A friend approached me to make a standing T-Rex birthday cake for her son’s 3rd birthday. At first I declined because I had never made a 3-D cake of that size. I looked on-line and didn’t see many pictures for ideas. Finally, she pressed me hard enough and I thought about it long enough that I decided to try a Homemade T-Rex 3D Dinosaur Birthday Cake.
I studied pictures of dinosaurs and looked at YouTube and the internet for 3-D cake sculpting tutorials. A trip to Lowe’s got us started with a large piece of board and PVC pipe of various sizes. We built a sturdy frame that included a flange screwed to the wood, a frame for his legs and tail, a sturdy base for the cakes/body, and a frame to build his head.
The cake was strawberry with vanilla buttercream, all homemade. The marshmallow fondant was also my recipe. Rice Crispy treats were used for his head and for his tail and legs. In the end there was about 8 or so layers of cake and buttercream carved to resemble the body. I struggled to cover the cake with fondant, because it didn’t want to hold on his underbelly and chest. I recalled seeing how often modeling chocolate is used on some of the cake shows on television and decided to try it. It worked like magic!
I was able to cover the dinosaur easily and shape and mold the chocolate on his tail, underbelly and chest. I covered the rest of him with fondant. I used dark brown with a small amount of vodka to paint the white fondant and it left him really shiny. His teeth I made of sugar paste and I used water to “glue” them in his mouth. I covered the board with fondant and used green buttercream to create the look of grass. I definitely need to work on getting my fondant lines smoothed out.
The cake was heavy and putting it in the car to deliver it across town to the party was a real nail biter. It felt like we hit every bump in the road, but we made it with only one small problem that I was able to fix when I got there. The cake was a huge hit.
This was my son’s 4th birthday party T-Rex cake and it was AMAZING! At the party, when I asked my son if he was ready to cut his birthday cake, he replied, ” No, I want to keep it in my room.” It was beyond our expection and now, 3 months later, our guests are still talking about it! Thank you, Jenee! I am so happy you decided to do it and we’ll be in touch about 2011 birthdays! :)
Thanks so much for the info on how you did this amazing cake. I’m planning to tackle one just like it for my son.
Hey, I absolutely LOVE your cake and want to try and make it for a 3D project I’m doing for Culinary school. Do you know the exact sizes of the pipes you used, and what size round your cake was? I’ve never used pipes or made a 3D cake this elaborate. Is it difficult? Also, about how much time do you think it took?
This cake looks amazing! A little intimdating but Iam up for the challenge! Just wondering if you think this would work at all with just regualr icing or do you need the fondant to keep everything together??