When I was first approached to do a dinosaur cake, I was pretty anxious. How on EARTH was I going to be able to do something like this? No idea. Nooooo Idea. I can do round cakes and square cakes but... 3D cakes?! Anyways, it pays to break things up and allow plenty of time. And to take risks albeit calculated risks. Ones where the payoff  is > failure.

And I would love to thank Montreal Confections for her awesome and amazing tutorial. Made it so easy event hough I don't have an airbrush!

Weekend before cake due: make all the scales, cut out letters and allow plenty of time to dry. At least 5 days. The more time you make it advance, the less stressed you will be and more time you'll have to fix any mistakes. Always make extras as these as fragile pieces.

Day before: bake cakes and allow to cool completely.

Morning of: assemble cake. It does not take as long as you think! Layer cakes, ice, repeat until you get a dome. Mine was 5 layers of cake. As this is a 3D cake and the more natural and rustic looking, the better, you don't need to allow the icing to set. 

Go ahead and roll out 2 front legs, 2 hind legs, a head and a tail. Rough estimates will do just fine and the fondant will cover the rest. Roll out your fondant, and push into cake carefully. Place scales on and add decorations and buttercream grass. Simple, see? That is my newest motto... I got it from my other job ;)

Surprisingly, this did not take anywhere near as long as I expected. And all the marks on the cake make it look even more ... dinosaur-y! With the battle scars, markings, etc. Awesome! You don't have to be perfect to make a beautiful cake. And I thought it was so cool that I could find chocolate rock. Makes the cake look so cool!

I hope there will be a bunch of happy children tomorrow and one very excited little boy! Happy Birthday Oscar!!!

So good that I just had to share. I think this is my 4th annual High Tea that I host for my friends. Another successful year but oh so tiring! I wish I had more pictures but everyone was just so eager to dig in that it was a little chaotic!

A very decent spread this year: Cheese & Chive scones, sandwich board, cheese platter, momofuku inspired pork buns, salmon and cucumber canapes, prosciotto and rockmelon and bocconcini and cherry tomato sticks.

And for sweet: banoffee pie, earl grey chocolate tart, green tea chiffon cake, scones with jam and cream, macarons, brownie cookies and peanut butter caramel tartlets.

And a special belated Lemon Meringue tart for Cherry. 

Perhaps it's time I think about adding tea time options to the catering menu for others to have something just as special?

I don't share many of these photos. Mainly because I don't want all the little things in my personal life to override all the hard work I put into making cakes for others and sharing that happiness. But I had to share this one because it was part of a group/team cooking competition and we it was so much fun.

I am (not so) quietly confident that we've won!

This dessert was my team's and the competition's last dish: Black Sesame Cheesecake, Green Tea Macaron, Green Tea Ice Cream and Red Beans. All made from scratch!

I have to say that the feedback on the cheesecake was mixed. Some loved it, some thought it was an acquired taste. The macarons and ice cream were loved. All gone in a heartbeat.