So a while back I was shopping for a bundt cake pan. It seems like such an innocent thing to do, yes? Well, it turns out there are a LOT of bundt pan designs, including some adorable bundlette pans that are, well, let’s just say I could easily blow all my kitchen budget and then some. As I was perusing Amazon and oohing and aw’ing over things like baby bunny cake pans, and ducklings… I found the dragon cake pan.
The First Reader, disturbed across the office by my giggles, looked up and wanted to know what was so funny. I pointed. “If I made this, and arranged the little bunnies around it, and put a sign on the tableau reading SNAKZ…” If I can’t stop laughing for more than two minutes, it’s probably a bad idea. Or, as my friends pointed out when I mentioned my idea on social media, it’s a very good idea. I blew some art money, and indulged in both the dragon pan, and given the season, I chose to get a little houses mold instead of the bunnies (perhaps another time!).
This was… a lot of fun to do with the kids. It’s simpler than building dry gingerbread houses, and while it won’t last as long, it’s much tastier to nom up. Plus, the little houses are just a bit bigger than cupcakes, so they’re a great size for snacking.
We have a familial sense of warped, twisted humor, I know! The dragon is a jam cake (the First Reader’s favorite) and I’ve done cakes in the pan twice, both times with suitable greasing and flouring, with no problems with sticking.
We decorated with Royal Icing (made with lemon extract rather than vanilla) and candy elements, as well as a good amount of powdered sugar snow. We favor cakes with little or no icing around here, but you might want to fully decorate the dragon in order to see all the details.
The houses (and a dozen cupcakes) were made out of a sour cream chocolate cake, for variety.
Ingredients
- 1 c butter (at room temp)
- 1/3 cocoa powder
- 1 tsp salt
- 1 tsp vanilla extract
- 1 3/4 c sugar
- 2 eggs
- 1 1/2 tsp baking soda
- 1/2 c greek yogurt (or sour cream)
- 1 c milk
- 2 c flour
Instructions
- Preheat oven to 350
- Cream together the butter, cocoa powder, salt, and sugar.
- Beat in eggs, vanilla, then greek yogurt.
- Beat in baking soda, then milk, alternating with the flour
- Once flour is well incorporated, put batter in pans and bake at 350 for 25-30 minutes, until a toothpick inserted into the houses is clean when withdrawn.
Comments
11 responses to “Gingerbread Dragon Mayhem”
That looks like a fun project!
It was! The Ginja Ninja wanted to make it more elaborate, perhaps next year I’ll let her take the lead!
Love this! I have a castle bundt cake mold that suits us well!
I have that on my wishlist, now. It’ll go well with the dragon.
Oh my goodness, I want one, and then put a pandan cake in it for the cake… Alas, they do not ship to me.
How much greasing and flouring do you do to ensure it doesn’t stick? I’ve not had much luck with bundts.
I just made sure I had a decent coating of spray grease – don’t use the aerosol much, but for this it seemed like the best bet for getting it done. Then a light coat of flour, banging out the excess.
Wow! I’d be very hesitant to eat anything that gorgeous, except the way you describe it is mouth-watering. That could become an instant tradition. applicable for Elf Day, Hobbit Day, Orc Day, Dwarf Day, and so on!
I think the dragon is a cake I’m going to make often 🙂 I like the denser, moister style of cake that is used for Bundt pans better than the fluffy cake mixes in a box. Really, the recipe I included for the chocolate cake here isn’t any more trouble to make than a box mix.
That looks hilarious and delicious
The mother of my godchildren is dragon crazy, so I sent her the link. Thank you. Good catch.
It’s a very fun cake, and the photos don’t do it justice. Hopefully she can get one!