Trains

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Goods train

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TRAIN TRACKS

  1. Spread a stripe of royal icing diagonally across the cake board. Place the oblong marshmallows in two rows, opposite one another and about the width of a Tennis biscuit apart. Sprinkle the hundreds and thousands on the wet icing and set aside for a few minutes until it hardens. Cut the wafer biscuits in half and use some royal icing to attach them to the marshmallows as shown, to form the tracks.

LOCOMOTIVE

  1. Stick two Tennis biscuits together with royal icing to form the base of the locomotive. For the next layer, cut one of the biscuits in half. Start the second layer by attaching a half-biscuit to one end, then a whole biscuit and the second half-biscuit. This will strengthen the base. Attach a stack of about 10 square biscuits to the back end of the base. Stack the medium-sized round biscuits and attach them to the front of the square biscuit stack, as shown.
  2. Stick two mini Marie biscuits together with icing. Repeat until that you have 8 double biscuits. Leave to dry and then attach four double biscuits to each side of the locomotive.
  3. Use royal icing to stack four sugared jelly-ring sweets and attach them to the front end of the locomotive. Attach the apricot sweet to the top of the chimney stack. Cut the oblong liquorice to the same length as a Tennis biscuit and attach it to the front of the locomotive, at the base.

WAGONS

  1. Stick two Tennis biscuits together with royal icing. Halve the marshmallows and attach two marshmallow halves to the Tennis biscuits, using royal icing. Stick two more Tennis biscuits together with royal icing and attach them to the marshmallows. Attach Tennis biscuits to all four sides to make the wagon.
  2. Use the wooden skewer to make a small hole in the front biscuit of the wagon. Cut the oblong liquorice allsorts into 3-cm lengths. Thread a piece of liquorice halfway onto a toothpick and insert the other end of the toothpick into the hole in the biscuit.
  3. Stick two mini Marie biscuits together with icing. Repeat so you have four double biscuits for each wagon. Leave to dry, then attach two double biscuits to each side of the wagon.
  4. Repeat these steps to make another three wagons. You need four wagons altogether.
  5. Place the locomotive and wagons on the track. Use royal icing to attach them, if necessary.
  6. Decorate the train using a variety of small sweets. Load the wagons with sweets of your choice.
  7. Spread royal icing over the rest of the cake board and sprinkle with green coconut.

MAKES 1 TRAIN WITH 4 WAGONS

Tunnel cones

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  1. Roll out the yellow fondant and cut out circles. Roll out the black fondant and cut thin strips for the X-shape. Attach the strips to the yellow circles using a little water. Do this at least a day ahead so they can dry completely.
  2. Cut out tunnel shapes from the rest of the rolled black fondant and attach to the ice-cream cone using glacé icing. Roll out different sized balls of the brown fondant and attach around the edges of the black tunnel shapes.
  3. Fill the ice-cream cones with a variety of small sweets.
  4. Place the green butter icing in a piping bag with a star nozzle. Pipe a circle of icing stars around the edge of the Marie biscuit, then press the biscuit onto the open end of the cone to seal the sweets inside. Press a few sugar paste flowers into the icing while it is still wet.
  5. Using the non-toxic marker, write an ‘R’ (for ‘railway’) on either side of the ‘X’ on the yellow circles.
  6. Stick the yellow circles to the tip of the ice-cream cone using butter icing. Set aside until the icing has hardened.

MAKES 10

Train track biscuits

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  1. Roll out the brown fondant and cut strips measuring about 6 mm wide and 40 mm long. Poke holes into each end using a wooden skewer. Using the tip of a knife, make marks on the strips so they resemble wooden sleepers. Set aside to harden.
  2. Spread a thick layer of grey butter icing on the Marie biscuits.
  3. Press four strips of the brown fondant into the icing, spaced evenly.
  4. Cut the liquorice strips to the same length as the Marie biscuits. Use a little water to stick these on top of the fondant strips, to form the rails.

MAKES 10

Chocolate bar train

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  1. Melt the white and milk chocolate in two separate bowls in the microwave.
  2. Using the melted white chocolate, stick two square liquorice allsorts together and then attach them to one end of the mini chocolate bar. Stick three sugared jelly sweets together and attach them to the front of the liquorice allsorts, as shown. Set aside until the chocolate has set.
  3. To make the chimney, attach an oblong liquorice allsort on top of the jelly sweets, using melted white chocolate. Cut the round liquorice allsorts in half and attach one half to the front of the mini chocolate slab using melted milk chocolate.
  4. Finally, stick four Smarties to each side of the mini chocolate slab, using melted milk chocolate, for the wheels.
  5. Set aside until the chocolate has set.

MAKES 10

Wafer biscuit train

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  1. Stick two wafer biscuits together with royal icing. Attach a marshmallow to the front of the wafer biscuits, using a little icing. Stack four of the halved wafer biscuits together and place upright behind the marshmallow, to form the cabin. Set aside until the icing has hardened.
  2. Use royal icing to attach two large round sweets to each side of the biscuits to make the wheels. Stack four small round sweets and place on top of the marshmallow to make the chimney.
  3. Attach a square biscuit on top of the upright wafer biscuit stack to form the roof of the locomotive.
  4. Finish off the train by attaching a star-shaped sweet to the front of the marshmallow with royal icing to make the light, and attach square sweets to the sides of the cabin, for the windows.

MAKES 10

Liquorice allsorts train

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LOCOMOTIVE

  1. Cut a flat liquorice strip so that it is long enough to fit three square liquorice allsorts next to each other. Stick two square liquorice allsorts together with royal icing. Repeat twice more. Attach the stacks on top of the liquorice strip so that it is completely covered. Attach an upright square liquorice allsort to the back stack of square liquorice allsorts to form the cabin. Cut a piece of liquorice to the same size as the liquorice allsorts stacks and attach it to the cabin to form the roof. Using royal icing, attach an oblong liquorice allsort to the front stack to make the chimney. Set the locomotive aside until the icing hardens.
  2. Cut the round liquorice strips into lengths slightly wider than the square allsorts. Use royal icing to attach three strips underneath the locomotive and attach mini chocolate buttons to each end to make the wheels. Finish off the front of the locomotive by attaching a Smartie or mini chocolate button for the light and a piece of flat liquorice for the cowcatcher. Set aside until the icing hardens.

WAGONS

  1. Cut the flat liquorice strips into pieces long enough to fit two square liquorice allsorts next to each other. Stick two square allsorts together with royal icing. Repeat, then attach the two stacks to the liquorice strip so that it is completely covered. Set aside until the icing hardens.
  2. Cut the round liquorice strips into lengths slightly wider than the square allsorts. Use royal icing to attach two strips beneath each wagon and attach Smarties or mini chocolate buttons to each end, to make the wheels. Decorate the wagons by attaching different sweets using royal icing.
  3. Spread the royal icing on a cake board or flat plate. Arrange the locomotive and wagons on the surface and set aside until the icing hardens.

MAKES 5 TRAINS WITH 3 WAGONS EACH

Marshmallow mini trains

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  1. Push a marshmallow onto a lollipop stick so the marshmallow is horizontal.
  2. Melt the coloured chocolate in the microwave. Dip the whole marshmallow into the melted chocolate and hold it upside down so the excess chocolate can drip off. Set aside until the chocolate has set.
  3. Roll out the orange fondant and cut out circles, using a cutter the same diameter as the marshmallow. Attach these to the front of the marshmallow with a drop of melted chocolate. Using melted chocolate, attach two Smarties on either side of the marshmallow, for wheels, and an oblong liquorice allsorts on top, for the funnel. Set aside for a few minutes while the chocolate sets.
  4. Roll small disks of white fondant for the eyes and press them onto the orange circles. Roll small balls of orange fondant for the noses and attach them to the faces (use a tiny drop of water to help them stick, if necessary). Add the mouth, eyebrows and dots in the eyes with a non-toxic marker pen.

MAKES 10

Railway sign lollipops

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  1. Roll out the yellow fondant and cut out circles the same size as the lollipops (two for each lollipop). Stick the circles to both sides of the lollipops, pressing the edges together so the fondant completely encloses the lollipops.
  2. Roll out the black fondant and cut it into thin strips. Use a little water to stick the black ‘X’ shapes to the yellow circles.
  3. Using a non-toxic marker pen, write an ‘R’ (for ‘railway’) on either side of the ‘X’.

MAKES 10

Train biscuits

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  1. Start by preparing all the fondant shapes. You need: 10 locomotive shapes in different colours, 10 small yellow squares (windows), 10 black strips (chimney), 30 squares in different colours (the wagons), 90 black circles (wheels) and 40 thin black strips (to connect the wagons).
  2. Press a silver ball into the centre of each wheel. Spread a little royal icing across the top of each wagon, sprinkle some decorations on top and set aside until the icing hardens (then shake off any excess decorations).
  3. Spread the Tennis biscuits with royal icing and top with different sections of the locomotive and wagons. Using a little water, attach the wheels. Press a few white sugar pearls into the icing above the chimney, to create smoke.
  4. Set aside until the icing hardens.

MAKES 10 TRAINS WITH 3 WAGONS EACH

Finger biscuit train

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  1. Decorate 20 of the square sweets by dipping one edge into royal icing and then into sugar pearls (pearlised cake beads) or dragées. Set aside until the icing hardens.
  2. Spread the top of the finger biscuit with royal icing. Place an undecorated square sweet on its side at the front end of the finger biscuit (to form the locomotive). Place a decorated square sweet next to it, for a wagon. Cut the liquorice strips into short lengths, dip the ends into royal icing and use the strips to connect the square sweets. Add one more decorated sweet and set aside until the icing hardens.
  3. Attach two matching Smarties to each side of the square sweets, for the wheels. Using royal icing, attach an oblong liquorice allsort on top of the undecorated square sweet to make the chimney. Set aside until the icing hardens.

MAKES 10