75+ Coolest Ever Farming Tractor Cake Ideas

Take a look at these cool homemade tractor cakes shared with us by cake decorators from around the world. Along with the birthday cakes here, you’ll also find loads DIY birthday cake-making ideas and how-to tips to inspire your next birthday cake project. Enjoy!

And don’t forget… if you end up with a cool cake, have great tips to share or pictures of awesome birthday cakes you’ve made in the past, share them here and be a part of our coolest birthday cake community.


Latest Farming Tractor Cake Ideas



Featured Cakes

Farming Tractor by Elizabeth L., Canton, GA

Coolest Ever Farming Tractor Cake Ideas

I made this tractor cake for my nephew’s first birthday which was a John Deere theme. I used Wilton’s tractor pan and put it on top of two 9×13 sheet cakes. I used yellow cake mixes for all three cakes. I used chocolate icing for the sheet cakes and made the grass using white icing with Wilton green gel and Wilton’s grass tip.

I followed the directions on the design for Wilton’s tractor pan. My husband piped the grey “engine parts” and the tires. The “Mud” on the tires was all his idea. I used the grass tip and wafer cookies to make the yellow square “hay bales”. The cake was a big hit!

Farming Tractor by Jayne N., LeMars, IA

Tractor Cake Photo

This tractor cake was sculpted out of pound cake backed in a Wilton loaf pan. The tires and fenders are made out of Rice Krispies. Johnny John Deere is an actual toy that John Deere makes. The smoke stack is fondant/gum paste mixture wrapped around a small dowel. The windows were brushed with silver luster dust. The bottom of the mouth is also made of Rice Krispies.

Farming Tractor by Susie S., Chattanooga, TN

Tractor Cake Photo

This tractor cake was for my two year old grandson’s birthday and we didn’t need a huge cake so I baked a carrot cake with cream cheese frosting in a Pyrex loaf pan. It wouldn’t hold the entire recipe but I wanted it to be as tall as possible. I baked the remaining batter in another pan at the same time. (My husband loved a piece of it with a fresh cup of coffee.)

After baking I cut the rounded top off with a bread knife evened with the top edges of the loaf pan. I then cooled it on a rack. After it cooled I cut a wedge shaped piece out of one end of the cake and slid the two corners together to make the front end of the tractor narrower than the back end. I used a steak knife to carve out the driver area of the tractor leaving place for the seat. The actual seat is a separate piece of cake carved out of the extra cake and fastened to the main cake with toothpicks.

I cut a piece of cardboard to the exact size and shape of the cake. To make it easier to lift the cake off the plate, I hot-glued two 1-inch tall pieces of Styrofoam onto my melamine platter and onto the cake board. (The glue popped right off after we finished off the cake.) I placed the cake on the board and iced everything except the seat with green icing and smoothed it with a spatula dipped in hot water.

I then iced the seat with yellow icing and wrote the happy birthday message in yellow. For the “smoke-stacks” I dipped pretzels in almond bark chocolate and allowed to harden on plastic wrap. The steering wheel is a round pretzel stuck to a stick pretzel with melted chocolate. The large wheels are Krispy Kreme cruller doughnuts also dipped in the almond bark chocolate. The small wheels are little chocolate doughnuts you can buy at the supermarket in a bag. I attached all the wheels with toothpicks to the cake. I finished off with more of the yellow icing on the steering wheel and the centers of all four wheels.

The hay around the tractor cake is yellow frosting with additional gold coloring and ground cinnamon to give it a tan color. I used the decorating tip that is flat with multiple small holes as you would use for animal fur and used short criss-crossing motions to create the look of loose hay. I think I had more fun than my grandchildren!

Farming Tractor by Elisabeth Z-J, Basel, Switzerland

Tractor Cake Photo

When I asked my son what kind of cake he wanted for his third birthday he had a very specific idea: it had to be a red tractor cake with an amber revolving light on top. I told him I would try. I didn’t have time to order any baking pans, so I had to build the tractor from scratch. Luckily I found this website with so many great ideas!

To build the tractor, I used a 13×9 rectangular and an 8′ round pan. Using a template, I cut out the relevant parts of the two cakes and assembled them accordingly.

(If you want to use the template, you’ll have to move the picture around to print it off entirely and then tape the pages together.)

I used a double recipe of Rosie’s golden cake layers for the two pans. For the filling, I used instant vanilla custard which I mixed with whipped cream. I also folded in two cans of tangerine slices (well drained, cut up and then patted dry).

I decided on Rosie’s buttercream icing to contain crumbs, to glue the parts together and as adherent for the marzipan and chocolate coating. I used colored marzipan, rolled out, for the tractor body. I prepared the wheels beforehand from ready made chocolate glaze so they could stay cool in the fridge for easy handling. I covered the rest of the wheels with very thin orange flavored chocolates. Accents and window shields I made from different colors of marzipan. A giant angel kiss served as the so important revolving light.

Tractor Cake Photo
Tractor Cake Photo
Tractor Cake Photo

It was a lot of fun to make this tractor cake and my son was so happy with his tractor!!

Farming Tractor by Stacy P., Stansbury Park, UT

Tractor Cake Photo

I made this tractor cake for a co-worker of my husband’s who is quite the cowboy. I made this the night before his birthday. I used cake mixes and baked them in bread loaf pans.

After they had cooled I cut one loaf in half and placed it on top to make the shape of the tractor. Then I carved out the front to make the engine part a little thinner than the back and slanted to the front end. With the other half I cut out two cylinders (one bigger than the other for the back tires) and cut them in half to make four wheels. Place together and frost! The frosting colors you will need are green black yellow and white. I used Wilton’s butter cream icing recipe.

Farming Tractor by Clare S., Richmond, North Yorkshire, England

Tractor Cake Photo

I searched around for a John Deere type tractor cake idea but couldn’t find one I liked or thought I could make!! So I set to drawing a tractor over and over and over again until I was happy with the basic shape (I am no artist you see!!)

I then cut it out in order to make the templates for the body and the wheels etc. I baked the cake in a rectangular cake tin and then used the paper templates to cut out the shapes I needed. I used ready roll icing to cover the relevant parts with the relevant colors.

This is the end result. No masterpiece but my son was so happy to have a tractor cake for his 3rd birthday. I now need to tackle a construction cake for his 4th birthday! Hope this is useful to someone out there.

Farming Tractor by Sandra F., Devon, UK

Tractor Cake Photo

This tractor cake was baked for a competition. I had originally intended to make a fire engine but it all went a little wrong on the day and so it became a tractor – a red one!

A deep based square tin was used for the main tractor body and sides where the farmer sits and then a standard Swiss roll tin to make the wheels and layered for the driver to sit on. The exhaust and steering wheel were made from an icing made with liquid glucose so they would set over night before hand.

There is also a little dog sitting on the back of the tractor though unfortunately I have lost the photo that shows it. For the tires the icing was literally wrapped around the cake and the seams hidden by sticking them to the tractor body. Then the treads put on the back tires rather painstakingly and the studs with silver balls pressed in. Try as I might I could not get the farmers arms onto the steering wheel but I think he looks ok as he is a happy chappy anyway.

Farming Tractor by Tina M., Belle Vernon, PA

Tractor Cake Photo

After searching the internet for a tractor cake to surprise my soon-to-be-three year old son my mother showed up with a Wilton pan. (Whew one step easier!) I didn’t start baking this until 8:00 pm.

I made the tractor of chocolate and the rebuilt-rectangle-cake wagon of vanilla. The family is large and each has their own tastes. (i.e. picky, though thankfully they are fine with a regular old boxed cake.) After each cake cooled and sat in the freezer while I got the icing ready I got busy. (I learned later that the icing should be made a few hours in advance.

I topped everything with a layer of icing to serve as a base and contain crumbs. Once that set I began with the yellow – in the hay wagon and on the tractor. With the leftover cake and yellow icing I also made a few hay bales to sit on the side. I also toasted coconut and added this not-yet-set icing on the bales and wagon. Continuing from lightest to darkest colors I continued icing the cake. The black icing was a real “treat.” I didn’t think it would be that hard to mix the colors but I actually ended up having to search online for a mix with what I did have. (Using Wilton’s paste you would use “BLACK Our paste color or Royal Blue Christmas Red Orange and Lemon.”

It was close to 1:00 am at this point! Across the wagon with brown icing for the slats and yellow hay peeking through I used candy letters to spell out “Happy Birthday Dakota.” I was so sick of icing at this point. I finished everything using the remaining toasted coconut as a background hay bales and another little tractor cake of his. By the time everything was finished and cleaned up it was almost 4:00 am. At 7:00 I had an official three year old bouncing on the bed dying to go downstairs. He was ecstatic when he saw it. Even the other half – who had just shaken his head in dumbfounded confusion – was impressed.

Farming Tractor by Stephanie H., Viroqua, WI

Tractor Cake Photo

For this John Deere tractor cake we used 2 loaf sized pans for the cakes and stood one up on its end. We took the part that we had leveled off for the windshield and cut the other loaf in half and attached it to the loaf that is standing on end.

We also made 2 9″ round cakes and cut them down to 4″ for the back tires and 2 cupcakes for the front tires. I iced this cake with Wilton icing and colored it with the gel coloring.

Tractor Cake Photo
Tractor Cake Photo

Farming Tractor by Amanda M., Minden, LA

Tractor Cake Photo

I used the cake mix in the box and followed the directions. I used the John Deer Tractor cake pan and 13X 9 for the crop rows. The icing is the Wilton Butter Cream recipe and I used green, black, and yellow gel to get my colors.

The brown is just the chocolate butter cream recipe. I had the idea of taking a picture of my son riding on a tractor and placing it like he is driving.

I used M&M’s for the center of the wheels and the brake lights. I had lots of fun making this tractor cake.

Tractor Cake Photo