This Lightning McQueen cake was such a hit at my son’s birthday! I’ll show you how to make and decorate this homemade Disney Cars birthday cake step by step. With racing-red buttercream frosting and a little bit of fondant, it’s easier to make than you’d think and perfect for kids’ parties.

A Lightning McQueen cake with racing themed decorations.

Easy Lightning McQueen Birthday Cake Tutorial

I’m back with another kid’s birthday cake tutorial. This time, I made this Lightning McQueen cake for my son’s Cars birthday party. It’s a three-layer, 6-inch chocolate cake decorated with red buttercream frosting and a little bit of fondant for the racing designs inspired by the Disney movie Cars.

As you may know, my boys are all about all things cars, construction, and Paw Patrol, and I love turning their favorite things into full party themes. Cake, party favors, and all.

It seems like just yesterday I was baking dinosaur and Cookie Monster smash cakes for their first birthdays! Time flies, that’s for sure.

I had so much fun making this Lightning McQueen cake, and I’ve broken it down step by step to make the whole process easy and approachable. The best part is that you can adapt this tutorial to any Cars character just by changing the frosting color. If you bake this cake for your next party, check out these play dough kits for racing party favor inspiration.

What You’ll Need

Here’s a look at the supplies you’ll need for this Lightning McQueen cake decorating tutorial. You’ll find the complete cake and frosting recipes in the printable recipe card below.

Cake Layers – I use my moist chocolate cake recipe and bake it in three 6-inch round cake pans. It’s a rich cake made with sour cream, oil, cocoa powder, and a touch of coffee to boost the chocolate flavor. You can use any cake flavor you prefer (more ideas below).
Frosting – Buttercream frosting is the most stable and best for decorating birthday cakes. I use my vanilla frosting recipe and color it red for this cake.
Red Gel Colors – Speaking of coloring, gel food dye will give you the brightest, most vibrant red frosting. I recommend brands like AmeriColor and Wilton. Super Red is a great color to start with.
White and Black Fondant – To cut out into squares for a “checkered flag” effect. You’ll find edible fondant in baking stores and craft stores like Hobby Lobby and Michaels, but often Walmart has what you need.

The Best Cake Base for a Lightning McQueen Cake

A slice of three-layer frosted red velvet cake on a plate next to a fork.

Red Velvet Layer Cake

Yellow Layer Cake

Banana Cake

A slice of White Cake on its side, showing the decorated top.

Homemade White Cake Recipe

I use a small chocolate cake as the base, but a mini vanilla cake or any of the sturdy, moist cake recipes from my site will work for this tutorial. You can even use your favorite boxed cake mix if you’re in a hurry. These are more base options.

How to Make a Lightning McQueen Cake (Step-by-Step)

For this Cars cake tutorial, you’ll need to bake three 6-inch cake layers until a toothpick comes out clean. Afterward, allow the cakes to cool completely and prepare your vanilla frosting. Starting with cold butter takes extra time to whip the cold butter to a soft, spreadable consistency, but the result is super-stable, pipeable buttercream. Refer to the recipe card for detailed instructions.

Level the cake layers, stack them, and add a crumb coat so your cake is ready for frosting and decorating. Refer to the recipe card, and see how to make a layer cake for a step-by-step guide.
I used about 1 cup of frosting between each cake layer. Refrigerate the cake for 15-30 minutes before you decorate, so the crumb coat can set.

Three chocolate cake layers stacked and filled with frosting. — Stack the cake layers.

A three-layer chocolate cake covered with a crumb coat. — Stack the cake layers.

Frosting the Cake

Start with white buttercream. Add about 2 cups of white buttercream to a piping bag with the tip snipped off (see how to fill a piping bag).
Color the remaining frosting. Use Super Red color gel or similar to dye the remaining frosting bright red.

Tips for Bright Colored Buttercream

Coloring frosting is color theory combined with the saying, “a little goes a long way.” I have an in-depth guide on how to color buttercream that covers my techniques. For this Lightning McQueen cake, these are my tips for achieving a vibrant racing red frosting.

Add a little black. To deepen the red color, add a touch of black gel icing. Dip a toothpick into the black gel, mix it into the red, and repeat until you reach your desired color. Be sure to use a new toothpick each time.
Add a drop of purple. Using the above method, add purple or violet gel to shift the red to a more crimson color. Add a little at a time. You can always add more, but you can’t take it away!

Frost the cake. Starting at the bottom edge of your assembled cake, pipe three rows of white (uncolored) frosting. Smooth it over with an icing scraper. Fill about ½ of a large piping bag with red frosting, and add a thin layer of frosting to the top of the cake. Smooth the top, and pipe the rest of the red buttercream around the sides of the cake. Start at the edge of the white frosting and work your way up the cake.
Scrape the frosting. Smooth the red frosting using your scraper. Afterward, clean your scraper and smooth over the entire cake.
Add the decorations. Press sprinkles into the white buttercream at the bottom of the cake. Next, press fondant squares along the top edge, alternating black, then white, like a checkered flag. See below.

Red buttercream frosting piped around the top of a three-layer cake. — Pipe the white and red frosting layers.

A red and white frosted layer cake with the frosting smoothed out. — Pipe the white and red frosting layers.

Using an Icing Scraper

I used an icing scraper tool to smooth over the frosted edges of the cake, creating an even canvas for the fondant and sprinkles. A rotating cake plate or cake stand comes in handy when scraping a cake. Here’s how to do it:

Run the scraper under hot water and dry it completely.
Hold the scraper at a 90-degree angle against the side of the cake. Apply light, even pressure as you rotate the cake in a circle, smoothing out the frosting.
Repeat as needed until you’ve smoothed out the buttercream.

Alternatively, you can use an offset spatula to smooth over the icing if you don’t have a scraper. You’ll just need to wipe it clean more often.

Making the Checkered Fondant Squares

I used a similar decorating technique for my Hot Wheels Cake. I loved the look (and ease) of a checkered pattern that required minimal fondant.

You’ll need less than 4 ounces of fondant for the black and white squares. You can cut your fondant squares up to 48 hours ahead of time. If you do, arrange them in a single layer in an airtight container to store for later. Cutting out the squares is easy:

Roll out the fondant. Use a fondant roller or rolling pin to roll out each color to an even ⅛” thickness.
Cut out the squares. Next, use a small square cookie cutter to cut out squares in each color. The cutter I used is ⅝”. Alternatively, you can use a ruler and pizza cutter to measure and cut (I’ve also seen plunger cutters and multi-cutter squares, but I have not personally used them). You’ll need approximately 40 squares of each color, depending on how much decoration you want to do.

White fondant rolled out thin and a small square cookie cutter to cut squares

It’s best to apply the fondant squares to the cake when the buttercream is fresh. If you’ve already frosted the cake and are applying the squares later, use a toothpick to gently scratch the buttercream before you place the fondant on top. This helps it adhere to the cake. Or you can use piping gel as a makeshift adhesive.

Close up of the side of a Lightning McQueen cake decorated with sprinkles and black and white checkered fondant.

FAQ: Can I Make This Without Fondant?

Yes. Instead of fondant, there are other ways to recreate a checkered flag pattern on this Cars cake! I recommend using white and black frosting and piping tips to create a checkered pattern. The basketweave tip has a flat edge on one side that will work best. The easiest way to make black frosting is to use chocolate buttercream and color it using black gel dye. This way, you’re already starting with a dark base.

Additional Decorations

To complete this Lightning McQueen-themed cake, I repurposed a few of the techniques and decor from the Hot Wheels Cake I made last year. Luckily, my kids’ hobbies all have wheels, cars, and racing in common!

Fondant Number

For the number 3, I laid out the black and white pattern, then very gently smoothed it over with a rolling pin so the squares would stick together. Afterward, I cut out the number, gently removed the cookie cutter, and left the “3” to lie flat overnight until it was dry.

Since the fondant will wilt with time, I recommend placing the number on the finished cake right before serving. Again, you can use buttercream or piping gel to help it stick.

Edible Chocolate Tires

The tires you see on the cake are actually edible! These are the same homemade chocolate tires I used for my Monster Jam Gravedigger Cake and Hot Wheels Cake.

I use these tire molds and fill them with leftover fondant or melted chocolate. If using chocolate, I recommend black candy melts or Ghirardelli Chocolate Wafers. See my separate tutorial on melting chocolate.

Chocolate wafers will be brown. To color the chocolate black, you’ll want to use oil-based black food coloring that’s specifically made for coloring chocolate. Liquid-based food dyes will not work.

A Lightning McQueen cake with racing themed decorations, turned to show the fondant number 3.

Cars Birthday Party Décor

All of my party décor, including decorations, tableware, and cake decorating supplies, was either homemade or purchased from Amazon, Michaels, Target, or Hobby Lobby. You can view the items in my Amazon Store Front or shop the rest here.

A Lightning McQueen cake on a table surrounded by racing themed party decorations.

Can I Make This Cake Ahead?

Yes! You can easily get a head start on the components and break up the steps over a couple of days. If I made this cake ahead, I’d bake the cakes and prepare the frosting the day before (since the red frosting also deepens in color as it sits). I’d also make the chocolate tires, cut out the white and black fondant squares, and store everything airtight 1-2 days in advance until it was time to decorate.

How to Store the Decorated Cake

Store at room temperature for 1-2 days. Store the finished cake in a cake carrier. Another option is to use toothpicks to hold a sheet of plastic wrap away from the frosting and cover the cake that way. Remove any plastic decorations before storage. I only recommend storing frosted cakes in the fridge if you live somewhere especially warm or humid.

Lightning McQueen Cake