Riding the Nightmare Train

The lead up to this post began with a panic attack.
Yes, I know that stupid, it is afterall only a cake.
That is what I thought too when I was asked to do a Thomas The Tank Engine Cake for a first birthday.
Pfft. Sure. I said. No worries.
Ha! My big mouth bites me again!
I hunted up some online help, and came across this tutorial. It sounded easy enough. God knows I never would have had a chance of completing the Thomas cake with out this tutorial. But the drama started when I began trying to figure out how to make the actual cake, where to get a pan, will the dimentions be right?! OMG can you hear the PMS stress attack?!
Long story short I ended up with three slab cakes.
The buttercream started to separate as I was decorating, posibly due to the heat in my hands, I don't know. The red frosting is more of a candy red than a Thomas red, but I gave up trying to get it darker when I had so much colouring that the frosting was getting runny.
In the end it turned out hmmm... okay I guess. Several people have told me that it looks great. The recipient was really pleased with it, but all I care is that it's finnished, out the door and NEVER coming back!