Birthday Train cake for my 2 year old

I recently attempted to make a train cake for my two-year-old's birthday.  This is only the second decorated cake I have ever made.

I found a great tutorial video and instructions at www.fun-kid-birthday-parties.com

Here are pictures of my finished product:

(sorry for the distracting mess on the table behind)

The things I did differently than the instructions:  

1) I used the underside of a cookie sheet covered with foil instead of a piece of cardboard covered in food-safe paper as directed.  I didn't want to hunt down "food safe" paper, so worked with what I had.  I think the cardboard would make it look a little nicer.

2) I changed the candies I put on the trains.  I did plan to but fresh blackberries on the back of the engine for the "coal", but my 3 yo ate them for a "snack" when I didn't realize it.  I crushed up some of the oreo cookies to use for the "coal" instead.  For the other trains, I picked the candies I liked, or thought would look fun. 

3) I cooked the cake in two loaf pans, as directed, but one of my loaf pans was smaller, which worked out well to use for the engine, because you end up cutting a lot of it off anyway.

4) The "crumb-coating" was a little harder than I thought - especially on the engine, because it had more "exposed" layers because of how you cut it.  As I mentioned, this is only my second decorated cake ever, so one trick I found was dipping my spatula in water to help spread the icing.

5) I used a baggie with icing, with the corner clipped to make the "track" design (which you can't really see anyway). It wasn't as neat or thin as a professional icing bag might make it, but it worked great for me.

What I would do differently:  

1)  If you have access to a store that sells candies in bulk, I would go buy the 2- 10 pieces of candy you need for the cake instead of having a full bag of gum drops or gummy circles (which I don't like) left-over.  You only need 2 mini-reese's peanut butter cups, 2 gum drops, etc.

2) If you like, and want to use M&M's, I would use the regular ones, rather than the peanut ones - I think they would stay on better and you could get a few more on there.  Also, the little mini ones might be cute.  One small package would probably be enough (if you don't want left-overs:)
3) Start decorating earlier - it took me longer than expected.  I planned to finish it all the night before, but I got started late, the crumb coating took longer, and I was tired, so I went to bed.  The next day I was a little rushed finishing it up - but it was all worth it to see my little guy's face.   

Thanks for letting me share!