Barnyard and farm theme birthdays are not complete without a tractor birthday cake. Design a simple sheet cake or sculpt one to resemble the actual tractor, using your time and skills as a determining factor for the design.
Features on a Tractor Cake
To those outside of the farming community or not familiar with the rural lifestyle, all tractors might look alike. However, quite a few features distinguish one tractor from another. Before making the happy birthday cake, ask the birthday boy or girl to help you create the right tractor for the party:
- Perhaps the most important thing to find out is whether the celebrant wants a particular brand of tractor. John Deere, Case IH, Farmall, Alice Chalmers, Catepillar, Ford, New Holland and Deutz are just a few of the companies that make tractors. Each has a particular look and color, and often those in the farming community favor one company over the rest. For inspiration on a particular tractor, find the company website to see color, logo and style.
- Like cars, tractors come in different models. Get a specific reference number or photo if you are trying to duplicate an exact machine. Otherwise, find out whether the birthday boy or girl would like features like a cab or dual tires.
- A tractor itself does not actually do the fieldwork; instead, it hauls the machinery behind it that does the planting, spraying and more. Find out if you need to include a piece of equipment behind the tractor or just feature the tractor itself.
Young children may not be particular about the brand or feature on their tractor. Instead, they may want a cake with a tractor from a favorite book series or movie. Others may want one with a happy face. Because there are so many variables with a tractor birthday cake, make sure you find out the right features to include on the cake.
Tractor Birthday Cake Ideas
A tractor themed birthday cake ranges from an actual tractor to a farm field scene set atop a decorated sheet cake. Choose a birthday cake design idea that utilizes your particular cake decorating skills.
Shaped Tractor Cakes
Tractor shaped cakes are as simple as using a shaped novelty cake pan or as difficult as sculpting a cake from scratch. Cake pans are available from several different companies, including Wilton, Nordic Ware and Pantastic. Simply bake the cake in the pan and follow the included decorating instructions.
Sculpting a tractor cake is something for advanced and expert cake decorators. A heavy cake, such as a pound cake, makes an excellent choice for the tractor body. Form a cab using sculpting fondant and cover a round crispy cereal cut out with rolled fondant to form the tires. Personalize the cake by printing an edible image of the birthday boy or girl and placing it in the cab of the tractor on a shaped cake or in a piped tractor image on a sheet cake. Create a fondant figure of the celebrant for a sculpted cake.
Farm Scene Cakes
A farm scene is easy for most decorators to create, even if they are novices. Follow these cake decorating instructions to create a simple field scene:
- Bake a chocolate cake and frost with chocolate buttercream frosting.
- Use the grass or star tip and green frosting to create rows of crops on half the cake.
- Crush chocolate wafer cookies and spread over the over half of the cake to resemble a plowed field.
- Add a tractor and planter figure to the top of the cake.
- Make a simple rope border around the top edge of the sheet cake and the bottom edge of the sheet cake in green or in the color of the tractor.
A barnyard scene is another favorite for a tractor-themed cake. Frost crispy rice cereal bars in the shape of a barn (use a barn cookie cutter) and place small fondant animals on top of the sheet cake, along with a tractor.
Cupcake Tractor Cakes
A birthday cake design does not have to be on a traditional cake. Make a cupcake tractor cake that is quick and easy to pull apart. One way is to place cupcakes on a rectangular cake board and frost the tops like a traditional sheet cake. Pipe the outline of a tractor on top of the cupcakes or place a fondant tractor in the center, with the birthday greeting around the top and bottom.
A beginning cake decorator might find making the actual tractor difficult, so try this idea instead:
- Find a large-scale toy tractor and wagon.
- Bake cupcakes and decorate them to resemble round hay bales. Alternatively, cut a rectangular sheet cake up into squares and decorate like bales.
- Stack the bales into the wagon and add the candles to the top of the bales.
Decorate a tractor birthday cake for the farm boy or girl who loves country life. You don't have to be a farming expert to create a cake that looks like it came straight from the fields.
