Construction Cake Tutorial

My littlest baby recently turned TWO and since he loves construction trucks, I wanted to make him the ultimate construction cake for his birthday. It was so much fun to put together and I wanted to share the details in case you’ve got a little construction truck lover in your life. It was honestly so easy to pull off with construction truck cake toppers (that are actually toys they can play with afterwards!), lots of sprinkles, and an easy (and mostly edible) handmade number cake topper. 

You Will Need:

• Sprinkle number made with this tutorial
• 2-inch piece of string 
• White candy melts 
• A 3-layer 6-inch cake that’s been crumb coated and chilled 
• 1 batch (3 Cups) of vanilla buttercream
• Angled Spatula
• Icing smoother
• Cake turntable
• 4 oz rainbow sprinkles
• Mini construction truck set
• Small spoon

Step 1: Make the Sprinkle Number 

Follow this tutorial to make the sprinkle number, only instead of attaching a skewer in Step 3, attach a string to the back with melted candy melts. You’ll want it to have a loop for hanging the number on the crane. 

Step 2: Frost the Cake

With your chilled, crumb coated cake on the turntable*, frost the cake with the vanilla buttercream. I tinted mine with a few drops of Americolor Sky Blue to get this light blue color and frosted a smooth buttercream finish on the cake using my icing smoother. You can certainly swipe the top edge inward to create a sharp edge with your angled spatula, but I chose to keep that top edge raw.

*PRO TIP: if you need to transport this cake off the turntable after decorating, it’s easiest to do so if you attach the crumb coated cake to a larger cake circle. Mine is a 6-inch cake that I filled and crumb coated on a 6-inch cardboard circle, then I taped that cardboard circle (with the cake on top) to an 8-inch cake circle. This made transporting the cake off the turntable a breeze. 

Step 3: Add the Sprinkle Border

While the frosting is still wet to the touch, add a sprinkle border around the bottom third of the cake using the rainbow sprinkles. I like to add a cookie sheet underneath my turntable for this part so that it catches any loose sprinkles before they fall to the ground. 

To add the sprinkles, I just pour some into the palm of my hand and gently press them onto the cake from there. 

Step 4: Add the Construction Trucks + Details

Now is the fun part! Place your mini construction trucks wherever your heart desires on the top and sides of the cake. For the cake pictured, I placed a front loader and crane on top of the cake, then I placed an excavator on the side of the cake. 

I wanted to make this cake look like the construction trucks were assembling it in a really haphazard way. So first I placed some sprinkles into the front loader so that they were tumbling out. It worked to place some sprinkles in a piping bag, snip off the end, and let them fall out of the bag in and around the front loader.

I made some sprinkle cake truffles ahead of time with the cake trimmings I had leftover when baking the cake, and I placed those next to the crane along with a little sign that came with the mini construction trucks. They also came with tiny cones and striped barricades that I used as accents around the cake.

To give the excavator some personality, I used a small spoon to scoop out a little bit of the cake and placed it in the scooper of the excavator. 

Lastly, I hung the sprinkle number by its attached string loop on the crane. 

It’s a construction truck lover’s dream birthday cake! My baby loved it and I had so much fun making it. Also, the mini construction truck set is a mega hit as a birthday present. Both of my kids are loving setting up little construction scenes around the house!

If you make this cake (or a similar one inspired by this cake!) let me know in the comments below. Feel free to tag @sugarandsparrowco on Instagram and show me. I love to see what you create!