Can you help me make this dragon cake look cooler?

January 8, 2025 7:37 AM

I found a recipe for a dragon cake but would like suggestions on how to improve the look.

Hi,

My son’s birthday is coming up, he’s turning 8. He’s been really into dragons. He’s having a small party and I thought it would be nice to make a dragon cake. We have made some themed cakes before but don’t have any great decorating experience and have never used anything like fondant or advanced techniques.

I found this recipe for a dragon cake which seems doable, and if my son was turning 4 I’m sure it would be perfect. But I’d really like if I could get some tips for how to make it more realistic, fiercer, and probably also include some kind of edible flooring (eggs, gold, etc). Something on the order of that the chocolate wedge scales are fine, but the gummy eyebrows are not. Probably some kind of electric blue color would be best. The face especially needs some work.

I did also find this recipe for a scaled cake and I don’t really understand the technique and I think mixing a ton of different colors isn’t feasible. But if someone could give some advice on how to make this work with two colors, that would probably add some cool detail.

Assume I have access to major chain grocery stores and can buy anything that’s not completely overboard. I have a few days to prepare and buy things but I’d like to do it all in one night the night before the party.

Thank you!

posted by cali59 to Food & Drink (10 answers total)

From the first link, you'd get a lot of mileage out of curving all their hard corners; the dragon in the first link is very blocky, which makes it look more cartoonish. The blank side of couple M&Ms and some black string licorice would make the eyes more interesting, and smaller nostrils (if you can find some black dragees, maybe?) would help.

I agree that trying to do some sort of color gradient might help too, but I'd be hesitant to do that without a trial run. Note that you don't need to practice on an actual cake, you could get some vaguely dragon-shaped (honestly, football shaped would do) styrofoam and apply frosting to that.

Lengthening out and tapering the neck would probably help too.
posted by punchtothehead at 7:47 AM on January 8

For cool metallic dragon skin, you want edible luster dust. That link goes to Amazon, but you can also get individual colors in the cake section of craft stores like Michaels. Use a soft brush to apply, either by brushing directly or by tapping the dust off the bristles. You can do streaks of different colors, or apply a wash of dust and then thumbprint the icing to squeeze out some of the original color (which is what it looks like they did in your second link).

Modeling chocolate is very easy to make from white chocolate or candy melts + corn syrup, and is helpful for crafting realistic claws, teeth, back spikes, etc. Enhance with some luster dust in a contrasting shade to the dragon body.
posted by Bardolph at 7:55 AM on January 8

Not for the cake specifically, but for the dragon themed cake I made one of my kids (request, coconut orange cake flavor), I made gelatin gummy jewels and purchased rock crystal candy to scatter around the 'lair.'

My kid and I made the jewels together a week ahead, so had some fun doing and testing those.
posted by cocoagirl at 8:27 AM on January 8 [1 favorite]

Are you familiar with marshmallow fondant? Unlike regular fondant, it's easy to make at home, easy to work with, and tastes good (like marshmallows, if you can believe it). Back when I was into cake decorating, I used marshmallow fondant a LOT. You can cover the whole dragon with it and use the end of a spoon to press scale shapes in, or use it for the floor, or eyebrows, or etc etc etc. Very versatile. It's more flaccid than regular fondant so I wouldn't recommend it for very fiddly bits, but for a home baker it's a fantastic way to elevate your cake decor!
posted by phunniemee at 8:51 AM on January 8

I would recommend sticking with buttercream given the timeline. The best buttercream for decorating is Serious Cakes Buttercream

Seconding the edible paint powder.

I would highly recommend the following:
Two days before party: bake cakes, make butter cream
Night before party: decorate (it will take longer than you think)

Buy a cake box and a cake board. These will be much cheaper at a local cake decorating shop, but I'll assume you don't have access to one of those, but I'll hope you have access to a Michael's.

If you happen to have access to a cake decorating store, they could also offer you ideas.

For the scales you'll need the black icing gel
and definitely an offset spatula. I might be able to add more detail later
posted by skunk pig at 10:03 AM on January 8

For your second link, they say that mixing multiple colours was a bit of a waste of time because they ended up too similar because they got darker over time. It seems they just piped dollops of buttercream and smeared them down to one side with a spatula/spoon. You might need to try a few on your work surface to figure out where to place the spatula before you work on the cake proper.
posted by koahiatamadl at 10:12 AM on January 8

You might consider changing the shape of the eyes to be a bit more dragon-like and less cartoony.
posted by stormyteal at 12:31 PM on January 8 [2 favorites]

ooo a big puff of cotton candy coming out of the mouth and put a red led light under it so the candy floss lights up and looks like flame. Most dollar stores will have a bunch of different kinds of led lights
posted by 5_13_23_42_69_666 at 1:33 PM on January 8 [1 favorite]

Amateur family cake maker here!

Sketch what you think ahead of time.

The reason why that cake is blocky is because the cake isn't being carved. If you do any cake carving (which will help make the dragon look more realistic and "cooler") you definitely need to budget the time needed to crumb coat (a layer of buttercream to trap in the crumbs).

Definitely agree that the eyes on the linked cake are cartoony and "cute" - I'd try a more oval shape, icing a narrow pupil onto a MnM

And you'll need more time than you think!
posted by freethefeet at 2:43 PM on January 8 [1 favorite]

For the second link, they said making different shades of gray was a waste of time, so you can make gray buttercream and red. Gel coloring is best because you get a lot of color without changing the consistency.

For the scale effect, you can find videos on YouTube, like this

Also, not sure if you noticed, but after your first link there are tons of pictures of this cake made by it's, including scarier versions, so you can also use that for inspiration.

Have fun!
posted by skunk pig at 6:53 PM on January 8