The Evolution of a Dinosaur!

The other day, I asked Sharon if she would like me to make a birthday cake for Rachael, as she would soon be turning five years old. I really enjoy baking, and decorating cakes, even if I haven't done it very much. Sharon said that would be great, and when we asked Rachael what kind of cake she would like, she said a dinosaur, a pink dinosaur. And so began the saga of the dinosaur cake.
I really had no idea how to draw a dinosaur, thank goodness for Google searches. After finding a picture of a dinosaur, I realized that I would never be able to enlarge it by hand, so off to Staples it was. It really was a very painless procedure, and the picture enlarged easily. I now had a template, but I needed the cake.
I don't have one pan big enough for the whole cake, so I made a lot of batter, baked it in four different sizes of pans, and figured I'd be able to do something with it. Cakes cut and ice easier if they are frozen, so I put the cakes in the freezer overnight. Then came assemby time. I made a whack of icing, got out my new Pampered Chef small offset spatula - very cool tool!!, a knife, and got to work.
The first picture here, shows how I had to piece together different bits of cake to get the right shape. Then I had to figure out how to cut out the shape, but icing sugar and the paper template worked well as a stencil. If you've ever iced a cake, you know that the first layer of icing gets pretty crumby, so a 'crumb coat' is a really good idea. While that layer of icing was setting up, I had to colour the rest of the icing. I had to find a great pink food colouring, and I ended up getting a complete set of gel food colours. They are amazing, the colours really are vibrant. ( I need another excuse to make a multicoloured cake just so I can play with them!)
I also got inspired to make some Veggietale balloons for the dinosaur to hold because Sharon has always has Veggietale balloons at her girls' birthday parties. (And it was another excuse to use the fun food colours I had.) So, with a little creativity, a bit of work, and a lot of fun, I had made a very pink dinosaur cake. I hoped Rachael would like it, and from the size of the hug I got, I would say it was definitely a hit. I love you Rachael.

You see here the first and last pictures of the Evolution of a Dinosaur. (The whole slide show is available to view.) Many thanks go to Claire, photographer extraordinaire who photo-documented the whole event.