I was asked to make a fire truck cake for a little boy turning 4. He had his party at an actual fire station with actual firefighters... so I felt it important to make a realistic, totally awesome cake.
To start off, I had to find a cake inspiration and a real life inspiration:

I liked this one because I could break it down into three sections.
I started off by making a sketch (I call them schematics to sound more official). I then cut a board that would be the exact size as the bottom of the truck. I then made a paper cutout that would fit on the cake board. This way I could measure exactly how much cake I would need - 2 slightly overfilled 10 inch squares. BTW, a 10 inch square cake (4 in high) serves about 30 people.

You'll see that I end up shaving off a lot of extra cake. And if you're really curious, I charge on the amount of servings that I end up handing you... in this case about 23. (It almost killed me figuring out that number.) And in the case of a carved cake, my price per serving is elevated. Obviously.
My plan was to have the fire truck elevated on it's wheels like in real life, so I made four rectangular cutouts in the cake board for the wheels. After scouring the house, I found that Max's blocks were the perfect height to hold the whole thing up, so I stole 4 of them and glued them to the cake board that will be the base of the cake. Thanks Max!
Next up is the base cake board (the one the tires will rest on):

Black for a road. Or street. Or parking lot. Whatever your fancy.
Now for heart attack number one. Cutting, carving, and assembling. Did I make enough cake?!

Whew. Front part done.

Yes! Back part done, with scraps to spare.
Due to weight and not wanting another heart attack, the center section is styrofoam.

But WHOOPS! Ms. Elephant Hands can't measure. You can clearly see in my cardboard cutout that the middle section is supposed to be much shorter. Gah.

That's better.
After letting the cake settle for a while, it's time for the next heart attack.
Covering two large squarish objects in fondant. Tall cakes: Hard to cover. Square cakes: Also hard to cover. Tall AND Square? Coronary I'm telling you.
(P.S. I buy my red fondant. Coloring things red irritates me. I was permanently scarred by the pink Elmo incident of 2008.)

Gotta work fast. Store bought fondant dries out quickly. It also cracks and often has to have a quick rub down with shortening. Lucky fondant.

YES!

Double YES! My middle piece even fit. Well, it did take a little persuasion.
Now I've got to move the fondanted cake to the black board and glue the blocks down. I do not want this cake to move. Ever.

Ta Da! And look, the wheels (previously made and now rock hard) fit perfectly too. When I say perfectly, I mean I shoved them in with brute force. And conveniently, they're hiding the blocks.
Now for the details.

This is going to take a while... think I need some music.

Ahhhh.... singing AND decorating.

Lots and lots of details. I made most of these the earlier in the week in order to give them time to dry.
I glue all this stuff on with:

Edible glue. And here you probably thought I used super glue. Duh.
Working on my handwriting:

My life is fuller and more glorious with edible markers:

Can't forget the doggie!
Piping the birthday message:


Transferring the dried letters.
The final step is the glaze:

Whereas I'd never advocate drinking and decorating, I do like using a mixture of 50/50 vodka and corn syrup for a nice non-sticky glaze. You can unbunch your britches, because the vodka evaporates.
And now... I present to you...








Personally, my favorite part of the cake is that it looks like it's really on wheels. Otherwise it'd look like a cake!
Four more heart attacks later and the cake was safely delivered to the Falls Church Fire Station.
And I'm happy to report that the firefighters were impressed!