Monster Truck Cake Recipe

Grab your race-flags and ear protection; can you hear the motors running? It’s time for a monster truck throw down! If your kid is obsessed with monster trucks like mine is, this is the perfect cake for a monster truck themed birthday. It’s the ultimate cake design to rev up your celebration. If this DIY looks a little out of your league, you might also like this idea for a simple construction truck cake I also made for my kids or these super easy Monster Truck Cupcakes!

Are you ready to hit the gas and create a jaw-dropping, tire-squealing masterpiece with my step-by-step guide on how to make a Monster Truck Cake?! Let’s go!

Monster Truck Cake Supplies

Cake mix or homemade cake recipe

If you want to make the exact same cake I did, you can use one box of chocolate cake mix and two 8 inch square pans. You can also use your favorite homemade cake recipe instead of a box. 

Frosting

You can use two cans of chocolate frosting to cover and decorate this cake. I also made a small amount of white buttercream frosting and dyed it green for the grass details. You could instead purchase a small amount of green frosting, or white frosting and dye it green too. 

Food coloring

You’ll need green food coloring if you’re making white buttercream frosting or dying vanilla icing green. Skip this if you’re purchasing green frosting.

Cake decorating tools

To help you make the coolest cake, you’ll need skewers to keep the monster trucks in place. You could use lollipop sticks or tall toothpicks instead. You’ll also need some decorating tools like a cake spatula, grass tip for piping frosting and a cake board. 

Other Decorations

To help decorate your cake, you’ll need some chocolate jimmies or sprinkles and crushed chocolate oreos. As well as one or two monster truck toys (for decoration) and some toothpick miniature race flags for extra flair. The crushed car toy came with a monster truck Hot Wheels set. 

How To Make a Monster Truck Cake

Step 1: Bake Your Cake

In one large bowl, mix together your ingredients for a boxed chocolate cake mix. Take your two square 8 inch cake pans and grease them with oil. I also like to line the bottom of the pan with a square of parchment paper to reduce the likelihood that the cake will stick. 

Spread the cake batter evenly between the two cake pans and tap them on your counter to get rid of any air bubbles and to help smooth them out. Pop them into the oven for about 25 minutes or until they’re fully baked.

Step 2: Cool & Trim Cake

I highly suggest cooling your cakes overnight. Wrap them in plastic wrap once they are cooled to room temperature and then stick them in the freezer. Frozen cake is much easier to work with once you start adding frosting. 

When you’re ready to decorate your cake, trim the top off the cakes so they are both level. Then stand one frozen cake on its tall edge and use a sharp small knife to cut a triangle wedge carefully out of the cake. Set the wedge aside and put it back in the freezer to use later as a ‘ramp’. 

Step 3: Prepare Frosting

If you’re confident with making homemade frosting, it’s the best way to go. It will definitely be easier to work with once you start frosting your cake. However, for this recipe two cans of chocolate frosting will be just fine. 

For the green grass frosting, you can purchase a small tube of green frosting, or use white frosting and dye it green. Put your green frosting in a piping bag with a grass tip and set it aside. 

Step 4: Frost Cake

Start by adding a layer of chocolate frosting to the top of the first cake. Stack the second cake on top and then add chocolate icing to the sides and top of the second cake. 

Step 5: Add Cake Ramp

After your cake is frosted, take your triangular piece of cake that you set aside and add it to the top of your cake as a ramp. Place it on your cake and add some toothpicks to it so it won’t slide around as you frost it. 

Add chocolate frosting to cover the ramp. I also added a row of KitKats to the side of my ramp and trimmed them to fit. It added more stability and made things more square.

Step 5: Add Crushed Oreos

Scrape the inside of the Oreos out and put the black cookie pieces in a thick plastic bag. Smash the cookies until the crumbs are fine. You can instead use a food processor if you have one.

Add some crushed cookie to your cake to form the ‘trail’ or path a monster truck might take across your cake.

Step 6: Add Grass Frosting & Decorations

I added brown jimmies to the bottom edge of my cake; you could use any type of dark sprinkles, M&Ms or more crushed Oreos to make a border. 

Use the grass piping tip and green frosting to add ‘grass’ to your cake around the top edges and to help add definition to the truck ramp.

Step 7: Add Monster Trucks

Gently place your monster truck toys on the cake where you’d like them. Pick your favourite vehicles to use as your cake topper. My toys have a small hole in the bottom frame that I added a long skewer to. The skewer helps stabilize the toys so they don’t fall off or slide and make a mess of the frosting.

Lastly, place your crushed car toys on the cake near the ramp, and add the toothpick race flags to your cake, if you have them.

Step 8: Serve & Enjoy

When you’re cutting this cake, don’t forget to take out the skewers and toothpicks before you cross the finish line and serve it to your guests.

I made this cake the night before my son’s birthday and set it in a cake-carrier container in my fridge to keep it fresh, which works great. It transported well inside the cake-carrier all the way across town to the gymnastics center where we hosted the party. After an afternoon of gym and excitement, the cake was a huge success!

You can display your cake during the party at room temperature for all your guests to admire, then when it’s time to cut and serve, remove decorations like toys and flags, and enjoy!

Monster Truck Cake Tips & Trouble Shooting

The ‘ramp’ piece of cake fell apart, what do I do?

If you tried to cut a triangle out of your cake but it fell apart, it will be tough to use it to make the ramp. You can try two different things instead. 

Option 1: if you have a few KitKat chocolate bars, snap them apart and stack them into a triangle to form a chocolate ramp and use a small amount of frosting to secure them together. 

Option 2: if you mix the mushy cake pieces together with a spoonful of frosting in a small bowl, they’ll become a cake-pop consistency. Form them into a triangle and place the triangle in the freezer to set. Then you can place the triangle on top of your cake to make a ‘ramp’. 

How do I keep the toy monster truck from sliding off my cake?

Use a skewer to secure the toy truck to your cake. I took a large bamboo skewer and measured it so it would go into the circular hole on the underside of my toy, and then pushed it deeply into the cake to secure it. You can try using a toothpick, but it won’t be as sturdy. You can also try a popsicle stick, but it will make a larger hole in your cake. 

My monster truck cake just looks brown and muddy

The key to decorating a monster truck cake is to add some contrast. If everything is brown the cake might just look like mud. Add some black crushed oreos for a darker contrast, and some green frosting with a grass piping tip along the edges of your cake. 

You can also consider adding white and black icing in a checkerboard pattern on the sides of the cake to brighten things up.

Keep in mind, your kid is going to love your cake anyway! And you’re a great parent for trying to make their birthday special.

The cake is falling apart while I’m frosting it

If your cake is falling apart and crumbling while you are trying to add frosting, stop and freeze your cake. To keep the moisture in your cake as it’s freezing, either wrap it in plastic wrap, or put it in a container then stick it in your deep freeze for a couple of hours. 

Sometimes store bought frosting can be very sticky and when you use a cake spatula to frost the cake it sort of pulls at the cake and causes rips or crumbs. You can freeze your cake at any point and start again. Even after you add one layer of frosting, if it’s full of crumbs and rips, freeze it then add a second fresh coat of frosting to smooth things over. 

What can I use instead of a cake board?

If you don’t have a cake board to put under your cake, grab a piece of cardboard from a box around home and wrap it in aluminum foil. Cereal box cardboard will work in a pinch, but it’s much thinner even after it’s wrapped in foil. You could also use a flat tray or plate. A plate with a lip isn’t ideal when you’re cutting cake (it’s harder to work with) but it’s another back up option too.

The purpose of a cake board is to allow you to move your cake easily from one surface to another. From the fridge to the counter, or even transport it to your party location. 

Can I use a round cake pan?

If you use a round cake pan, it will be more difficult to create ramps for this cake. The good news is, you can get as creative as you want when building a cake of your own. It just might take some additional trimming to get things to line up for you.

Final thoughts on Monster Truck Birthday Cake

My son has always loved trucks, but he has developed a recent obsession with monster trucks so we took him to see his first show where we learned that each monster truck wheel weighs 800 pounds! You can feel how loud these trucks are when you’re sitting in the stands watching them rip around; it’s super impressive. 

I hope my article has helped you create the perfect monstrous marvel that’ll have your taste buds doing donuts in delight. These car crushing, gravity-defying, mud-slinging trucks can make their way from the arena to your kitchen for a sugar-coated spectacle. If you need an easier DIY truck cake, I highly suggest checking out my recipe for this construction site cake next, you can even tweak it to fit your monster truck theme! I also took these Monster Truck Cupcakes to the party, they’re so simple and kids LOVE them.

Go ahead, use a little creativity and try one for your own monster truck party! Make some memories that will last a lifetime, and keep the spirit of adventure alive, one slice at a time. Be sure to share this recipe with someone else who loves monster trucks, and save it to Pinterest so you can find it later!

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