Tags
- I started with 6 inch round cake stacked off center on a 8 inch round. Support the top cake with 4 dowels. Drive a skewer or dowel through both cakes for stability.
Carve the front side with a slight slope and the rear with more of a slope, using larger part of the 8 inch cake to give your dinosaur a bigger backside. Leave small sections on the sides of the larger cake for hips/legs. Carve the top cake so that it is more narrow at the top, taking at least an inch from either side.
Once your cake is carved, give it a good coat of frosting. I used a swiss meringue butter cream for both the frosting and the filling. Place the cake on your cake board.
Using 2 batches of rice krispie treats, while they are still warm, shape into a tail that is thick and wide at the base and tapering to the end. To shape the head, compress the treats into a teardrop shape. Further shape it with a good size snout with indentations for nostrils and eye sockets. Place in the freezer or fridge to cool and set.
Attach tail to body. Place two dowels in the front part of 6 inch cake. Cut the skewer short enough so that it will not poke through the top of your dino’s head.
For the feet, using the rice krispies or fondant, shape and place on the cake board in front of cake.
Cover the cake with fondant. This color green was made using leaf green and forest green gel food coloring. Roll it thickly so you can pinch a ridge down the back and tail.
Cover the head with fondant, taking care to press the fondant into the nostrils and eye sockets. Pinch ridges over the eyes and down the back of the head coming together at the base of the head. Use a bone tool to make identations for the mouth.
Make arms by shaping two equal pieces of fondant (with gum tex added) into logs and then using a knife to make two cuts in the end of each. Pinch the three fingers into points to make claws. Push skewers into the other end. Set aside to dry and harden.
Begin adding the details. Add spots in differing sizes and shapes, using a darker or contrasting color.
Using the big end of a piping tip, cut circles out of black fondant, attach to the nostrils. Use white fondant to make pointed teeth. Use two pieces of white fondant shaped like almonds for the eyes, layer with black circles and yellow slivers and attach to the eye sockets. to make eyelids, roll two small ropes, and two more slightly smaller. Place the smaller underneath the eyes, then the larger over the top.
Attach arms. Write a message and enjoy your Dinosaur!
I’ve created a flickr group so all of you can share picture of your T-Rexs’.
Linda said:
Holy Crap! That turned out awesome! Your attention to detail kicks butt. 🙂 (I’m tired and running out of “adult” ways to describe my feelings here) Anyway, VERY impressed.
Melanie said:
I am about to make a cake with a large rice krispy figure also, how do you cover the rice kripsy with the fondant, same as cake, buttercream icing than cover, or just cover right over the krispies…I love your cake, might have to steal the idea for my nephews next bday.
fawnjenee said:
Hi Melanie, I just rolled the fondant a little thicker and skipped the buttercream, the rice krispies are sticky enough. However if you want it smoother you may want to frost the rice krispies and fill in the gaps.
Kristine said:
Love the cake!! I am going to try and make it for my son’s t-rex party on Saturday – I hope it comes out as great as yours 🙂
fawnjenee said:
Good Luck! I am sure it’ll be great!
Karalee said:
I’m going to try to make this cake for my husband’s birthday. It’s fantastic! I’ve never used fondant before. Any word of advice for a first timer? Also do you have any advice for working with tiers? Certain recipes or techniques? Thanks!
fawnjenee said:
Hi Karalee, when working with fondant just make sure have lots of powdered sugar and cornstarch handy, to keep it from sticking. I like use a half powdered sugar and half corn starch. Keep lifting as roll it out and add more as needed. I would use a firmer cake for the tiers. Pound cake baked in layers or if you were going to use a mix, try swapping out the oil and water for the amounts of butter and milk and add an extra egg. I’d love to see it when you make it!
Denise said:
This cake is fantastic!
Can you give me a rough estimate of the time it took to complete the cake?
fawnjenee said:
It probably took me about 8 hours, including making the fondant, baking cakes, making the rice krispie treats and documenting and figuring out details for the post.
Thanks for the compliment!
Molly said:
Although I would hate to eat this work of art- how did you serve it? I want to make this cake, but I don’t know how to cut the pieces for guests… Thanks!
fawnjenee said:
Hi Molly! It is actually easier to serve this cake than it looks. Simply remove the head, then cut the fondant around the top tier just under the cardboard. Now you have two separate cakes again. Just slice and serve the cakes like you would a round cake. As for the rice krispie treats, you can cut them in wedges or simply not serve them.
Becky said:
How many cake mixes did it take to make this? I am making this for my son in like 2 days, and I just bought 2 cake mixes, but I’m thinking it might not be enough?
fawnjenee said:
Actually, it should be fine. The cakes are 6 inch and 8 inch rounds, so two cakes mixes should be more than enough.
jen said:
awesome inspiring cake!. did you cover the head part in fondant before attaching it to the rest of the cake?..
fawnjenee said:
Yes, I covered the cake and head separately then attached the head to the rest of the cake.
Liz said:
Hi there Fawnjenee, this is really cool!! My son is turning 5 and he wants a dinosaur/transformer birthday so I’ve been looking for a dinosaur care big enough to battle a transformer!!! lol! I think I found it. I’m scared to use the fondant though, i’m not used to it. Do you think it would look stupid if I just used regular icing?
fawnjenee said:
Thanks! I think it would be great in buttercream! Best of luck!
Stephanie Rozell said:
Liz, did you do this? How did the regular icing turn out? I the same feelings toward fondant!
fay said:
Ladies, please try the fondant, it is very easy to work with and makes such a difference on the finished product!
Lisa said:
Hi,
This cake is fantastic!!! And just what my 3 year old has requested for his 4th Birthday! I would love to try this cake but I’m so worried i may not be able to do it, i,ve done a few in the past with step by step instructions, i have worked with the fondant before but very confused about the rice krispies please explain how you moulded them and they stick together never seen this done before ??? do you think i could do a round deep cake and maybe try and cut the shape of head and tail ??? x
fawnjenee said:
Hi Lisa,
I am sure you could use cake for the tail, the head might be a little tougher though. Using the rice krispies treats while they are warm and just shape them with your hands really isn’t to hard. I bet you could do it! Greasing your hands with a shortening will help with any stickiness. Good luck!
Cristina said:
Hi! I LOVE this cake! I am going to attempt making it for my son’s 6th brithday in two weeks. Thank you for the great steps. I couldnt do it without your advise. Love it!
Elena said:
This cake is amazing!! I have to try it for my son’s birthday next week. I have not used fondant before, but I’m not really afraid of it. Would you recommend purchasing pre-made fondant (like wilton)? Or is homemade just better? And can it be made ahead of time? Would love a recipe if you have it!
fawnjenee said:
Hi Elena, glad you like the cake! I like homemade fondant for the taste and the fact it is less expensive, but it can be can be little harder to work with. It can be made in advance and coloring when it is still kind of warm is a little faster I think. This is a fantastic link for the how-to http://whatscookingamerica.net/PegW/Fondant.htm
jennifer said:
I made this cake for my sons’ (6th & 9th) birthday party. They asked for a beach scene with a T-Rex that had Mario Kart cars driving up the tail. Seemed somewhat impossible for someone with limited cake experience, but then I was delighted to find the instructions for this cake! Thanks so much!!
I did create a problem for myself when I made the head too big. In a true Food Network Challenge moment, I ripped the head off, cut off the snout, reshaped it, fixed the icing, and stuck it back on right when the birthday party started.
For the cake, I made chocolate devil’s food with a chocolate ganache filling and buttercream icing. I made the cakes the day before, let them cool, wrapped them in plastic wrap, and let them chillax overnight in the fridge. Using buttercream made it easier for me to fix the head, I think, since I haven’t used fondant before so it was less intimidating for me. 🙂
I used gum paste for the arms, eyes, toe nails, and nostrils. The little Mario guys were purchased and the cars were Zingers with M&M wheels. The “water” and stars were frosted sugar cookies. The beach was buttercream covered with brown sugar. The little daisies were purchased (my son insisted we needed those for the Mario theme).
If it works, here’s a link to some of the pictures….
http://www.flickr.com/photos/peace-love-bonjovi/sets/72157624845233176/
I had so much fun with this cake!!! Thank you again for sharing.
fawnjenee said:
Jennifer, that is so awesome! It sounds delish, too. I can’t tell you how many cake catastrophes I’ve had, way to keep your cool! I bet your boys loved it. Thanks for the pictures, I always wonder if this helps anybody and how the cakes turn out. You did awesome, the only thing to be afraid of is what your sons will ask for next time!
jessica said:
i love this idea so u did same steps as this t-rex? but added ur own as well? i would love to try this my son was a dinosaure for his 4th bday and he just loves t-rex and mario if you have and more details on your steps i would really apreciate it thanks so much
Luthe said:
Hi, this cake is amazing! Going to try it for my son’s 5th birthday. Never used fondant before!! Not to mention doing a 3D Cake! I just wondered where did you start with the fondant at the body of the cake – from the top or the sides of the cake? How long should you roll it out to maybe cover the whole body at once?
fawnjenee said:
You’ll be covering the head separately from the body of the cake. Cover the head off the rest of the cake, then cover body, feet and tail with one sheet of fondant, using a ruler to measure how tall and wide the cake is so you know how big to role out the fondant. It can be a little tricky to do the first time. Maybe you can do a simple round test cake to get the hang of it. That way you’re not (as) stressed out when you make the birthday cake. Good Luck!!!
Fiona said:
I love this cake, I need something like this for my sons 3rd birthday. Question though, What are rice krispie treats?? Here in Australia we have chocolate crackles, which are basically rice bubble cereal, copha and cocoa powder mixed together in to balls and then set in the fridge – I am assuming they are similar??
fawnjenee said:
Hi Fiona! How fun that we have international readers!!! We usually make our Rice krispie treats from puffed rice cereal, probably similar to the rice bubble cereal you have, melted marshmallows and some butter. Here is a link to a recipe http://www2.kelloggs.com/RecipeDetail.aspx?id=1605. What is copha? I hope your son has a happy birthday and good luck with the cake!
Esme´ said:
Hiya! My 20 year old brother is an absolute dino freak (and has been known to walk into museums and prove people wrong about prehistoric creatures!), and I’ve been looking for an ultimate present for him. I’ve found it! I’ve been trying to bring my business out into the world–I’ve made plenty of themed cakes for friends, coworkers’ weddings, and such. Any tips? Thanks so much!
Nicole said:
I let my kids decide what their cakes were going to be this year, and was a bit worried until google brought me to your blog! Thanks for posting this!
fawnjenee said:
Yea! Glad I could help!
trina said:
How long can you work on a dinosaur? I have seen Duff’s crew take time in carving krispie animals etc…. daughter wants something like this for 16th bday, I was thinking this wud be great IF I could take my time and pull it off. HELP !!
And order the cake lol and have dino go with it
Bev said:
Looking for ideas for a 3d t-rex cake and could only find a few good pictures before I found your site. Great to see step by step pictures and also that you have taken the time to reply to all queries. I have made a few cakes before and hope to try this one in two weeks time. Thanks for all the tips and ideas. Will get back to you if its a sucess.
fawnjenee said:
I would love to see how it turns out!!
Laurie said:
Hey there! I was so glad to find this cake for my grandson’s 4th birthday party. I have never made a tiered cake before, so I am a little slow in understanding the dowels. Do you mean that when the cake is done, 4 dowels are inside the 6′ rounds, 2 more dowels are at the front of the 6′ rounds and go into to 8′ rounds below for more support, and 1 skewer goes through all the layers and into the head?
Also, do you have any recommendations for the brand of dowel, or are they all pretty much the same? Thanks!
Laurie
fawnjenee said:
The four dowels go into the 8 inch cake to support the weight of the six inch cake and then two dowels go into the six inch cake to support the head. The skewer goes through all of them to give the whole cake stability. I usually just get dowels from wiltons, you can buy them at any craft store or even Walmart. Hope that helps!
Laurie said:
Thanks! I found dowels at JoAnn Fabrics. Since I am fondant-phobic, I am going to frost the cake. I have a feeling mine will look like the dino just came out of the swamp, but if I try fondant for the first time on a complicated cake, I smell disaster. I don’t have time for a practice cake.
Your cakes really are impressive! Glad mine won’t be sitting next to yours!
fawnjenee said:
I’m sure it’ll be great!
Laurie Risch said:
I could not find skewers anywhere, then ran into them during a random trip to the store right after the cake was done. My T. rex is held together by dowels and prayer!
My latest blog post is about the cake. I took the liberty of linking to your site so readers can see what it should have looked like! I hope that was okay. Let me know if you’d rather not have the link in the article.
Laurie
fawnjenee said:
I’ve already read your fun post. You are such a humorous lady! Thanks for the link back.
Pingback: High-Stakes Cakes: Alert the Fire Department, cuz Grandma’s in the Kitchen « That Boomer Blog
Andrea said:
I’m thinking about attempting this cake for my son’s 3rd b-day party this weekend. He’s asked for a T-rex cake and your looks great. I’ve never worked w/ fondant so am going to practice w/ it first to see if I could do this. I did have a question about the cake. Your 8 in. and 6 in. cake look like they both have 4 layers. Did you bake it in 4 sections? Also did you level it off before you stacked it? About how big did you make the head and tail? You said you made 2 batches of rice krispie treats, did you use them all? I would love to try this cake but am a bit of a perfectionist when it comes to these things so I’m trying to decided if it’s something I could manage…
fawnjenee said:
I baked two cakes for each size and then split and leveled and filled them with frosting. I did use most the of the rice krispies, I believe. It’s been awhile, over two years since I made this cake and wrote the tutorial, I don’t remember exact dimensions for the head and tail and feet. Sorry! I would love to see the end result if you decide to make. I bet your 3 year old will love it even if its not perfect!
Andrea said:
Well, so far I’ve made 2 batches of fondant. I also made a regular round cake (substituting butter & milk) to see how it came out and covered it in fondant for practice. I’m not sure if my fondant (I used the marshmallow recipe) is just like it is supposed to be but it worked so today I plan on baking the cakes for the dinosaur and covering them in fondant. Tomorrow I will prob. do the detailed part of the cake. I just wondered if it’s necessary to split the cakes or if it I could just each cake in two layers… Did you just do this for extra frosting or is there another reason? Hoping things work out!!!
Laurie said:
Andrea, I tried the cake a month ago and considering it was my first try at something three-dimensional, I did fairly well, though it’s good my cake and Fawnjenee’s weren’t sitting side by side on a table.
I had never used fondant and decided not to learn on such an important project, so I used lots and lots of frosting. I made the head and the tail out of Rice Krispies treats and frosted over those too. Since the cake was for a kids party, I was not there to eat it, but my daughter-in-law said the Rice Krispies sections were a little on the soggy side. I think the moisture from all the frosting soaked into to them too much. She said they were barely edible. There is so much cake involved in the T.rex, that’s not really a problem, but I just wanted to pass along the issue I had with frosting on top of the Krispies treats, in case you figured your guests could eat those too. Maybe if I had frosted the head and tail at the last minute, they would have stayed crispy.
Good luck on your cake! Now that you’ve seen Fawnjenee’s cake, you’re going to find it impossible to opt for something easier. The kids and parents at my grandson’s party were amazed.
😉
Fawn said:
Andrea, you don’t have to split and fill them, I’d mostly for taste preferences. Have fun!
Krystal said:
Hi I have a question? I am going to attempt a version of this cake for a three year old girls Birthday Party. I was reading your comments & tips very helpful By the way thank you so much for posting this!!!!
I was wondering you said you used fondant with “gum text added” for the arms. whats that and how much did you use? I have gum paste powder here is that the same thing?
fawnjenee said:
Gum-Tex is product of Wilton and is an ingredient of gum paste, you can add it to fondant to make it firmer. Since I am not exactly sure what you have there, I’m not sure how it would work. You could always experiment! If you do decide to use Gum-Tex, use at least a teaspoon of the powder kneaded into the fondant you have set aside for the arms.
Krystal said:
Hi thanks I went and grabbed some today. What I have makes Gumpaste by just adding water. I figured I’d try it sometime when I was bored! 🙂
Thank you for posting this I am starting my “girly” version of T-Rex as we speak! I will share pics when I’m done!
Krystal's Kreations said:
Hi the cake was a success thanks so much for your post again. I dont know that it would have come out the way it did with out your tips & suggestions! 🙂 I just can’t figure out how to post pics on here? I tried a couple different ways but its not working. I am dying toshare picks of my girly version of this cake !
fawnjenee said:
I just made a flickr group for anyone to share pictures of cakes they made with this tutorial. I would love to have you post your cake!!!! http://www.flickr.com/groups/1634360@N25/
Alicia said:
Hi, I wanted to make this cake this weekend…it’s amazing!!! How many day’s could I safely make this ahead of time and still look great?
Thank you
fawnjenee said:
I think it would depend on the frosting used and how you store it. I like to use swiss meringue buttercream on sculpted cakes and I believe that it is safe to stay at room temp for 24 hours if covered in fondant. Keep it cool and dry. Good luck!
Michelle said:
Hi, I am going to make this make for a friend of mine in a few weeks. I am a bit nervous about sculting the cake, I have worked with fondant before, but not to this level. Any advise?
heather said:
Hi your cake looks amazing!
I’m going to make this for both my sons birthday party next wk. I’ve never made anything like this before so I’ve a couple of questions. What did you use to stick the fondant onto the frosting, was the frosting enough to hold it on?
Also I’m living in Saudi so we’ve limited ingredient out here and I can’t get gum paste. Do you have any suggestions re what I can use?
fawnjenee said:
I really don’t know what to tell you, maybe you could just make the arms a few days ahead and see if they harden. The fondant will stick to the frosting be itself in most cases, if it doesn’t spread a little fresh frosting on it. Good luck!!!!
Stephanie said:
HI!
This a great cake, my 3 year old requested a dino cake for his 4th birthday and I saw this and its awesome! Im just worried about using fondont. I tried it once before and I had trouble with it sticking to itself. For instance when adding the extra details, how would you do so if you already had the powder sugar and what not on it to make it not sticky?
fawnjenee said:
Sometimes the details will just stick, othertimes you can use a clean paint brush and little bit of water to make the details stick. I have paint brushes that I only use for my cake and gumpaste projects.
Rosemary said:
hiya i love your cake i am planning in doing it for my friends birthday. could you tell me how many layers of cake do you need to build the body? thanks
fawnjenee said:
Two six inch layers and two 8 inch layers. Good luck! Once it’s done, we would love to see it in the flickr group! http://www.flickr.com/groups/1634360@N25
Sara said:
Hi I was just wondering about how much fondant you used for this? did you double a recipe? also did you freeze the cakes before you cut them? I have heard it is easier to carve cakes when they are frozen and just trying to figure out what to do. Thanks again and this looks amazing.
fawnjenee said:
Hi Sara, sorry my reply is so late. You can definitely freeze the cakes to make carving easier. The amount of fondant, hmmm, two recipes of the Marshmallow Fondant should be more than enough.
Adelle said:
Finally! A dinosaur cake tutorial of EXACTLY what I was looking for! This is amazing and I’m defenately using your idea (hope you don’t mind!). Thanks for this and please post more tutorials 🙂
fawnjenee said:
Thanks Adelle! Of course I don’t mind! Please post a picture in our Flickr group if you have time!
lisa said:
Hi how do u make the Krispies?? Never worked with them b4.
many thanks
lisa
sue said:
I can’t wait to make this cake. I’m expecting 40 people for my son’s brithday party. Do you think it will be enough to feed everyone? Any suggestions on how to make it bigger? I don’t want it to collapse!
Also, can anyone tell me the approximate size/ dimensions they used for the the head and tail. I’m so worried that my dino is gonna be out of proportion.
cherie said:
Hi,
So I am in the process of making this cake. I did the head tonight, and will be attacking the body next. When covering the body, where is the seam of the fondant? Or is it draped over and cut off at the bottom? If so…how did you work out the draping folds at the bottom?
I’m very excited to finish, the head turned out awesome, however it definitley looks a little “meaner” then yours 😉
Thanks for the help!!!
fawnjenee said:
Hi Cherie, I did the fondant for the body in one large piece and then trimmed along the bottom. Because the angle of the slope of the body the folds are pretty easy to smooth out. Just take your time and smooth out the fondant as you work from the top. I would love to see the cake, please add it to our flickr pool, if you feel inclined!
cherie said:
Thank you!!! Took me awhile to post, but it turned out great. It was quite a conversation piece 🙂 And my son LOVED it!!!
thejustlyenrichedlife said:
Thank you! I used your ‘blueprint’ and it worked out great! I posted pics on my blog and referenced you but I don’t know how to link from my post to here…
http://thejustlyenrichedlife.wordpress.com/
post title is “So, what;s the saw for”
answer dowels of course!
Thanks again – couldn’t have done it without you!
Gwen said:
Thanks for the instructions to make this cake. It was my first fondant or stacked cake- near disaster! My son didn’t seem to notice! I uploaded a photo – msinbalto on Flickr. Thanks again!again!
Lailah Hamed said:
I am in the middle of making this cake for my daughter believe it or not ;), how do I attache the arms exactly, thanks for posting it by the way. Its my first time working with fondoant, made a giant mess of everything even though it doesn’t look as nice as yours my duaghter is already in love with it and it not done.
Also I ran out of fodonant would decorating icing be ok for the spots and eves it’s all I have left
Thanks soo much for the post
Lailah Hamed
fawnjenee said:
Hi! I attached the arms by putting skewers into the ends of the arms and sticking them into the cake that way. Decorating icing would be great for the details! Good luck!
Ronnell Mullins said:
Great cake
cookies said:
Wonderful, what a weblog it is! This blog presents helpful information to us, keep it up.
lisa said:
Thanks sooo much i’ve just been asked to make a non scary t- rex and this fits the bill.I haven’t made a 3 d cake before , so here goes … once again thanks for sharing the wonderful how to for all of us self taught cakers 🙂
Christa said:
Hi I am attempting this cake this next week for a client, however i am going to sit T-rex on a sheet cake so there will be plenty of cake for the party. i was interested in where you got the number templets for the dinosaur?? or did you just free hand it??
fawnjenee said:
I think I may have free handed it, but I imagine that you could find a template on the Internet.