A Dinosaur Adventure Party...

We're gonna party like it's BC9999999...

Last week my son, Master J, turned 3.  Unfortunately the day before his birthday he sprained his ankle badly at daycare and is still, a week later, unable to walk.

...with his green dinosaur ankle bandage...

I have to say having a non-mobile 3 year old as well as a newborn baby has thrown up more than a few challenges in the last few days, but nothing gets in the way of a good party in this household, so the planned "Dinosaur Adventure" birthday celebration rolled-out as planned.

I had to simplify a lot of things - the only decorations were balloons, some plastic dinosaurs I borrowed from my neighbour and I drew some dinosaur footprints on the table (which is permanently covered with chalkcloth).  I also simplified the food, serving less options than at previous parties, and only making a small amount of it at home.

However, I just couldn't quite bring myself to scrimp on the cake (here is my previous post on the cake).

Before the party I dressed Master J in his dino costume and got some photos because I know my son, and I know that when he is surrounded by people singing happy birthday he gets really overwhelmed and tends to look a bit miserable.  Evidenced in the following picture...

I know him so well!  Once the cake was cut and a suitable amount consumed, his usual demeanor re-appeared.

Happy birthday to my sweet little boy!

Master J's Jurassic Cake...

Master J turned 3 last week and to celebrate we had a dinosaur party!

I knew I wanted to do a "volcano-on-top-of-jungle-with-dinosaurs" type of cake, and I found this inspiration cake online to help guide me.

The whole cake is dark chocolate celebration cake.   The volcano was baked in a pudding bowl, and I also used some of the leftover cake from the domes on the bottom layer to build up the top of the volcano to make it higher.  All of the decorations, except the dinosaurs and lettering were made of fondant.

The dinosaurs were a labour of love.  After trying unsuccessfully to mould the dinos I decided to try and make them the way that they were made in the photo I found online.

Edible dinos on top and the picture I worked from below...

So, I got some pics of dinos from a google picture search and cut the shape from a thick layer of gumpaste using the pictures as a template. Once they were dry I combined some food colouring paste with a little vodka and painted a colour wash on the dinos using my pictures as a guide.  When that was dry (cue a little hair-dryer action - I was on a tight timeline!), I then filled in the details with a black edible pen.  I was so pleased with how they turned out, as this is a technique I have never tried before.  I'm so glad I tried it, as I'm sure it will have applications for future cakes.

Rrrrrraaaaaar!