Dorothy the Dinosaur Cake

My youngest daughter Georgia adores Dorothy the Dinosaur, so chosing the right cake for her 2^nd birthday party was quite easy!  It took a little effort, but it was so much worth it… you should have seen her smile when she saw her “Dotty” cake!!! 🙂

Inspired by this cake

Ingredients:
2 Yogurt Cakes (baked in a 16 cm – 6.3 inches round pan)
Coloured Fondant
Icing for crumb coating
Icing Sugar/corn starch

Start by baking the cake.  I made 2 yogurt cakes and froze them.

Then colour all the fondant you are going to need.  Dip a toothpick in the gel colour and then rub it onto the piece of fondant you want to colour.  Then knead until uniformily combined.

You can start preparing the fondant for decorations about 3 or 4 days before the party.

I started by making Dorothy.  I made her body and head first by rolling two oval shapes and I stuck them together with a little water and half a toothpick.  Then I made the tail and I stuck it to the body in the same way.  After that, I made the legs and feet and hands.  Then I rolled some thin strips of red fondant, folded it on itself and then rolled it to create 4 small “ribbon roses” and I attached 3 of them between her hands and her body with a little water.

After that I made her yellow spots.

To make her teeth and the white saw-tooth part of the tail, I used a pasta cutter.

To make the hat, I rolled out some white fondant into a very thin sheet and cut out a circle.  I attached it on Dorothy’s head (shaping it with my hands) using a little water.  Let it dry for 1 hour and then attach the 4^th rose onto the hat using a little water.

Make the eyes using a little ball of white fondant and a smaller ball of black fondant and attach them to the face with a drop of water.

And there you have Dorothy the Dinosaur!

Then I made a little tea set for her as Dorothy loves tea parties and rosy tea!  I made a small tea cup with rosy tea and a teaspoon, a little teapot and a cake holder with some sandwiches and strawberry cupcakes.  The teaset is made with white fondant and then painted using a small brush and liquid food colours.

I also made a table using a small alluminum ramekin covered with a thin round of fondant folded to create the tablecloth drapes.  And, off course, I made a little stool for Dorothy to sit on.

The day before the party I assembled the cake.  I made some icing for the crumb coating (you can use your favourite icing recipe, just make sure that it is a little less dense as it needs to be smooth and you should be able to apply it easily).  I took the 2 yogurt cakes out of the freezer and levelled them while still frozen with a sharp serrated knife.

I took a cake board covered it in green fondant, put some icing in the centre and put one of the 2 cakes on it.  Then I put a layer of icing on the cake and topped it with the other cake.  Make sure to choose the smoothest and flattest of the cake surfaces for the cake top (it is very likely going to be the bottom of one of the cakes), this will make it easier to ice and decorate the cake.  Now you are ready to crumb coat it.  You can do this while the cakes are still frozen and it is much easier this way.  Start from the top, then do the sides.  Use a cake spatula to make sure the surface of the cake is as smooth as possible.  When the cake is all covered in icing, put it in the fridge to harden.  This coating will make the fondant top look smooth and it will ensure that no crumbs will be visible through it.

NOTE: you can also crumb coat it first and then transfer it to the  cake board.

When the icing has dried, roll out the light pink fondant and cover the cake with it.  Smooth it with a fondant smoother and cut out the excess.

I rolled out some darker pink fondant to make the string of the ribbon.  Cut it into a long strip (I also added some “stich marks” using a pasta cutter) and apply it to the bottom of the cake with a little water.  Cut out the excess, making sure that the joint is where you are going to put the bow, so the joint will get covered by it.  I also added the ends of the ribbon.

To make the bow, I followed this method: Cake Decorating – Making Ribbon and Bows out of Fondant.

This is the final result: