How: Stegosaurus Birthday Cake

My favourite little cousin was born on New Year's Eve and I asked him what kind of birthday cake he would want. My aunt was whispering and nudging for a chocolate cake, but Justin politely asked for a vanilla cake with chocolate frosting, decorated with dinosaurs. Done and done!

I can tell that Justin will be a good baker when he grows up. Justin occasionally helps me out in the kitchen. He is very good at using the ice-cream scoop to evenly distribute cupcake batter, keeping an eye on the oven, and taste-testing. This year, he made a fondant snowman for one of his cupcakes.

Fondant Stegosaurus

Rolled fondant
Gel paste colours
Clean toothpicks
Water
Brown or black sprinkles/jimmies
A rolling pin
A knife

1. If you are lucky enough to have coloured fondant, then you can skip these steps! Unless you want white-coloured dinosaurs, you will have to dye your white fondant. Get the gel paste in the colours you want and use a clean toothpick to dab into the gel.
2. Transfer the gel from the toothpick onto the fondant. Knead and roll until the fondant is completely coloured. Please do not double-dip the toothpick, use a new one if you need more gel for a darker shade.
   
3. I prefer having the plates and spikes a different colour than the body, so I will dye two colours for each Stegosaurus!
4. To make the body of the Stegosaurus, roll out this hill shape: a pointy end for the tail, a round end for the head. The body should be thicker than the head and the tail. It kind of looks like a fat slug:
   
5. Roll out four square-like shapes for the front and back legs. Attach them onto the body.
   
6. Using the rolling pin, roll your fondant smooth and flat. It should be about 2-3mm thick. With your fondant cutter or knife, cut out a long rectangular shape. Trim it so that it is not longer than the Stegosaurus' body that you made.
   
7. Again, using a fondant cutter or knife, cut out small triangles. This will create the back plates:
   
8. Carefully lift the plates and using a tiny dab of water, adhere it to the back of the Stegosaurus:
   
9. Create 3-4 fondant spikes or use long sprinkles for the spikes on the tail.
   
10. Lastly, take two sprinkles or jimmies to make eyes. You can also make a mouth using a thin knife:
    

Bonus! Fondant Water Creature

Rolled fondant
Gel paste colours
Clean toothpicks
Water
Brown or black sprinkles/jimmies
A rolling pin
A knife

1. It is basically the same concept as the Stegosaurus above - except you do three parts. You will need to make the tail, body, and long neck separately:
   
2. Make sure you make the tail and long neck longer than it needs to be. Why? Because they will need be submerged in the cake.
   
3. After making these parts, leave it out to dry for at least an hour so that the fondant hardens. This will help keep the tail and neck standing in the cake (or 3 cupcakes).
   

Ta-da! Some kind of water creature slash dinosaur!
I'm sure it is related to the Stegosaurus...

What? Stegosaurus and water relative can have birthday cake too!
Happy Birthday Justin!!!