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!