Ty-saurus Rex

I seem to be getting an opportunity to have another go at cakes I've made earlier in the year. This time round is another dinosaur cake and cupcakes with dino toppers. I made the exact same order in February for a 3-year-old dinosaur enthusiast, this time it's for a T-Rex-loving one-year-old.

Mummy R sent me her invitations and party favours for a feel of the theme and colour. She also sent some cake ideas but when I finally showed her my first dino cake, she was more or less sold. She liked the 2D design and wanted a speech bubble that said "Rawrr"!

I made some variations on the dinosaur. I decided to replicate what she had on the invitation - a forest green T-Rex showcasing some serious serrated chompers. But before I embarked on the cake, Mummy K asked me to make a quick draft of how the cake would look like. To be honest, I always get a bit embarrassed about having to draw anything. I really can't draw to save my life... I can't explain why I can then create the stuff I do with fondant. It's one of the mysteries in my life.

Still, I made an attempt to draw T-Rex going "Rawrr", with the caveat that the cake will be a LOT better than the draft ;p

My piece de resistance

I think we all had a good laugh upon seeing the draft. Well, it didn't deter Mummy R from going ahead with the order (brave Mama).

Here's Tyler's invite...

Tyler's T-Rex Party

And here's the cake...

Rawrr!

I used the same embellishments as the last time, which is the chocolate wafer sticks for the wooded forest look, but I made it a little different by interspersing it with fondant leaves and green grass frosting.

Happy Birthday Tyler

Mummy R also asked me a question a lot of mummies enquire about - can my one-year-old eat the chocolate cake? Well I'm not the authority on kids' nutrition, but I do think a bit of cake on your bub's 1st birthday is kosher unless your little one has dairy allergies or gluten intolerance. Just give the cake minus the ganache. Personally, I think if your child has not had any sweets before, then chocolate is a good option as an introduction as compared to candy.

Dinosaur Rocks!

(Ryuu's Birthday Cakes - Part II)

Besides the Hungry Caterpillar, the birthday boy also loves dinosaurs! I heard he got into them because his mummy liked exposing him to factually correct content (as oppose to mindless cartoon, I guess). I think that's the way to go. 

For the party at home, my friend wanted her son to have a round cake to cut plus some cupcakes for easy takeaways. She sent me some ideas and I quickly fell in love with a cute looking dino stringing a red balloon along.

Cute-saurus

I'm not sure what 'saurus' I made but I did check against the list and it looks like the fearsome Ceratosaurus - for those of you who are interested, it's a large predatory theropod from the late Jurassic period. This one just happens to look damn adorable! It also contains a rich dark chocolate cake with Oreo cream cheese filling!

I was thinking how best to decorate the sides of the cake when inspiration hit me while shopping for Chinese New Year goodies. I love those crispy wafer sticks with chocolate cream in them and I thought they also look like tree trunks or wooden twigs. So I bought a box, had the sticks cut to varying lengths and lined them all around the sides. It looks a bit like a wood forest.

Jurassic Cake

Then I spotted a bottle of chocolate rocks and it was a no-brainer. I had it scattered all around to cover the board. It was all the decoration you'd love to eat ; )

That was not the end of my dinosaur discovery. I felt a bit like a Palaeontologist as I scoured for dinosaur toppers that can go onto the cupcakes. This took me to the Party City shop at Raffles City where they carried a whole range of dinosaur party ware. They had the cutest dinosaur toy ring and it comes in a pack of 12. What a find!

To mount them, I used those yummy wafers again so I could get them to prop up nicely on top of the cupcake. It sat handsomely on the Oreo cream cheese swirl.

Topper-saurus

Look ma... there's a dinosaur on my cupcake!

Did you know that Johnny Cash had a song called the "Dinosaur Song"? I know I'm digressing but when I was googling for all of this, I came across the song and it's fascinating. Check it out - Johnny Cash Children's Album