Patrick's 3rd Birthday Cake

If you have had a few dozen free hours and read the span of my blog life, you know that I have started a tradition where I make a cute cake for the kid's birthdays.  It was Earnie for P's first and a bulldozer for his second. 

 This year, in trying to keep with our Richard Scarry (Cars and Trucks and Things that Go is Patrick's Favorite book, followed closely by Busy Town) theme, I set out to create this guy:

 There were no google images for "Hot Dog Car Cake", so I winged it by modifying the hot dog cake recipe from the Disney Family Fun website. 

I started the cake at 11pm on Friday night.  P's party was at 1 on Saturday.  I re-used the frozen Sara Lee sponge cake that I used for the bulldozer cake.  Big time saver and it cuts so well half-thawed.

Insert the Twinkie hot dog body, 4 chocolate mini donuts (wheels), and 4 pretzel rod axles.  I cut out just a small indentation on the underside of the cake where each of the axles would be positioned.

A little brown food dye mixed with red food dye created the odd hot-dog flesh icing color. In keeping with hot dog car realism, I had actual hot dogs nearby as my guide for color.

 After frosting the hot dog, I squeezed a little yellow cake icing on top.

...and the finishing touch: a cut-out printed Scarry character glued to a craft stick . Tom had actually suggested the pipe cleaner to simulate the scarf flying in the book and I dismissed it as a dumb idea.  But when I tried it, it was exactly what the cake needed (you were right, honey).

Best Hot Dog Car Cake EVER (at least it is the only one in existence that I know of).