Two Headed Dragon Cake

Have I mentioned my daughters obsession with dragons? Well, she's obsessed with a lot of things as I'm sure all toddlers are but dragons are right at the top of her list.  I think it's really funny since a close second is all things princess.  She will often times be dressed in her princess dress up clothes (jewelry, crown and wand) playing with her dragons.  

She's a complicated girl. 

I decided I was going to try to make a dragon cake for her birthday party this year.  Well first of all you should know that she's going to have three parties this year.  She just had the first one in Boston with my husbands family where I made this dragon cake. 

One down, two more to go. We'll be heading to Montana soon for her second party and then finally here for her third and final party. Yes I have a theme for the second party, no I don't have a theme for the third party. 

I didn't want to make myself crazy(er) by making the cake from scratch so I purchased the cake flavor of her choice and canned frosting.  Cake flavor here was Funfetti and the frosting just needed to be white so we chose buttercream.

I ended up making four round cakes but had one left over. I used two and a half cans of frosting that we tinted slightly pink (her choice).

here's what  you'll need.

2 boxes cake mix (you pick the flavor) You only need three round cakes so maybe you can make cupcakes with the leftover cake mix, or cake pops.
3 containers of frosting - white so you can color it.
1 pkg orange slices candy
1 bag of chocolate covered graham cracker squares
1 box of fruit roll ups - preferably NOT with the writing on it like I got. You want colors that remind you of fire so reds and oranges are best.
a few chocolate chips or M&M's for the eyes and nose.  I used peanut M&M's for the eyes and butterscotch chips for the nose because that's what we had.
Food Coloring
2 wooden skewers

Find a large surface that you can wrap in tin foil or Saran wrap.  I used one that was about 2 feet by 3 feet.

Bake the cakes as instructed on the box and set aside to cool.

When cool, cut the cake in sections as described here but double the cuts so you can have two heads and two tails.

Arrange the cake pieces first before you begin frosting so you can see how it looks.  Color the frosting with some food coloring.  Frost a thin layer of frosting first if you're doing a crumb layer but ONLY if you have a freezer big enough to fit the board you have prepared.  We didn't have this opportunity so I was just very careful about the crumbs.

Once frosted, cut the orange slices in half and arrange four pieces on each foot with the cut side facing the cake so the toe part curves down like a claw. I used four cut pieces per foot.

Next, cut the chocolate covered graham crackers in thirds diagonally so you're able to two corners for the back fin part of the dragon.

For the wings I used two wooden skewers.  Unwrap two pieces of fruit roll-ups and lay them flat.  Run the skewer along one side of the fruit roll-up in an up and down motion sort of like you are sewing it with the skewer.  Cut off any excess length of the wood skewer and place the wing on the back of the dragon.  Do this again for a second wing.

Use two or three more fruit roll-ups for the fire out of the dragon mouth.  I cut thin strips of the fruit roll-up and alternated the orange and red colors for this. Put one end of the fruit where the mouth will be and the rest of it out in front in a haphazard fashion to make it look like fire.

Use one more orange slice and cut in in half length wise and also in half width wise to use for the eyebrows.

Place the M&M's in the frosting for the eyes and the chocolate chips in the frosting for the nose.

Take lots of pictures and prepare yourself for the kids to fight over who gets the head(s). Enjoy!