Recipe: Choo-Choo Train Cake by Miss Trixie Drinks Tea

This story appears in our July 2025 Nostalgia issue, presented by Up, where we asked 13 professional bakers to recreate cakes from the iconic The Australian Women’s Weekly Children’s Birthday Cake Book.

Make your favourite sturdy cake mix – I opted for a classic vanilla butter cake. (Avoid anything too fragile that will crumble to bits.)

I used a 20cm square tin to make the train – you should be able to cut the square into six even pieces: four to make up the regular carriages, the fifth to cut and shape into the front carriage, and the leftover sixth piece as extra cake for the chimney and arched part. Or you can follow original instructions.

Cut and assemble cake as shown in book, then cover with Vienna cream.

Here’s where I strayed from the original:

Colourblock your carriages and lollies
It is immediately more effective. If you’re not a particularly competent cake decorator, this is a really easy smoke-and-mirrors trick!

Switch out the coloured popcorn
I personally cannot stand the taste of the coloured popcorn and it feels wasteful to open a bag just for the smoke. Instead, I opted for Nerds Gummy Clusters, which are super-yummy and look just as effective, if not better! Simply thread them onto a piece of wire. They also won’t go stale. And the leftovers can be popped in a bowl at the party for everyone to enjoy.

Switch out the round chocolate biscuits
Raspberry Shortcakes are the perfect shaped biscuit for train wheels. And you don’t need to add anything to them, just pop them straight on the train.

Pipe the edges of your carriage
This is a great change to show off your cake-decorating skills and make the train look extra swish!

The choo-choo train recipe first appeared in the The Australian Women’s Weekly Children’s Birthday Cake Book, published in 1980.