Making a tank cake yourself – once again a challenge for my girls and me. For the milestone birthday of a good friend, we wanted to make something special again. After long research and much head-scratching, we decided on a tank cake modeled after a Panzerkampfwagen VIII Maus. Here is our guide on how we did it:
Instructions for a tank cake
Ingredients for the cannon barrel
- 100 g chocolate for the 2 cannon barrels
- parchment paper
- Masking tape (or something similar that sticks to parchment paper)
- large glass
Ingredients for the tank cake
- 2 cakes of your choice, baked rectangular, one larger than the other (e.g. Cup cake or sponge cake)
- Any ganache, I used the recipe for dark chocolate
- Fondant, white or pre-colored (in black, light and dark green, light and dark brown)
- if using white fondant, fondant colors are needed
- large work mat/fondant mat
- rolling pin for the fondant
- Fondant modeling tools (smoother and pointed pen)
- sharp large knife
- 3 short straws
- 1 sheet of paper
- laminator
Decoration
- possibly brown sugar
- possibly small plastic soldiers
- possibly cardboard
- possibly aluminum foil
Instructions for the tank cake
The cannon barrel
2 days before, I made the cannon barrel out of couverture.
Wrap a wooden spoon handle with parchment paper so that you get a nice round and evenly sized tube. Pull the wooden spoon out from the bottom and seal one end tightly so that nothing can leak out. I used masking tape for sealing because regular tape didn't hold very well. Pour the melted chocolate in from the top using a small teaspoon. Place the whole thing in a glass and let it set in the fridge. By the way, I made 2 in case one breaks or doesn't turn out nice (and of course so that all guests can try a piece).
The cake
For the cake, we baked 2 cakes in different sizes: one in a casserole dish 32 cm long and one in a round baking pan with a diameter of 26 cm. We baked both cakes the evening before so that the cake cools down nicely and becomes firmer.
We didn't make a filling because we had to be sure that the cakes would hold well. But a ganache filling might have been possible, as ganache becomes very firm.
We made the lower part of the tank from the cake in the casserole dish. Here we cut out the tank based on the model of a Panzerkampfwagen VIII Maus with a sharp, large knife. So, beveled at the front and also a little at the back. We cut the turret out of the smaller cake, left it round at the front and also beveled it a bit at the back.
Decorating and assembling
Coat the 2 cakes with ganache and let them dry a little.
As a pattern, we wanted to make a camouflage out of fondant. For this, we used pre-colored fondant in light and dark green, light and dark brown, and black. Anyone who wants can of course also color simple white fondant with fondant colors in their desired colors. From the many colors, always place a small part on the work mat so that a camouflage pattern is created.
Roll the small lumps flat with a large rolling pin, if necessary press them together a little more with your fingers. We repeated this process for the second cake, just a little smaller.
Now place the finished rolled-out fondant over the cake with a quick jerk. Press excess remnants at the base of the cake with a firm knife. Press the fondant onto the entire cake a little. Try to press torn areas together with your fingers and press even more firmly onto the ganache. Very carefully smooth the fondant with the smoother and press it onto the ganache. Repeat the whole thing for the 2nd smaller cake. Using a glass or a round cookie cutter, cut out a circle from the fondant; this will be the entry hole for the turret. Glue this circle onto the top of the turret with a little water.
To ensure the 2-tier cake holds well, we laminated a rectangular strip of paper roughly the size of the turret (paper sealed in foil). I think it would have held without it, but better safe than sorry. Now 3 straws are stuck into the large cake like a triangle. The 2 outer straws are cut off and only the one in the middle remains a bit longer.
And now it's time to assemble the 2 cakes. To do this, impale the small cake onto the straw and place it in the rear part of the larger cake.
Finally, we cut out the wheels from the black fondant using a small round cutter (or shot glass), halved them, and glued them on with water. On the side, we cut a narrow, elongated strip (it was about 32 cm for us) from the camouflage fondant using a knife and glued it to the side so that the wheels are not visible, like with the Maus.
We cut the tracks from a small, also elongated strip about 4 cm long and 2 cm wide from black fondant and glued small thin rolls across it so that they look like tracks. Repeat this step a total of 3 more times. We glued the tracks on with a little water, two at the back and two at the front (more on the outside).
For the 2 long sides, we formed the track side with a long, thin roll (approx. 32 cm, the length of the tank) made of black fondant. Glue this thin roll onto the long side, a little under the wheels. We lifted the wheels a little with a knife so that it looks better. The track must be under the wheels.
Using a modeling tool (the pen with the tip) or a toothpick, carefully add small dots to the tank (we only did this on the lower part on the long side) – these are supposed to be the screws.
Shortly before serving, we stuck the tank barrel into the center of the turret. However, the chocolate melts very quickly. In retrospect, I would recommend forming a tank barrel out of fondant and sticking it in with a toothpick or skewer, so you have everything in camouflage.
Decoration
We placed the cake on a piece of cardboard wrapped in aluminum foil. We scattered brown sugar all around and set up small plastic soldiers.
Conclusion
I admit, this cake might look simpler because there aren't many bells and whistles with decorations and so on, but we had our problems with the 'decoration':
- First, the camouflage fondant. Since it is created from many small, different individual pieces, the risk of it tearing is quite high here. I recommend pressing the individual plates firmly together with your fingers again after rolling them out. We covered it as a group of three; if you are alone, you should perhaps use a rolling pin to help and wrap the fondant onto it so that it can be brought onto the cake in one piece.
- The second thing was attaching the tracks and wheels to the cake. That was also a bit of a fiddly job. For the next tank cake, I would recommend baking perhaps 3 thin layers of cake so that you can better attach the wheels and tracks to the lower cake, which is somewhat narrower than the 2nd tier.
Photos by Sabine, meinhaushalt
Cake baked and decorated by my dear friends Dani, Maria, Beate, Bonka and me
Also read: Motif cake – Star Wars cake
