Happy New Year friends! I hope your 2024 has started out great! Each new year begins with a birthday party for my daughter, so January starts off pretty busy for me. I love getting to celebrate her though! Her birthday fell in the middle of the week this year, so we decided to plan her party for the weekend. This year would just be family at her party, but we still love to decorate for it. She decided her party should be dinosaur themed this year with a pterodactyl at the top of her dinosaur cake!
Since her birthday came before her party date, we decided to let her open a few of her presents from us on the actual day. We went for more educational type gifts this year, since she just received a lot of toys at Christmas. This interest in dinosaurs is somewhat new for her, so we kept with the theme of dinosaurs when purchasing gifts. Both of the gifts she opened first were purchased at Target, and she absolutely loves them!
Birthday Gifts
First, she opened a National Geographic Crystal Garden Kit. It comes with a small booklet explaining crystals and how they are formed. There is even a small sample of a geode for you to keep. The kit comes with two trees to color, and watch grow. It is a very delicate process once the crystals start growing, so try not to bump the tree. The end result is pretty cool! You can find this Crystal Garden at https://www.target.com/p/national-geographic-crystal-garden-science-kit/-/A-79298966#lnk=sametab.
The other gift that we decided she should open was the Dig It Up Kit! It comes with a 3D skeleton of a Tyrannosaurus Rex encased in plaster and paleontology tools. My daughter is having so much fun digging up bones! She still has a long way to go, but I’m glad it is a gift that takes time to create. Once she digs up the entire skeleton, she will be able to put it all together, and display it in her bedroom. I will share the results once she finally completes it! Pick this dinosaur dig up at https://www.target.com/p/mindware-dig-it-up-tyrannosaurus-rex-3d-skeleton/-/A-81969526#lnk=sametab.
Dinosaur Cake
We decided to take one more week off of school for the holidays, so we could have a fun birthday week and have plenty of time to get her dinosaur cake made. It was definitely a good idea, since on her birthday, both of us came down with an awful cold. Hoping that we would be better in time for the party, I began working on the fondant decorations, and baking the cake. We were hopeful for a while, but it ended up not working out. Even the rest of the family members who were planning on coming to the party were sick. We ended up postponing it until this coming Friday.
Luckily, we decided to postpone it before I started making the frosting for the cake. I know you can make frosting ahead of time, but I personally like decorating with fresh made frosting. It is much easier to work with in my opinion. All I have done so far are the fondant decorations and the cake, which are both things that can be done ahead of time.
Fondant Dinosaur Cake Decorations
I will start with a note, that I am not a huge fan of fondant. I love decorating cakes with frosting, and tend to avoid fondant as much as possible. This year my daughter wanted a pterodactyl on the top of the cake, so I couldn’t see myself creating that with frosting. There are not many pictures of the process of creating this pterodactyl, because I was still a little sick, and mostly just frustrated. Considering that I am not a sculptor, I think it turned out pretty good! It is definitely a little rough, and I am still praying that it doesn’t fall apart when I go to put it on the cake. We will make it work though!
The fondant recipe I use is a very simple four ingredient recipe found on Pinterest. When adding dye to your fondant, wear food safe gloves, or expect to have your hands dyed for awhile. For the pterodactyl, I used skewers for the arms, legs, and head, to help them stay connected to the body better. I also used one of my Wilton food safe paint brushes to brush water on wherever I attached pieces of fondant. The small amount of water acts as a glue for fondant. I set the pterodactyl up on three small bread pans, and supported its head, legs, and wings, so it would dry properly.
For the rest of the fondant decorations, I just rolled out three different colors of fondants with my rolling pin, and cut out a number 7 and two dinosaur shapes. For the number 7, I mixed together some edible gold luster dust with coconut extract, and then painted it on. I did multiple layers of this, so it would have more of a noticeable shine to it. I then laid those flat to dry. Since the party was postponed, I placed all of the decorations on a baking pan, carefully covered them with plastic wrap, and set it in a safe place. They will be ready to go when I frost the cake on Friday!
Confetti Cake
Lastly, my daughter and I, when we both felt almost better, we baked a confetti cake! This is also, a recipe I found on Pinterest. It turns out great every time I make it! With my oven, it always takes an extra 5-10 minutes to bake it than what the recipe says. This time, I may have baked it a tad bit too long, but putting it in the freezer will add some moisture to the cake. Once you are done baking the cake, let the layers cool completely on a cooling rack. Then simply wrap each layer with plastic wrap. I like to wrap them twice, so they are extra sealed. They are ready to go into the freezer until you are ready to finish your cake! It is that simple!
Have a Wonderful Week!
Hopefully these were helpful tips for anyone who is wanting to get their cake started ahead of time, or if you just simply ran into the same issues we did being sick. I am definitely excited to see how the finished cake turns out! I’ll share it with you next weekend!
Remember as you go through this year, that God is your strength. If you give it all to Him, He will help you get through anything. I know some have started this year out not so easy. Keep praying! Keep following Him! He will send you a miracle when you least expect it. Start each day praying, and saying this verse to yourself and your kids. “I can do all things through Christ who gives me strength.”-Philippians 4:13. This verse has helped me through so many days in my life. I pray that your days are spent with Him this year. Have a great week friends!