This tools birthday cake is an easy idea for cake with tools. With handmade fondant hammers, pliers, nuts and bolts, spanner and ladder, this cake makes a perfect idea for boys and men!
I made this tools birthday cake for my dad’s birthday. This was made a few years back (and I cannot recall which year, and so don’t recall which birthday it was for him!) and the idea of making a tools cake came from one of these favorite activities which is carpentry.
Tools Birthday Cake Decorating Idea
My dad loves carpentry for heis always up to making something at home, and in fact, he literally made most of the furniture we had at home on his own. His had his own workspace at the back of the house and he owned all sorts of carpentry tools! So on his birthday, I decided that a tools birthday cake would be suitable for him!!
How to Make Tools Birthday cake:
Tools to make the birthday cake:
- One 8 inch square cake – I baked this cake using my butter pound cake recipe. The cake itself was a single layer one.
- Buttercream & butter icing – I used buttercream to crumb coat the cake and used butter icing to cover the whole cake. I did not tint the icing, hence the natural ivory hue to it. In case you are wondering what the difference between buttercream and butter icing is, the only difference is in the consistency of the icing. Butter icing is much more to stiffer than buttercream and I prefer to work with it to cover cakes.
- Fondant – I used fondant to create all the tool toppers on the cake. Each and every tool on the cake were handmade and edible and I made them using my homemade fondant.
- Wilton Alphabet cutter – I used these cutters for the birthday message. The messages read “Happy Birthday Tataiyya”. "Tataiyya" simply means granddad and I used it instead of Dad because the cake was like more from my kids to their grandfather rather than from me to my father!
- Wilton
Food coloring in yellow, red, brown, and moss green. - Edible silver dust – I mixed this with some lemon extract to be painted on the ‘steel’ parts of the tools.
Food coloring in yellow, red, brown, and moss green.Making the fondant tools
- I started off by making the carpentry tools a few days in advance. All the tools were made of fondant. I chose to make them all in white fondant and paint them later once they were set.
- There are closer images of all the tools on the cake, but if you can see them on the cake, I made ladders, screwdrivers, hammers, pliers, nuts and bolts and spanners. I hand molded these and then painted them.
Fondant hammer
Fondant Pliers
Screwdriver made of fondant
Bolt made of fondant
Baking and frosting the birthday cake
- Once the tools were ready, assembling the birthday cake was quite straight forward.
- I baked the cake in a square cake pan, like a sheet cake. I did not layer it any further and used it as a single layer cake. As soon as it was baked and has cooled down, I leveled the top and covered it with a thin layer of crumb coat.
- After that, I covered the entire birthday cake with butter icing. Butter icing is the stiffer version of buttercream and is alot easier to manage in hot and humid weather.
- I used a spatula to smooth the butter icing on the top and sides of the cake.
Fondant alphabets for the cake
- Next, I cut out the wordings for the tools birthday cake using alphabet cutters in pink fondant. I arranged them on the cake in such a way that they are centered on the cake. Since the cake was covered in butter icing, attaching the fondant alphabets to the cake was easy. There was no need for any fondant glue or a brush of shortening to secure the alphabet letters on the cake.
- Once the letters were all in place, I added the fondant tools. Before placing them on the cake, I roughly planned their position so that each tool is well spaced out on the cake.
Attaching the fondant cake decorations
Again, attaching the fondant tools to the birthday cake was easy. There was no need for any special glue to hold them in place. I simply pressed them gently into the butter icing on the cake and that helped to secure them to the cake.
Tools birthday cake with handmade fondant carpentry tools
And that was pretty much how I made the tools birthday cake.
My father had a big smile on his face when my children and I presented the birthday cake to him.
Like this tools birthday cake idea? Here are my other posts you might want to check out:
- Gold Lace Square Wedding Cake - Decorating Tutorial
- Tools Cake Idea for Men
- Tenkai Knights Cake - A Decorating Tutorial
- Birthday Cupcakes
- Diwali Rangoli Cake Decorating Tutorial
Recipe (Printable)
Here is the full printable version of the tools birthday cake recipe and decorating guide.
📖Recipe
Tools Birthday Cake
Equipment
- Wilton Alphabet cutter
- Wilton Food coloring in yellow, red, brown, and moss green.
- Edible silver dust
- Lemon extract
For best results, use the metrics measurements. US customary measurements have not been tested and are only meant for guide.
Ingredients
- 300 g butter
- 300 g castor sugar
- 300 g self-raising flour
- 5 eggs
- 75 ml milk
- ¼ teaspoon salt
- ¾ teaspoon baking powder
- 1 teaspoon vanilla essence
- Butter Icing
Instructions
Making the fondant tools
- Make the tools in advance to allow them time to set and harden.
- Shape each tool by hand in white fondant and then paint them.
- Set them aside for the paint to set before using on the cake.
Baking the cake
- Preheat oven to 170 °Celsius.
- Beat butter and sugar till soft and creamy for about 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
- In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder, and salt. Fold in the sifted ingredients into the creamed mixture alternately with milk, starting and ending with flour.
- Finally, add in vanilla essence and combine well. Pour batter into a well greased and floured 8-inch square cake pan and bake for 45 to 50 minutes until the top of the cake springs back when lightly pressed.
- The cake is done when a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out without any wet batter.
- Remove the cake from oven and let it cool completely before icing and decorating.
- After that, cover the entire birthday cake with butter icing. Butter icing is the stiffer version of buttercream and is a lot easier to manage in hot and humid weather. You can also use buttercream if you wish.
- Use a spatula to smooth the butter icing on the top and sides of the cake. Set the cake aside while you make the fondant alphabets.
Making the edible alphabets
- Roll some pink fondant thin.
- Cut the alphabets out with the alphabet cutters.
- Arrange them on the cake in such a way that they are centered on the cake. There is no need for any fondant glue to secure the alphabet letters on the cake. The butter from the icing is sufficient to hold them securely in place.
Attaching the fondant tools to the cake
- Once the letters are all in place, add the fondant tools. Before placing them on the cake, plan their position so that each tool is well spaced out on the cake.
- To attach the tools, press them gently into the butter icing on the cake and that will help to secure them to the cake.
Nutrition
Hope you enjoyed this tutorial 🙂
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