The Dinosaur Cake

The Dinosaur Cake (not to be confused with the Dinosaur Train, for all you moms and dads and little kids out there) was my gift to my now 16 year old sister, Katie.

She designed the cake for me about a week ago, dinosaurs and a pink and green cake. It took me a while to figure out a design, but I realized that Katie could probably draw what she wanted better than I could read her mind. =)

The cake is confetti cake, I used a white cake recipe with 2 tablespoons of sprinkles (I used the star sprinkles, not the little round ones or the rectangular ones) per recipe. The cake was pretty big so I actually doubled the recipe.

I made a mocha buttercream icing, per Katie's request, and covered everything with marshmallow fondant, which Adam thinks tastes just like marshmallow. He really liked that part, but he's not a fan of mocha, so he just ate the fondant off of his piece of cake.

The fondant was a lot easier to put on the smaller cake, but for the larger cake it started sticking and tearing. You might be able to tell from the pictures, but I tried to cover up all the rips with the little gumpaste dinos.

And speaking of dinos, the ones on top of the cake are really wrinkly, which is unfortunate. I guess my animal sculpting skills aren't as good as I thought they were, but hey, real dinosaurs were wrinkly, right?

No, those aren't dinosaur eggs, they're coffee cups from Starbucks! ;)

A close up on one of the pterodactyl.

Ta-Da! My first fondant-covered cake. Maybe it's not perfect, but for my first try, I'm really proud of myself. Who knows how much more awesome the next one will be! :D

Katie's Spotlight

March 2002.

It's March, and as such, I am going to pay homage to my little sister, Katie. For some reason beyond my comprehension, my little sister is such a muse to me when I'm making a cake. For example, she inspired this beauty of 2008.

March 2008.

And last year I designed a cute little button-themed cake that I never got around to actually making. :( She did get a cake, so don't worry about that! She and her winterguard cohorts celebrated with a Publix cake that day. This year, I definitely plan on making her another fabulous cake, since I'll be home for spring break, but I'm digressing...

One of my favorite cakes ever was also inspired by and created for Katie:

March 2007.

Isn't it a beauty? All those different elements... the Royal Icing cauldron, the fondant leprechaun, the hard candy rainbow...

If you were wondering, yes, I did make that rainbow all by myself. I made & colored the hard candy all by myself, I melted it in the oven and made a rainbow shape and made a second one just in case this one broke... all on my own.

And let me tell you, it was a lot of work! But so, so worth it, right?

I can't take all of the credit either...

Little sisters aren't good for much... ;) But my little sis has the ability to push my skills and talents past the limit and help me grow as a person... or at least, a cake decorator.

So, Katie, this one's for you. For taking me out of my comfort zone and asking for the craziest, wildest cake ideas and believing that I'll actually be able to create them. Love ya, chica!