A few weeks ago it was my Dad and Brothers birthday. For the past few years my dad has been asking for a dragon on a mountain which is being lapped with waves. This year I knew I wanted to make this cake for them. I set aside a few days in my diary just to dedicate to getting this cake baked, decorated and ready for their birthday. I was really happy with the way this cake turned out…
One of the nicest things about this cake was the fact that neither of them were expecting it, so I was able to try out a few new techniques, including using my airbrush for the first time. The cake itself was quite big, it had 5 layers of apple cake filled with caramel / toffee buttercream which I must say tasted quite nice when it was finally cut into. The top part of the mountain, plus the 2 smaller rocks coming out from the waves were formed using rise krispie squares. The reason for this was to give the top of the cake more stability as the apple cake was quite a soft cake to work with.
The cake was then covered in icing coloured in mottled grey, and textured using rolled up tin foil. Once I was happy with the texture I started adding the shadow with my airbrush. I loved airbrushing this cake, the more shadow I added the more the mountain seemed to come to life. I even added in scratch marks to look like this belonged to the dragon.
I modelled the dragon using gumpaste and added wires in his wings to hold them out and keep their shape. One of the hardest part of this cake was adding the dragon to the cake which I did with lots of cocktail sticks. My favorite part of this cake was definitely the sea, as I started to add different layers it really brought it to life with the waves crashing against the rocks.
I started the sea by laying down some green / blue / turquise mottled icing which I pulled over slightly as it met with the different rocks. I then applied royal icing to look like the foam. In places I used water to pull this away to look like waves, which I think gave a great effect. The last thing I felt the cake needed was a realistic wetness to the sea. I painted on clear piping gel over the icing and at the base of the rock and even when dry this gave a wet, shiny feel which I think gave this cake the perfect finishing touch.
I really loved creating this cake and I was so happy when I was able to show my Dad and my brother and see their faces. I am so glad they liked it.
Stephanie
October 29, 2014This is a beautiful cake! I’ve been wanting to make my own cake for my 21st birthday, and I think this is the perfect project. I have one question: how did you shape the cake? Did you just sculpt the desired shape and add the rise crispy on top?
Lynsey
October 31, 2014Hi Stephanie,
I am so glad you like the cake, thank you. to do the mountain I carved the cake until about 4 inches from the top. I then placed a cake board ontop with some dowels underneath and added the Rice Krispie squares to the top to give the mountain the point. I hope you have a lovely birthday and enjoy making your cake. Kind Regards Lynsey
Malia
November 1, 2017hi your cake is so fantastic realistic , I was wondering how you made the water so life like.
Lynsey
November 3, 2017Hi Malia, Thank you for your message. The water on the Dragon cake is made from icing which I piped royal icing onto to make the white of the waves. I then covered it in a layer of piping gel to make it shiny and give the look of water.
Najya Ehsan
January 8, 2021Hi your cake is amazing!
Im French sorry forr my English…i want to know what’s the recipe of the Mottled icing.. And what’s the color do you use..
Thanks you