Coolest Dinosaur Birthday Cake 78

by Erika H.
(Espoo, Finland)

Homemade Red Stegosaurus Birthday Cake

I made this Dinosaur Birthday Cake for my son's 4th birthday, following suggestions from this web page. The cake was from two, 8-inch round forms. The first cake was sliced in half and "glued" together (with frosting) upright to form the body. The second cake had a crescent shape cut for the tail along with a square extension to make it a bit longer. A diamond shape cut for the head. Four squares cut for the feet. A small amount of cake was left over (less than a quarter of one round).

For assembly: I first cut 2 circles out of wax paper and practiced the "shapes" before laying the paper over the 2nd cake to cut. I then froze these cake base pieces overnight, so that when frosting there aren't crumbs getting into the frosting from the cut surfaces. In the morning, I laid out the cake in the right pattern.

Frosted very thin with vanilla butter cream frosting, tinted red by food coloring. Then frosting covered the whole dino by piping with a star tip. I ran out of frosting at the end (for covering the body) so I made a new batch with a slightly different (purple) color. The spikes down the back are chocolate triangles and the tale spikes were chocolate covered bugle crackers. Eyes and claws were simple dot candies.

I left the cake on the counter top (rather than refrigerate) to defrost for the day before serving at the party. Was a huge success and not too hard to make. Thanks to other tips from this web page too!