Bugger - I need to make a dinosaur cake

[messybessie]

DS's birthday on Friday. He wants a dinosaur cake. I was going to buy one from Waitrose but you need 7 days notice apparently.

Anyone got a good plan for making one?

Needs to feed about 20 - or a smaller one and then I'll need cupcakes too!

There may be one on my profile, hold on....

Ooh, have a book with one in, actually not as hard as it may seem! The one I used was a baby dinosaur (looking at some of Olihan's cakes I think she may have a similar one that has inspired her!)

If you do make one get LOTS of fondant icing, it looks quite similar to the waitrose one!

Olihan, they are amazing. I'm not quite sure I'm up to that standard.

I made this one

www.instructables.com/id/3d-Dinosaur-Birthday-Cake/

Didn't quite look like that one on the site though. However DS2 (and other mums being polite) was very impressed!!!

It's here, can't get it on to my profile.

Dead easy, bake the cake in a 2 pint bowl, cut it into 3 layers, put jam and buttercream between the layers, cover the outside in buttercream then in green ready to roll icing.

The head and neck are made out of ready to roll (in advance, you'd have to do it tomorrow/weds to let it dry ok) with a plastic dowel to keep the neck upright - you could use a pencil though.

Stick coloured spots on his back and you're done.

The dinosaur was quite an early one that I did, hence the fact it's straight out of the book!

If you're in the Cheshire/Stoke/Manchester/Liverpool area I can knock one up for you .

Brilliant. Sadly nowhere near you otherwise I might take you up on it!

Muggle, yours looks good too. Do you reckon you could cover it in fondant instead of all that piping?

Um...how about a regular cake, covered in green icing with plastic dinos he can keep, placed on top and around the cake?

I also LOVE your Italian Job cake. May have to attempt one of those for DH

I didn't pipe i just slapped in on!!!

Did a 'crumb coat' first though

Italian Job was for a MNer's little boy who was/is Mini mad.

I think Muggle's would be tricky to do in fondant if you're a compete novice although you could spread coloured buttercream instead of piping, I guess.

Mousey's is a good idea, especially if you don't have much experience - saves the stress levels mounting to epic proprtions!

Ooh, like that one Olihan, I did one that looked quite similar to the Waitrose one recently. Not as hard as it looks........

Again do a bowl shaped cake, cover with fondant, make a fondant head ( almost like a figure of 8 or a bone shape with indentations for the nose) stick some eyes on and some scales/ triangles, do a sausage for a tail in fondant) hey presto. However if you don't feel confident then I would suggest what Mousey said too.

(ALSO - don't colour your fondant with the bog standard liquid colouring, it will go all sticky you need to have "paste" colour so a trip to a specialist shop might be in order!)

Right, I'm going to have a go.

If I bake it in a 2 pint bowl, how much mix do I need and how long do I cook it for? I'm assuming a normal Vicky sponge would be fine, or do I need something heavier?

Vicky sponge mix is fine. I think I used a 3 or 4 egg mix - you need to fill the bowl about 3/4 full to ensure it rises right to the top. Put a little circle of greaseproof in the bottom and grease the sides well.

It takes ages to get the middle cooked, a good hour+ in my oven. You just have to keep checking it with the skewer every 10 mins once it's had the first 50 mins or so.

Definitely use either precoloured icing or paste colours, NOT the liquid stuff from supermarkets. Hobbycraft sell the precoloured stuff as well as boards, dowel, etc if you don't have a local cake decorating shop.

Pre-coloured is very much easier and if you run out you will be able to get exactly the same colour that you originally had whereas if you make it up yourself you might not get the exact shade again.

Also, top tip, edible glitter - makes everything look that little bit better