How to make a Postman Pat’s van birthday cake

I searched high and low for instructions to make a Postman Pat’s van cake for my son’s 3rd birthday and surprisingly really, really struggled. Ok maybe it doesn’t take a genius to work it out but for a (very) amateur baker like me i need instructions in very basic form.

I wasn’t planning to do a blog post on this BUT the results (sans instructions) was a bit better than i though. To be fair i was very bloody pleased with it, looks pretty good in a rough round the edges homemade type way huh? His nibs was happy anyway.

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So anyway here is what i did (it would probably have been helpful to take photos along the way but as i said i thought it would probably turn out to look pretty sh*t so i didn’t bother #havemorefaith).

1, Firstly – Ask yourself, do you really want to encourage you son or daughter to look up to an absolute idiot? I wrote An Open Letter to Postman Pat to put forward some of my gripes but have yet to hear back from the Royal Mail.
2, If the answer to the above question is NO but you don’t want to risk a massive hissy fit then do it anyway.
3, Bake 2 Victoria sponge cakes in standard loaf tins. I used this delicious Mary Berry’s recipe.
4, Shave off the tops of the loafs to make them level.
5, Cut 1/3 off one of the loafs and place this on top of the other one. Ta da here is your van shape!
6, Use Jam or buttercream to cover the whole cake, this will help the icing stick to it and also it tastes good.
7, Use red ready roll fondant icing to cover the cake. I used 500g worth of Renshaws Poppy red. This is a lot harder than it looks and i recommend watching a YouTube video before you start! My no.1 tips is to use plenty of icing sugar when rolling it out as its very sticky!
8, Hard bits done so now the fun bit of decorating. I used liquorice wheels and different colors of fondant icing for the details….bla bla bla you can see what i did.
9, Enjoy!
10, Also enjoy the inevitable meltdown when the cake has been eaten/smashed up and toddler wants it put back together :-/

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P.S. I have a new book OUT NOW! You can nab it on Amazon here or in your lovely local bookshop :)

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15 thoughts on “How to make a Postman Pat’s van birthday cake

  1. Dean B

    I’m impressed! Oh wow, T would love that one too. Would love to try it but we’re spending her birthday in Bedfordshire at my in-laws. Won’t have time to bake the cake… Maybe next year! (That is, if she’s still into Postman Pat!)

    Reply
  2. Oonaghtodd

    Thanks so much for posting this. We have just finished our pmp cake and I’m really pleased with it. Your blog had loads of helpful ideas.

    Reply
    1. hurrahforgin

      Oh glad it helped!! You are so welcome – it’s pretty basic as it was juts a last minute thing but i just couldn’t find instructions anywhere! You would think there would be loads…

      Reply
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  5. Helen Allingham

    Hurrah, I think this is going to be a life saver… Going to make this for my son’s 2nd birthday this weekend Thank you!

    Reply

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