layer of frosting.

3. Color fondant into the desired colors. Roll it into thin layer and use to decorate the engine shed. Use some of the fondant to make a turntable and small tracks.

4. Assemble the remaining cake and decorate with colored frosting at the edges. Place some engines on the tracks and its ready :)