Friendly Dinosaur Cake Recipes

HOW TO MAKE A DINOSAUR CAKE

Steps:

• Assemble your supplies. To make a stegosaurus cake, you'll need two round cakes, frosting in two colors, and the decorations for the added touches. Along with your ingredients, you'll also need: Large mixing bowl, medium bowl, and a small bowl Sifter Hand or stand mixer Two round eight-inch cake pans, greased An oven preheated to 350ºF (177ºC) Two wire cooling racks Whisk Frosting knife Spatula Round two-inch cookie cutter Cake plate Piping bag with round tip
• Combine the dry ingredients. Sift the flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt together into a large mixing bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. If you don't have a sifter, whisk the dry ingredients together in the bowl to remove lumps, mix the ingredients together, and add air. Adding air to the dry ingredients will ensure the cake is light and fluffy.
• Add the wet ingredients and eggs. Pour the butter, milk, and vanilla right into the bowl with the dry ingredients. Use a hand mixer or the whisk attachment on a stand mixer to beat the batter on medium speed for about four minutes. Then add the eggs and beat on medium speed for another three minutes, until all the ingredients are fully incorporated into the batter. If necessary, stop to scrape down the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula to ensure all the ingredients get mixed in.
• Bake the cakes. Divide the batter evenly between the two greased cake pans. Bake the cake for 30 to 35 minutes. You know the cakes are ready when a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean, or the cakes spring back when you press them gently. Allow the cakes to cool in their pans on the wire racks for 10 minutes.
• Cool before decorating. When the cakes have cooled in their pans for a few minutes, turn them out onto the wire cooling racks. Set them aside to cool completely, to room temperature, for about an hour or hour and a half.
• Make the frosting. Place the butter into a medium bowl or the bowl of a stand mixer. Cream the butter on medium-high speed for one to two minutes with a hand mixer or a stand mixer's paddle attachment. Beat in the sugar 1 cup (125 g) at a time, until all the sugar has been incorporated and the mixture is smooth and creamy. Add the vanilla and 2 tablespoons (15 ml) of milk and beat for another minute. If the frosting is too thick to spread properly, beat in another tablespoon of milk.

FRIENDLY DINOSAUR CAKE

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F (325°F for dark or nonstick pan). Make and bake cake as directed on box for 13x9-inch pan. Cool 10 minutes; remove from pan to cooling rack. Cool completely, about 1 hour. Refrigerate or freeze cake 30 to 60 minutes or until firm.
• Cut cake as shown in diagram. Arrange pieces on tray to form dinosaur as shown in diagram. In small bowl, tint frosting with green food color. Attach pieces with small amount of frosting.
• Frost cake with thin layer of frosting to seal in crumbs. Refrigerate or freeze 30 to 60 minutes to set frosting. Spread remaining frosting evenly over cake. Let frosting set a few minutes. Carefully cover with paper towel and gently pat to give frosting a textured appearance; remove towel. Outline scales, legs, mouth, nose and eye with black gel. Decorate with green gel and jelly bean eye. Store loosely covered.

DINOSAUR CAKE

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 180C/fan 160C/gas 4. Use a little of the butter to grease the sides and bases of two 20cm sandwich tins. Melt the rest of the butter in a small saucepan. Off the heat, add the milk, yogurt and vanilla, followed by the eggs. Beat well with a fork.
• Put the dry ingredients plus ¼ tsp salt into a large bowl. Whisk to combine - this aerates and saves sifting. Tip in the wet ingredients and whisk to a smooth, silky batter.
• Don't hang around at this point. Pour the batter evenly into the prepared tins and put onto the middle shelf in the oven. Bake for 25 mins or until risen and a skewer inserted into the middle of the cakes comes out clean. Cool for 10 mins in the tins, then carefully invert the cakes and leave to cool upside down on a cooling rack.
• Make the buttercream. Put the butter into a large bowl and sift the icing sugar on top. Add the vanilla and milk and a pinch of salt then beat for a few mins with electric beaters until creamy, pale and spreadable.
• Sandwich the cakes with just under ¼ of the buttercream and then all of the jam, if using. Mark the cake into six then cut out two of the wedges. Chill all of the cake in the fridge for 30 mins to firm up the crumbs, which will make icing easier.
• While you wait, colour the remaining buttercream with a little green food colouring gel.
• Split the sugarpaste into four pieces, one 500g, one 250g, one 150g and one 100g. Colour 250g green to make the legs and arms. Colour 150g pink, to make the spines.
• Position the cakes on the board and, once you're happy, use a little buttercream to anchor them. The main part of the cake will make the body of the dinosaur and the root of its tail, and the two cutout wedges will make the face.
• Shape the 500g piece of sugarpaste to make a tail, tapering at the end. Flatten the other end out (the piece will look a bit like a witch's hat at this point) and mould it over the tail part of the cake.
• Using a palette knife, spread the coloured buttercream over each piece of cake and the tail.
• Shape 100g white icing into eyes and teeth and poke them into the buttercream.
• Shape two small sausages to make an arm, with two claws, and position on the cake. Shape the rest of the green sugarpaste into two legs, adding claws if you like. Press them into the buttercream on the dinosaur's belly.
• Shape the pink icing into spikes and position them along the spine and under the tail. Use two small sausages of pink icing for the eyelids if you like. Finally press the Smarties all over the dinosaur, saving two for the eyes. Leave to set.
• If you want to cover the board, rub a few drops of blue colouring into the coconut until even. Mix the royal icing sugar with 2 tbsp water, then brush this all over the board and around the dinosaur. Sprinkle with the coconut and the chocolate sprinkles and leave to set. If the sponges are used fresh or within a day of baking (wrap well once cooled), the finished cake will keep in a cool place (not the fridge) for 3 days.