Ingredients:

• 1 (5 by 9-inch) loaf cake, from box mix
• 10 Tootsie Rolls
• 1 can (16 oz) vanilla frosting
• Blue food coloring
• 1 cup dark chocolate frosting
• 4 Oreos
• 1 tube (4.25 oz) red decorating icing
• 4 mini-chocolate-frosted doughnuts
• 1 thin, small bar of chocolate
• 2 red M&M’s
• 2 yellow M&M’s
• 2 red M&M’s Minis
• 2 yellow M&M’s Minis
• 2 cups shredded coconut, tinted green, optional
• 1 ½ cups black decorating sugar, optional
• White licorice pastels (Good & Plenty), optional

What you’ll need:

• A serving platter
• A bread knife
• A 2 ½-inch round cookie cutter or juice glass
• A paring knife
• 2 resealable sandwich-size plastic bags (Ziploc)

Trimming the cake:

1. Place the loaf cake on a work surface with the flat side on the surface. Cut the cake into the shape of the race car, as pictured in the template below.
2. Use a 2 ½-inch round cookie cutter or the mouth of a juice glass to cut into the base of the cake about ¾-inch deep to make space for the car’s wheels.

Preparing the decorations:

1. Unwrap the Tootsie Rolls and microwave for no more than 3 seconds to soften. Press 3 of them together and roll out into a 2 by 4 ½-inch rectangle, about 1/8-inch thick. Trim the flattened chews with a knife into trapezoidal shapes for the front and rear windows. (The windows will be about 4 inches wide at the base, and 3 inches wide at the top, and 2 inches high.)
2. Repeat with the remaining 4 chews for the side windows. (The windows will be about 2 ½ inches wide at the base, 2 inches wide at the top and 1 ¾ inches tall.)

Frosting the cake:

1. Spoon ¼ cup of the vanilla frosting into a resealable plastic bag.
2. Spoon the dark chocolate frosting into a resealable plastic bag.
3. Add enough food coloring to the remaining vanilla frosting to tint it blue.
4. Place the four Oreos on a serving platter to serve as pedestals for the car’s body.  Place the cake on top of the Oreos.
5. Spread the blue frosting all over the top and sides of cake except for the wheel openings and make smooth.

To complete the decoration:

1. Press the front, rear and side Tootsie Roll windows onto the car’s body.
2. Snip a small (1/8-inch) corner from each bag of chocolate and vanilla frosting.
3. Pipe a line of chocolate frosting around the windows.
4. Using the red decorating icing, pipe decorative stripes on the front and top of the car.
5. Press the small chocolate bar into the rear of the cake for the car’s spoiler.
6. Use the vanilla frosting to pipe a number onto the hood and doors of the car.
7. Pipe white dots of frosting in the front and rear of cake. Attach the yellow M&M’s as the headlights and the red M&M’s as the tail lights.
8. Pipe some chocolate frosting into the wheel openings. Press the doughnuts into the openings. Pipe a decorative edge around the tire with chocolate frosting. Pipe some chocolate frosting into the doughnut holes.  Pipe chocolate frosting lines onto the front and rear of the car.
9. Decorate the platter with the green coconut for the grass.  Sprinkle the black decorating sugar and white Good & Plenty down the length of the platter for the road.

See all Incredible Birthday Cake Designs