Dinosaur Birthday Cake

Need an easy-to-decorate Dinosaur cake recipe?

Once I got a picture from a co-worker of a shaped birthday cake covered in dinosaurs. Along with the picture came a request for a 2-shaped Dinosaur cake for his oldest kiddo’s birthday.  🙂  

I was excited; I love taking birthday cake orders. Especially for kids! I won’t lie though - somehow I still get nervous whenever sent a photo and asked if I can make what’s in the picture!! :/

As it turned out though - I needn't have worried. 

This cake design is SO super easy to make and decorate!

  • First, this cake recipe is on the rich side - it bakes dense enough that sculpting it into the '2' shape was super easy! 
  • Then I found little toy dinosaurs that were exactly the size and colors I wanted. (Link to the set that I used is below in the recipe card.)
  • I also found candy-covered chocolate rocks that made the whole look more realistic.
  • And my favorite piping tip kit included ALL the tips I needed for the piping!

Recipe below - happy baking! 

FAQs

"What if I want to shape the cake with a different number?"
  • Not a problem! I love this YouTube video and this blog post for ideas on shaping other numbers out of cake. You just might need to adjust your cake pan - or use cupcakes!
  • I used a 10x15” pan to bake the cake for the 2 shape in the photos / video. I didn't mind removing all the extra cake since I wanted some leftover cake scraps for cake pop/cakesicle filling mix to make the volcano. 
“Do I have to make the cake / frosting from scratch?”
  • I mean obviously I'd recommend it. It's so hard to beat the taste of scratch made cake and frosting! That said...

  • You don't need to if you don't want to! You can substitute 2 of your favorite cake mixes plus the ingredients the mix calls for; keep the baking pan the same! The cake layers will just be a little less rich. Substituting butter for oil, buttermilk for water, and adding an extra egg will help! See these baking instructions.

  • Store bought frosting is usually a little thinner than my recipe; add a 1/4 cup of extra powdered sugar at a time until you reach a consistency that spreads and stays in place on the cake well.

“How do I store this cake?”
  • Before serving, I prefer storing cakes in cake boxes – they help keep the cake from drying out without any plastic wrap touching the cake and potentially messing up the decorations! I place cakes in the fridge if storing overnight but allow them to come to room temperature before serving.

  • On a related note - cover any remaining cake well after serving to keep it from drying out. It will keep in the fridge for 3-5 days if well wrapped. If you use regular buttercream you could store it at room temperature; I lean toward storing in the fridge because of the cream cheese I usually use in frosting.  

(Disclosure: As an Amazon associate I may earn from qualifying purchases, and my posts often contain affiliate links. If you click a link and make a purchase, I may receive a commission at no extra cost to you!) 

Don't forget to pin this recipe for later! 

Dinosaur birthday cake pinterest pin
2-shaped Dinosaur Cake
Print Recipe
5 from 1 vote

Dinosaur Birthday Cake

Want an adorable Dinosaur Birthday cake - without the hassle of a layer cake? This one's a 'cut to shape' cake, and super easy to decorate!
Prep Time40 minutes
Cook Time37 minutes
Decorating time30 minutes
Total Time1 hour 47 minutes
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Keyword: Dinosaur Birthday Cake, Dinosaur Birthday cake easy, Dinosaur birthday cake tutorial, Shaped Dinosaur birthday cake
Servings: 15 servings
Calories: 495kcal
Author: Sarah H

Equipment

Ingredients

Dinosaur Cake base

  • 3 ¼ cup all-purpose flour
  • 3 cup granulated sugar
  • 2 ½ teaspoon baking powder
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • 1 cup unsalted butter (2 sticks, room temperature)
  • 2 teaspoons clear vanilla extract
  • 5 eggs
  • 1 ½ cups buttermilk (room temperature)
  • 2 Tablespoons vegetable oil

Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting

Decorations

  • 10-12 Small toy dinosaurs (I used this set of 12 3-inch to dinosaurs from Amazon)
  • Chocolate rocks
  • 10-12 red candy melts (optional; for volcano)
  • 3-4 orange candy melts (optional; for volcano)
  • 1 ¼ cup graham cracker crumbs (¼ cup if you just want to add some to the cake – it took about cup to cover the cake board)

Instructions

Dinosaur Cake base

  • Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare a 15x10” pan with baker's floured cooking spray, or grease and line with parchment paper.
  • Mix together all dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt) in a stand mixer with a paddle (or mixing bowl with a hand mixer or whisk) until fully combined.
  • Mix room-temperature butter into the dry mix a tablespoon at at time on a low speed. Continue to mix until no large lumps of butter remain, and the mixture looks crumbly.
  • Pour in eggs and mix on low until just incorporated.  Mix in the buttermilk on low speed. Add in vanilla and oil, and mix at a low speed until fully incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula, then beat on medium speed for about 30 seconds. Pour batter into prepared pan.
  • Bake for 45-50 minutes (or until a toothpick comes out clean). Allow cake to cool for 10-15 minutes on a wire cooling rack before removing from pan. Cool completely before frosting. Set in the fridge or freezer to accelerate the cooling process if desired. (This is a great time to make your frosting!)

Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting

  • Beat together softened cream cheese and butter; slowly add in powdered sugar alternating with milk until frosting reaches desired consistency. Add vanilla and salt and beat until well combined.

Shaping

  • Once your cake is baked and cooled/chilled, use a medium serrated knife to cut it into a number shape – I used a hand-sketched paper pattern to help me keep my cuts straight. (If you want to make a cake pop volcano, save the scraps!)
  • With an offset spatula, spread a thin crumb coat of frosting over the cake – this keeps the cake from drying out and crumbs out of the colored frostings.

Decorating

  • Split remaining frosting into 3 parts, and color one blue, one green, and add cocoa powder and a tablespoon or two of milk if needed to the last part to make brown frosting. (Note: if you want to decorate your cake board, split the frosting into 4 parts and color the last one light brown with cocoa powder).
  • With an offset spatula, cover the bottom half of your number with brown frosting, and the top half with green.
  • Add a small ‘river’ of blue frosting with an offset spatula – I spread some down the side of the number and onto the cake board to make a 'waterfall.'
  • Transfer remaining green frosting to the piping bag. Pipe on grass with the multi-hole tip, and some leaves with the notched leaf tip. (Using a plastic bag/tip coupler makes switching tips easier). I also added some leaves around the base of the top of the cake.
  • Transfer remaining brown frosting to another piping bag; pipe brown 'rocks' around the base of the brown part of the cake. Add small plastic dinosaurs and chocolate rocks wherever they fit!
  • (Optional, but to decorate the cake board use some brown frosting to adhere graham cracker crumbs to the cake board around the cake. I added a few more chocolate rocks as well!
  • (Optional) To make the cake pop ‘volcano,’ mash about a cup of cake scraps with a couple of tablespoons of frosting until the mix is pliable and no longer crumbly – add more frosting a half tablespoon at a time if needed. Mold the mix into a rough cone shape with an indent at the top, and position on the cake or cake board, and cover with brown frosting. Melt down the red candy melts, and transfer to a piping bag (or a small zip-lock). Chop a couple of orange candy melts to sprinkle on top.
  • And you’re done! Congratulate yourself on your awesome-looking cake!

Video

Notes

(Please note nutrition information is an estimate, and may not be exactly accurate.) 

Nutrition

Serving: 1slice (1/15th cake) | Calories: 495kcal | Carbohydrates: 63g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 24g

Did you make this Dinosaur Birthday Cake? 

Let me know how it went – or make my day and find me on Pinterest or on Instagram and tag @IntensiveCakeUnit in your photo!

You can also add a comment or a recipe rating at the bottom of the page! 🙂

Related 
Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting 

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(Click / tap the photos to be taken to the recipe pages!)

5 thoughts on “Dinosaur Birthday Cake

  1. 5 stars
    I made this for my son’s 3rd birthday and it turned out really well!
    The cake was really moist even one day later after I made it.
    Thank you so much

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