Looking for a dinosaur cake idea that your kids will love? Whether you’re simply looking for inspiration or for how to make a dinosaur cake, you’re at the perfect place. Here, you’ll find 15 dinosaur cake ideas, including easy and simple cakes for beginners, with instructions, to allow you to recreate these beautiful designs.
How to find a Dinosaur cake idea suited to your cake-decorating level?
I’ve come up with a system. The cake ideas are presented to you according to their level of difficulty. There are three categories :
What Are Beginner Cake Ideas?
These are the easy cake ideas. If you’ve never decorated a cake before (or only did it once or twice), these are the cakes that you should pay attention to.
- What you’ll find: Beautiful dinosaur cake ideas that only require basic decoration techniques. This is a great place to start your cake-decorating journey.
What Are Intermediate Cake Ideas?
Low Intermediate Baker: If you are confident that you’ve mastered the cake decorating basics, such as how to smooth a cake, but feel like you still have a lot of techniques to learn apart from this foundation, this category is perfect for you.
- What you’ll find: Cake ideas that require both basic decorating skills and one or two techniques that are a little bit more advanced. This is a great place to grow your cake decorating skills.
High Intermediate Baker: If you’ve mastered both basic techniques and several more advanced cake decorating techniques, these cake ideas are made for you.
- What you’ll find: Stunning cake ideas that can be fairly challenging, but are a great place to get even better than you already are.
What Are Advanced Cake Ideas?
If you consider yourself an experienced cake decorator and have mastered most of the decorating techniques, including the use of fondant, then this is the perfect place for you.
- What you’ll find: Showstopping and challenging cake ideas, perfect to sharpen or maintain your skills.
The Grading System
Finally, I’ve also assigned a grade of difficulty to each cake inspiration: 1/5 being the easiest design and 5/5 being the hardest one. The goal is to make the ranking the most accurate possible. You will find this to be particularly helpful if you happen to fall in the beginner or the Intermediate cake ideas categories.
Growth Tip : This list is great a place to set goals about your cake decorating skills. Pin this post and come back later to tell us how far you’ve come in your cake decorating journey !
How to recreate those Dinosaur cake ideas?
How to follow the instructions of the designs.
For the cake designs in the beginner category: I’ll be providing written instructions on how you can make the cake idea presented to you. Don’t hesitate to watch video tutorials about the basic techniques such as how to smooth a cake, to get even more clarity.
For the designs in the intermediate category: I’ll provide some guidance on how to perform the more complicated techniques.
For the advanced category: you are an experienced baker, at this point, and you will find great opportunities to put this experience to use. To be completely honest, there are several cake ideas from the advanced category, that I cannot make myself, so trust your abilities and go for it.
Find the perfect Dinosaur cake idea for your baking skills.
Growth Tip : If you aim to get better at cake decorating, you should choose a cake idea that feels sligthly above your current cake decorating level. Get out of your comfort zone !
Dinosaur Cake Ideas Perfect for Beginner Bakers
Here, you’ll find 4 easy cake ideas perfect for beginner bakers.
A Dinosaur Naked-Cake
Difficulty Level: 1/5.
This cake is the perfect beginner Dinosaur cake. It is a semi-naked cake, which means you can see the cake through the frosting. It is a very forgiving cake-decorating technique. In this case, not only does it look amazing, but it’s also perfectly suited to the theme.
What you will need:
- Enough frosting to cover your cake.
- Dinosaur decorations (you can very much use children’s toys).
- Crumbs → You can use crumbs from your cake, but I would personally go for crumble topping as it would add a nice crunch to the cake. As a beginner, make sure it’s not too much to bake for you.
How to recreate this cake?
- Apply a thin and even coat of frosting with your offset spatula all around your cake.
- Smooth it with your bench scraper, holding it at a 45-degree angle on the cake while spinning your turntable. Your bench scraper isn’t supposed to move, only the turn table.
- If you can’t see the cake’s edges underneath, you have put too much frosting. Keep scraping until you see the edges.
- Chill the cake for 20 minutes (until your frosting sets) in the fridge.
- Then place the cake crumbs or the crumble topping on top and at the bottom of the cake.
- Finally, decorate the cake with your little dinosaurs following the pictures or your heart’s desire.
What you’ve learned :
Simple techniques like the semi-naked cake and cute cake toppers can really take you a long way. Remember, you can be quite creative with what you use a cake toppers.
A Simple Dinosaur Cake
Difficulty Level: 1/5.
This cake is also very beginner-friendly, but a tiny bit less forgiving as it requires the cake to be perfectly smooth.
What you will need :
- Enough green frosting to cover your cake.
- A little bit of your frosting colored in blue (for the dinosaur steps)
- A dinosaur cake topper (you can use a children’s toy)
- Blue fondant (for the age)
How to recreate this cake?
- First, you must crumb-coat the cake to avoid any crumbs in your final design. Apply a thin and even coat of frosting with your offset spatula all around your cake.
- Smooth it with your bench scraper, holding it at a 45-degree angle on the cake while spinning your turntable. Your bench scraper isn’t supposed to move, only the turn table.
- It doesn’t have to be perfect as it only is the first coat. Chill the cake 20 to 30 minutes (until your frosting sets) in the fridge.
- Then, apply a thicker coat of frosting and repeat the smoothing operation. Fill in any gaps and smooth the cake again. Repeat this operation until the cake looks smooth enough for you.
- Chill your cake again for 15 minutes.
- Here, you don’t have to smooth the edges. It is a common technique to give a bit more character to the cake.
- For the steps: Use the tiniest brush you have and draw three strokes using your blue buttercream to recreate each step.
- For the numbers: Roll out your fondant to a 1-centimeter (or 1/3 of an inch) thickness. Use a rolling pin on a surface dusted with icing sugar so it doesn’t stick to the counter.
- Cut your numbers out with a cookie cutter or follow a paper pattern with a knife. Smooth the edges with your fingers to remove any rough edges. Wait for the fondant to dry a little bit before sticking it to the cake, so it can hold its shape.
- Apply a small amount of water to the back of the numbers and gently press them onto the cake.
- Finally, place your dinosaur on top of the cake.
What you’ve learned :
While the use of fondant can be very intimidating, the secret is to start using it sparingly. This cake is the perfect example.
A Cute Dinosaur Cake
Difficulty Level: 1,5/5.
This cake also requires the use of a little bit of fondant, but here there are more elements.
What you will need :
- Enough green frosting to cover your cake.
- Green, black, pink, and yellow fondant
- 3 sticks: you could use toothpicks, coffee straws, or even wooden skewers
How to recreate this cake?
- First, you must crumb-coat and cover your cake as explained in the previous design.
- Smooth the top edges with your offset spatula moving from the edges of the cake to the center.
- Chill your cake for 30 minutes.
- Roll out your black, yellow, and pink fondant to a 1-centimeter (or 1/4 of an inch) thickness. Use a rolling pin on a surface dusted with icing sugar so it doesn’t stick to the counter.
- Cut your little circles out with a cookie cutter or follow a paper pattern with a knife. Smooth the edges with your fingers to remove any rough edges. Wait for the fondant to dry a little bit before sticking it to the cake, so it can hold its shape.
- Roll out your green fondant to 2.5-centimeter thickness, and cut out the top shapes of the cake following a paper pattern or free-handed with a knife.
- Finally, apply a small amount of water to the different shapes to stick them to the cake gently pressing them onto it. For the top shapes, stab one end of your stick with the shape and the other side inside the cake.
What you’ve learned :
You’re getting better with fondant and buttercream with each cake you make. Well done, keep going!
A Birthday Dinosaur Cake
Difficulty Level: 1,5/5
This semi-naked cake is perfect for beginners as this kind of cake is really forgiving. It does require some piping though which is why it’s not a 1/5 cake.
What you will need :
- Enough white frosting to cover your cake.
- A little bit of green buttercream
- A piping bag and a piping tip similar to the 4B by Wilton (open star tip)
- Green, light green, orange, and white fondant
- 3 sticks: you could use toothpicks, coffee straws, or wooden skewers for example (be creative and do with what you have on hand).
How to recreate this cake?
- First, crumb-coat and cover your cake as explained in the previous design.
- Smooth the top edges with your offset spatula moving from the edges of the cake to the center.
- Then, pipe simple dots of buttercream, wherever you want with your 4B piping tip.
- Chill your cake for 30 minutes.
- Roll out your light green, orange, and the rest of your green fondant to a 1-centimeter (or 1/4 inch) thickness. Use a rolling pin on a surface dusted with icing sugar so it doesn’t stick to the counter.
- Cut your triangles and circles out with a cookie cutter. For the dinosaur shape, cut it out following a paper pattern that you’ve printed or drawn.
- To recreate your number, roll out your green fondant to a 2-centimeter (or 3/4 inch), and cut your number out with a cookie cutter or a template as usual. Stick your toothpick (or whatever you chose to use) in your number
- Wait for the fondant to dry a little bit before sticking it to the cake, so it can hold its shape.
- Apply a small amount of water to the different shapes to stick them to the cake, gently pressing them onto it.
- Next, recreate the dinosaur’s eggs just like you would with playdough.
- Finally, stick your eggs and the number on the cake.
What you’ve learned :
Once you’ve succeeded at recreating this cake, you can be confident that you now master the foundations of buttercream and fondant. Well done to you!
Dinosaur Cake Ideas for Intermediate Bakers
Here, you’ll find intermediate cake ideas for bakers who’ve acquired solid cake decorating foundations.
A Prehistoric Cake
Difficulty Level: 2/5 (Low Intermediate)
This dinosaur cake idea is the perfect place for bakers to move on to the intermediate level. It builds on the foundation and slowly adds to it.
A little guidance
To recreate the dinosaurs on the side you can either use fondant or chocolate, according to your preference. For the crumbs at the bottom, I’d personally use green crumble crumbs, as it would add texture to the cake.
A Gradient Dinosaur Cake
Difficulty level: 2,5/5 (Low Intermediate)
This cake is also a great option for low-intermediate bakers. It’s the perfect opportunity to improve your fondant skills
A little guidance
To recreate this layered buttercream, you should cover the cake in white buttercream and let it chill in the fridge as usual. Then, you should apply the second layer, let it dry, and repeat the operation for the third layer. You don’t have to apply the second layer all the way to the bottom of the cake as it will be hidden by the third buttercream layer.
A Pink Dinosaur Cake
Difficulty Level: 3/5 (High Intermediate)
This pink cake is the perfect example that cake decorating truly is an art and that you can get really creative with it.
A little guidance
To recreate this design, you’ll need a 4B and a 1M piping tips from Wilton. Don’t forget to chill your buttercream cover long enough before decorating it.
A Doodle Dino Cake
Difficulty Level: 3,5/5 (High Intermediate)
This cake might look simple enough, but don’t be fooled, it actually requires quite some work. I have a secret technique to help you recreate it though.
A little guidance
If you’re not confident enough to recreate these drawings free-handed, you could try the transfer method. This technique is much easier and doesn’t require any drawing skills. Simply draw your doodles on a sheet of parchment paper following a guide that you put underneath it. Then simply stick it on the cake. Don’t forget to smooth (if needed) and overline the drawings as on the picture.
A Baby Dinosaur Cake
Difficulty Level: 4/5 (High Intermediate)
Up until now, fondant was only used sparingly, but before you move on to the advanced category, I believe you have to master it.
A little guidance
If you’ve never covered a cake in fondant before, you’ll most likely get tears or wrinkles. Don’t worry, not only is it part of the learning process, but small imperfections can often be patched or covered up with some extra fondant. Keep practicing, it will make your cakes perfect.
A Gluttonous DinosaurCake
Difficulty Level: 4/5
This cake is the perfect opportunity to get started with cake carving without doing too much too fast.
A little guidance
My top three tips when carving a cake are the following: always use a chilled cake, always make sure your cake is leveled before starting, and finally, use a template if you’re not confident enough to go free-handed.
A T-Rex Cake
Difficulty Level: 4,5/5
This cake design is not particularly complicated but, as with every tiered cake, it requires a perfect mastery of the cake structure.
A little guidance
When making tiered cakes, especially if they’re as high as this one, you have to pay extra attention to the structure of the cake. Therefore, you should always use a sturdy cake board for each tier, you should also support the bottom tier with dowel rods or bubble tea straws cut to the height of the cake. Finally, you should always make sure that each tier is leveled before stacking.
A Jurassic Park Cake
Difficulty Level: 4,5/5 (High Intermediate)
Here is a beautiful semi-naked tiered cake, with dinosaur scratches. You should apply all tips provided throughout the post. And remember, if you’re making this cake for a small party, it doesn’t have to be as high.
A little guidance
To recreate the carving I would personally use a paper template stuck to the cake, to allow me to carve around it. It’d be easier, especially if you’re not used to cake carving.
Dinosaur Cake Ideas for Advanced Bakers
Finally, you’ll find complex Dinosaur cake ideas.
A 3D Dinosaur Cake
Difficulty Level: 5/5
This cake is the least complicated one in the advanced category. It’s still in this category because 3D cakes require a very good understanding of the cake structure and often require the use of usual techniques in unusual settings, just like with this cake.
A Party Dinosaur Cake
Difficulty Level: 5/5
This cake truly is the cutest dinosaur cake. I also believe it’s perfect for a birthday party. Finally, it’s the perfect opportunity to really test your buttercream skills.
A Hatching Dinosaur Cake
Difficulty Level: 5/5
If you’ve been around this blog before, you know I have something for realistic cakes. Which is why I could not write about dinosaur cakes without adding one. If you plan on recreating this cake, please leave a comment and let us see your creation.
Did you enjoy these Dinosaur Cake inspirations? Sharing is caring!
Please let me know in the comments and/or tag me on Instagram @theperfectcakeidea. We’d love to see your creations. And, don’t forget to pin this post so you can come back to it.
