The centerpiece of every birthday party is naturally the cake. It took me a long time to come up with a design that I felt confident I could pull off for Max’s Dinosaur Birthday Party. In fact, I tried to cajole Max into cupcakes. At one point he reluctantly agreed, but I knew he really wanted a big, fabulous cake, so I kept the wheels kept turning.
Once I remembered the mini-bunt cake pan in the back of my cupboard, the whole design came together. The cake would be topped with a volcano! I made a miniature chocolate bunt cake and dripped it with a red glaze to mimic lava. The rest of the cake was very basic and easy to frost with green and brown buttercream frosting. Yum!
I sculpted dinosaurs out of marzipan, drawing inspiration from other cakes I found online. Those cakes used fondant, but that just doesn’t taste good to me. Deliciousness is a key criteria for everything I serve. Form can’t come before flavor when it comes to food. The month before, I had made a Peter Rabbit Garden Cake inspired by Martha Stewart and Max had gone crazy over the marzipan vegetables, so marzipan dinosaurs make sense. I sculpted them the night before which helped them harden a bit, but also caused a touch of droopiness.
Notice the little rocks around the edges. Those are actually specialty chocolates my mom picked up from my hometown. I am sure you could find something similar online or use jelly beans and malt balls as an alternative.
The crowing glory came when it was time to sing Happy Birthday. Right before serving, we put a small bottle cap with a little dry ice in the center of the bunt cake volcano. Then we poured just a touch of water to make the volcano smoke. It was spectacular! What a fantastic effect for a four year old’s birthday cake!
Gulp, he’s growing up so fast! Stop time, stop.
You’re right; the cake was pretty easy, but still makes an impact. Thanks for your support!
That cake was great and looked so easy to make. I loved the volcano effect before the song. Thanks for linking to Talk It Up Thursday!
That’s great! Beware: baking is addicting! you should absolutely do a cake. They are real show-stoppers.
Thanks, Mal! It was a hit.
Exactly! People always say my cakes are too cute to eat, but I insist, they are delicious enough that you have to!
OMG I love making cakes!! and this is AWESOME!!!
Super cute and great idea with the volcano! I agree re fondant and taste, everything about it needs to taste good!.
Thank you, Tineke! That was my favorite part too.
Thank you, Allison!
Ha Ha! I’m sure you’ll come up with something great! It’s so much fun to make the day special for our little ones.
Thank you, Ana! He LOVED it!!
Your cake is so pretty! Look at all those details and the colors! I’m sure the little one was ecstatic. 🙂
What an amazing cake!! My sons 4th birthday is August 13th and he wants a Mickey Mouse cake.. think you can come and make me one? 😉 haha Hopefully I can come up with something as cool as this dino cake!!!
Amber/ http://www.everydaydame.com
Awesome cake! My kids would go crazy for it!
Awesome cake! Especially the smoking volcano!
Thank you, Shannan!
OMG I can’t believe you made this!! You did a great job, I should try to attempt a cake in the future. I found baking in my new passion.
I LOVE THIS SO MUCH!
Thanks! I think every mom of a little boy has a dino party at some point. You’re right; there are so many possibilities.
Fun idea, especially with the dry ice volcano on top. I did a Dino birthday cake a few months ago, and it was so much fun! The possibilities are endless. ☺
Hi Lori. In most places you can buy dry ice in the grocery store. Just ask the clerk. Sometimes you have to go to a specialty warehouse in which case you will need to google your area. It’s available everywhere, so don’t give up.
So cute!!! But where do you get dry ice?
What an amazing cake! I love the dry ice in a cap for the volcano smoke – very clever.