Firetruck Cake

This weekend I made a fire truck cake for a friend's little boy who was turning 5 and is just crazy about all things from the rescue theme. I love making cakes for kids who are this dedicated to the subject matter! I saw this little guy playing at the park last week and he was all decked out in his rubber boots, rescue vest, and plastic fire helmet insisting that the other kids at the park were in need of a rescue. My husband made 2 of the little dalmations for this cake out of fondant (thanks Travis!) and my friend Amy suggested making the border look like flames by using red and yellow buttercream piped on with the leaf tip. The bottom sheet cake is a butter recipe yellow cake made with my favorite recipe for homemade chocolate buttercream (added super black coloring to it), and the top truck is devil's food chocolate cake (cut up a 13 x 9) with vanilla buttercream. Most of the truck details we made out of fondant, and some of them we painted with edible silver dust (horn on top, side gauge paneles, side mirrors, etc.) I hope you loved your cake, Philip! Happy Birthday...