Reader Shelley Collette of Palisade, Colorado, engineered this great train cake, which makes an ideal centerpiece for a toddler's choo-choo party. If you invited the entire nursery school, bake extra cars.

Cut one loaf cake as shown in the small picture. Use frosting to attach the pieces you cut off to the four remaining loaves, creating different shaped cars. Frost the engine and each car a different color.

With a small dab of frosting, place an M&M in the center of each cookie to make the train wheels, then press the wheels against the frosted sides of the train.
Add beds of candy cargo, outlined with licorice; a marshmallow smokestack with popcorn steam; and a decorated vanilla-wafer engineer.