My 6th Fondant Cake

This is a Thomas the Train cake that I made for a beloved family member. I wanted to originally make a Topsy turvy cake but knew that my beginner skills would make it look horrible! So since I didn't have balls to carve it into a Topsy turvy I went with a different technique similar to what I wanted. I used Styrofoam and shaved it down so that is was at an angle and then placed each tier of cake on top of it. This made it look lopsided and almost as if it is floating. I love this look because it is very clean and I am thinking of making another one like it just a different theme. Also I can't forget to mention where I learned this technique of tilting my cakes... I give all the credit to Miss Mayen from YouTube, http://www.youtube.com/user/09165067633.
She has a bunch of tutorials and because of her generosity in sharing that is what motivated me to begin decorating cakes. You will be surprised how many other YouTube users out there have awesome videos on baking and cake decorating. Feel free to check out my channel at http://www.youtube.com/user/mommyssweetlife. I am hoping to make more videos on tutorials to share with others what I learned and how I go about my way of doing it.
Thomas the Train cake is covered in marshmallow fondant which came out to be very delicious! I colored it with Wilton icing paste colors and then dusted the clouds (which looks almost like flowers lol) with pearl dust to give it a little spark. Thomas the Train was made out of gum paste which is my first time ever using gum paste to make a figurine or any sort of deco. I enjoyed using gum paste because it kept it's shape better than fondant and seemed to dry a bit harder as well. I am very pleases with how Thomas came out, in fact to make him I had a wooden Thomas the Train in front of me while sculpting the gum paste one. I found this to help so that I can match them both up and make sure my sculpture looks like the original Thomas. The railroad tracks go all around the bottom tier cake and it is fondant. The clouds were cut into circles with a cookie cutter and then I used a small knife to shape it kind of like a cloud. Then for James (the red engine) I used gum paste and cut him out with a small knife. I carved in his smile but in the pic you are unable to see it. For James' little hut I got the shape from a children story book by cutting the page and shape out of the book and then rolling out my fondant so that it is thin enough to carve out the same shape. I hope you all enjoy this cake as much as I do. To me this was a success...