Hi! My name is Anna! This is my first time posting! I'm a student from Canada and absolutely love baking.

This weekend, I'm baking a cake for my nephew and niece's 4th and 2nd birthday.

I just need a few little tips on the dinosaur cake i'm going to build.

Here, is the model i'm looking at!
http://www.greatwhitesnark.com/2009/10/07/sweet-16-dinosaur-cake/

From the posts, I read from the forum I searched, I'm going to build the body from rice krispie treats, can I use the original recipe that it gives me on the box?

Most people (or cake boss, love that show). use royal icing to smooth out the bumps of the rice krispie treats. Do you think a good alternative is to dip the rice krispies in candy melts (so I can have the colour of the dinsaur what i want) to smooth it out?

My original plan was to use royal icing, then cover with fondant.
But, I don't want the hassle of making too many cakes!

Thanks!
I'm open to other ideas too.

I make the recipe from the box but only use 2 tbls of butter instead of the larger amount.
When I use rkt I cover them in white chocolate or almond bark (candy melts would work the same too) to fill in the holes and smooth the surface out.
I then cover in fondant.
For my Tin Man I covered the rkt head in white chocolate then add pieces of fondant to build up the face.
I did'nt cover it in one peice but rather treated the fondant just like clay and molded and smoothed the seams out as I added piece by piece.

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1509813&sub=1509815

Yes the lesser amount of butter helps it stick together.
The first time I made them I followed the recipe and could'nt get them to hold the shape,so I cut the butter down and now it works fine.
For the almond bark/white chocolate I just pour it one while it is sitting on a cooling rack over a cookie sheet to catch the drippings.
I use my hands to cover it completely and then give it a few taps to even it out,let it harden and start with the fondant.
Some times depending on the design I cover it a second time for extra smoothness.

thanks for all your help!

the rkt were really easy to work with, and tasted really good!
i used the jello fondant here, which also tasted exactly like jello, although it was a bit crumbly, im working on it though!

here's a photo!

http://www.cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1560305

i also put fossils on the side of the cake with bones of dinosaurs and fishes!