Since I am not a professional cake baker, nor a crafty lady, I set out on the internet looking for examples of Thomas cakes. I must say this was not the first "fancy" cake I have ever made. I make both Misses and Bubbas' cakes. So I kind of know some of the tricks to making these kinds of cakes. Once on the computer, I usually find the best examples with simple instructions on this site http://www.coolest-birthday-cakes.com . I chose one and set out with the best of intentions. The end result wasn't too shabby.
Here is how I made Thomas the Cake.
I bake my cakes from a box. So pick out the flavor you want and follow the directions for the pan size you need.
Pans needed to make Thomas the Cake
1. 2 loaf pans
2. 9x13 rectangle pan
3. 1 soup can
Yes, you read that right above. You will need to have soup for lunch and save the can. Remove the lid completely, rinse the can out and dry it thoroughly.
Ingredients
1. 2 boxes of cake mix
2. the ingredients required to make the batter
Mix up the batter for the 1st cake. This cake will go into the 9x13 pan. Bake as instructed.
Next, mix up the batter for the 2nd cake. This cake will need to be split between the 2 loaf pans and the soup can. Only fill the soup can 1/2 full at max or the cake will over flow. I naked all three of these in the oven at the same time. I had to play with the bake time. Initially, I put them in the oven for 25 minutes. At that time, they were not done, so I put them back in for 15 more minutes.
When all the cakes are made, let them cool completely. This is very important! Please do not try and remove a cake from the pan when it is warm. This will cause it to tear or crumble.
This is what your cakes should look like.
After all cakes are cool remove them from the pans and place them on a cardboard surface. The Wilton ones are great! They come in a pack of 6. I can't remember the price because I have had the same pack since February 2012. Now, place the cakes in the freezer. It is easier to work with a frozen cake.
Now it is time to make the frosting. This is the important part. You can make any old box cake taste great with a good frosting. I prefer butter cream frosting because it tastes good, is easy to work with, and sets up nicely.
Here is the recipe for Basic Vanilla Butter cream Frosting . . .
Ingredients
1c. unsalted butter (2 sticks or 1/2 pound), softened (but not melted) Ideal texture is like ice cream.
3-4c. confectioner (powdered) sugar, SIFTED
1/4 tsp. table salt
1 Tb. vanilla extract
up to 4 Tb. milk or heavy cream. (I use whole milk.)
Food coloring (if you want to color it)
Instructions
Beat butter for a few minutes with a mixer on medium speed. Add 3c. of powdered sugar. Be sure to turn the mixer speed down, or you will have a mess! Mix until the sugar is Incorporated with the butter. Increase mixer speed to medium and add vanilla, salt, and 2Tbl. of milk/cream and beat for 3 minutes. During the 3 minutes, if you want to color your frosting, add it now. If the frosting needs to be thicker add a bit more sugar. If it needs to be thinner, add some more milk/cream 1 Tb. at a time.
*Warning* Don't taste it! If you do, you will not be able to stop tasting it. :)
Time to build the cake! Take your cake out of the freezer. Put one loaf cake on top of the 9x13 cake. Take a BIG knife and cut the long sides off the the cake so it is now the width of the loaf cake. Take the loaf cake off and cut each loaf cake in half long ways. Now stack the 2 bottoms on top of the 9x13. This makes Thomas' coal pit. Then take the tiny soup can cake and place it on it's side in front of the loaf cakes to make Thomas' boiler. You may need to shave off some of the side so that it will lay nicely on the 9x13. Finally, shave off the front of the 9x13 to make it rounded.
Once you have your shape, it is time to "paste" it altogether. The frosting is your glue. Take all the pieces off and frost the bottom most layer. No need to be perfect or heavy with this layer. This will not be seen and it is called the crumb layer or paste, as I like to call it. It should look similar to this.
The complete crumb layer.
Sorry, I don't have photos of all the steps. Time is not on your side when working with cakes. So I had to work quickly to make sure it was constructed before it thawed.
***Note*** Make sure to keep the scraps that you cut off, because you may need them to support some layers or add to the shape. As you can see in the photo, I had to use part of the top of the loaf cake to make the half moon shape of the top.
Finish adding the crumb layer and put it back in the freezer. This will help the cake maintain it's shape and freeze the 1st layer of frosting, so you can add the next layer without the cake crumbles messing it up. I usually leave the crumb layer on to freeze over night.
When it is completely frozen take it out and start frosting the cake. I recommend using a cake spatula over a butter knife. I used one of these with this cake and it worked so well. Thankfully, my mother in law use to own a cake shop, and she gave me one! Thanks Debby.
***Note*** Certain frosting colors are very difficult to make. I recommend buying frosting if you need black or red. So for this cake I used the Betty Crocker spray can for the black, red and yellow frosting. I could have made the yellow, but I didn't want to make a whole new batch for such a small part of the cake.
Thomas minus his face.
Thomas' wheels are Oreo cookies frosted and stuck on the sides. His coal is crushed Oreo cookies. I dug out part of the top of the cake so they wouldn't fall off. The smoke stack is a Tootsie Roll. Looking back I should have frosted it. The rest is all frosting even the track.
Thomas' face is a paper print off from the internet that I cut to fit and pressed on to the frosting.
Thomas is far from perfect, but I'm not Duff Goldman. My nephew loved it and it tasted good, so that is all that matters. I hope that this helps you make a Thomas cake or helps with whatever kind of "fancy" cake you may want to make. Good luck it isn't as hard as it looks. 
