Hi everyone! In this two part video tutorial, you will learn how to make two very cute dinosaur cake toppers. This is such a cute and fun dinosaur cake design!
While dinosaur themed cakes can be achieved very effectively with "flat" decorations like fondant cut-outs, and buttercream or chocolate transfers, 3-D cake toppers have a way of bringing the theme to life!
Our dinosaurs definitely fall into the "cute" category, but if your theme calls for more realistic dinosaurs, you can create a completely different look by making a few simple changes to the dinosaurs' color, texturing of the skin, and shape of the eyes. The construction of the bodies would still be very much the same!
I hope that you enjoy the tutorial! If you give this cake a try, we'd love for you to share a photo or comment below!
Materials
In this video, our tier sizes are 9" and 5". Each tier was approx. 4- 4.5 inches in height and 3 layers each. The tiers were made by mixing up a double batch of our "Classic Chocolate Scratch Cake". We used our Fluffy Vanilla buttercream for this cake, but any buttercream recipe would work just fine. For non-crusting frostings, I would add the dinosaurs at the time of the event to be on the safe side.
Rice Cereal Treats (We used Rice Krispies Treats, with each square being 22g.)-- We needed approximately 5-6 RKT squares per dinosaur. Of course you could use more or less, depending on the size that you would like to make! ***If you would like to skip the cereal treats altogether, you can make the dinosaurs using straight gum paste (or fondant/tylose powder). You will just need to allow several days for the bodies and heads to dry before assembling.
Gum paste or Fondant with Tylose Powder kneaded into it- I prefer to use gum paste (or fondant/tylose) instead of straight fondant because I feel that the firmness of gum paste as it dries over the cereal treat pieces makes everything more stable. If you prefer to use straight fondant on top of your your cereal treats, I would just make sure to allow at least a couple of days for things to firm up nicely around the cereal treats.
Fondant Amounts: 8 oz (243 g) green fondant, 6 oz (187 g) blue fondant, small amount of white for eyes, small amount of pink for inside of T-Rex's mouth.
Coloring Gel: I used Americolor Electric Green for T-Rex, Americolor Deep Pink, Americolor Sky Blue for Brontosaurus, Lemon Yellow and Orange for misc accents (hats, gift, etc.)
Lollipop Stick- Used for the neck of the brontosaurus
Royal Icing (piping consistency) - Used for our T-Rex's Teeth. You could use other things as well... like small piece of fondant or gum paste or even crusting buttercream.
Sprinkles: (Optional) I used small confetti sprinkles to decorate the brontosaurus and also for misc. sprinkles on the cake.
Piping Gel & Melted Candy Melts-- These were my glues of choice in this video. Melted candy melts for attaching the brontosaurus neck to the body (along with the lollipop stick anchor). Piping gel for all other situations calling for "glue" ;0)
Red Wilton Candy Melts- Optional--Used for creating our chocolate "2"
Floral Wire and Photo Paper/Cardstock, and tape- Used in making the sign for the brontosaurus.
Cocoa Puffs Bar or chocolate cookie- (Optional) this was what we used for the "cake" that our T-Rex was eating as a less messy alternative. However, I think that you could also just trim off a small piece of cake at the time of baking, allow to dry out a bit and then place in his mouth.
Bubble Tea Straws-- I used 4 to support our 5" tier, and 2 beneath the brontosaurus.
Misc- Cardboard cake circles- I used two (cut to the size of each tier). Our cake base is a wooden ¼" thick square wrapped tightly with a plastic tablecloth and secured beneath with painter's tape.
In Part One, you will learn to make a Tyrannosaurus Rex from rice cereal treats covered with fondant (or gum paste).
In Part Two, you will learn to make a brontosaurus, and a few extra details made to the cake and dinosaurs to pull the theme together!
Thank you Melissa. I am excited to try this. I love to learn new techniques.