Ever since my son Calvin turned three one year-ago, he so enjoyed making his dinosaur cake with me. It was less than a month later that he started planning for his next birthday party, where he wanted to have a dragon monster cake.
He’s been it planning ever since.
Pretending to be a dragon monster (complete with all sound effects), and describing his cake.
It’s like my dinosaur cake last year, but it’s a dragon monster instead.
That makes total sense.
To begin, I made him a baker’s apron. Since my little helper loves to assist in the kitchen, I figured he needed his own sized apron instead of wearing an adult one that went down to his toes.
This two hour project took me a couple of months, spread out over evenings when I had time and energy.
It was a cherished gift. He loves that it’s reversible, and that he can put it on and take it off all by himself. In fact, that’s his favorite part of this apron–independence.
A velcro tab enclosure helps him secure the waist strap.
Now, we’re ready to make a cake!
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I’ll share a little secret . . . I don’t make gluten-free spice cake from scratch, rather I use Namaste gluten-free spice cake mix
The frosting was made from scratch using plain whole milk yogurt—strained with a cheese cloth to make my own cream cheese. Yes, cream cheese is THAT easy to make–and you don’t need the processed store cream cheese that comes with a lot of extra chemicals.
I found a delicious cream cheese frosting recipe from the Coconut Oil For Life
Next, I followed the general directions from the Instructables tutorial for a “dragon cake” substituting construction paper, candles, or fruit-juice flavored gummy candies for the options mentioned in the tutorial.
My little helper did a great job pouring and stirring. Yet, once the cakes were baking in the oven for all of five minutes, he asked “Is it done yet?”.
“No,” I answered, “it’s only been five minutes, there’s at least twenty minutes more to go.”
Calvin pulled off his apron and declared, “This is taking too long. I’m done.”
Whew! Patience doesn’t seem to wax with age.
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While the cake was baking, Calvin helped me with decorations. We’d already cut out several star and circle shapes on different colors of felt. He handed them to me while I sewed a decorative garland.
These colorful garlands may be repurposed on a Christmas tree or as curtains in his room.
So, once the cake came out of the oven. I prepped it according to the instructables tutorial–with the final details added on the day it was served. Here’s how it turned out. . .
Candles for dragon spikes.
He was pleased.
It was a happy day!
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