Notice the reject cakes in the background
After making the Thank You Cake last week, I received an email from one of the attendings asking me to make a cake for a cake charity auction. I could make whatever I wanted. She mentioned that the cakes can go for hundreds of dollars - no pressure to make something great, right?
Spike before his chocolate spikes... and a little clue about where I go to school!
I had a day and a half to make the cake. I spent a lot of time thinking about what to make. I ended up seeing this cake on the Wilton website. Don't forget, I love dinosaurs. I had to make it!
His tail was made from the bear ears, marshmallows, and frosting
It wasn't too difficult to make. The hardest part was making the cake. I wish that I had taken a picture of the my first attempt. (I was too excited to go upstairs and grab my Canon Rebel
, so these crummy pictures are all iPhone unfortunately). It involves using a bear mold
that has to sit upside-down while baking. The first time I didn't fasten the clips tightly enough and batter poured all of the place. The second time I put a little bit of parchment papers in the ears so that it wouldn't leak and that worked a lot better. I used a pound cake recipe from my All Cakes Considered
book. 
I used some graham cracker crumbs and fake bushes to decorate his surroundings
It took about 90 minutes to decorate. The worst part was getting the bear mold to work, to be honest with you! I am very pleased with how it came out, and it was a little bittersweet to let him go.
Spike fits nicely on a 10" cake round
Oh, and in case you were curious, it went for $135 at the auction :)