Triceratops Birthday Cake

We had a busy weekend! My son turned 3 this week so we had a family party on Saturday at my parentfs house. I had asked the boy about a month ago what kind of cake he wanted and his prompt response was a blue Triceratops. Okaaay, that would be interesting. I asked him once a week just to see if his answer would change, but in fact it grew more specific. Now it was supposed to be Tank the Triceratops from the PBS show Dinosaur Train (He ADORES that show, dinosaurs and trains are the way to a boys heart after all!). I will admit that, since the cake itself was such a workout, I cheated and used funfetti cake mix and canned icing. I baked the cakes the night before, wrapped and frozen to preserve freshness, and then packed it up and drove to my parents house the next morning to assemble. I baked 2 9 round cakes and a small loaf cake for the head to be carved out of. I ended up with some extra cake so I made some quick cake balls and called them dinosaur eggs. Waste not, want not, as my mother always said. The frill of the dinosaur is actually a sugar cookie that I baked in one of my oven safe salad bowls to give it a round shape, I was quite pleased with how well it held together. I cut the tips of some ice cream cones for the horns and white chocolate chips on the frill, then iced it all down in blue icing with purple diamonds on the back. Last touches were to add some green tinted coconut for grass and I used the other part of the ice cream cones as trees. It took me about 2 hours to assemble everything that morning, but it was worth to see the excited face of my boy.