I’d just completed my first 3D cake (see Where’s Piglet?), and was on a baker’s high. Any excuse to try out a new design was good enough for me, including my husband’s birthday. He didn’t ask for anything special, and so he was quite surprised to walk into the kitchen to find this fierce creature swimming in a sea of blue.

I didn’t get fancy with the cake batter (simple white cupcakes), because I knew I’d be piping up a storm of green icing. I had to search everywhere for square-shaped cookies that weren’t boring biscuits without much flavour or flare. My first rule of baking is that it has to taste good. I found these ones at Safeway, and had to deal with a fair amount of breakage during the prep phase, which I didn’t mind, since they happened to be covered in dark chocolate (my favourite).

Marshmallow eyes and teeth may look fierce but they’re not all that functional as a defence against hungry folks. And our old standby, Runts, rounded out the final details for claws and nostrils.

This cake still gets mentioned as a basis for comparison when the topic of my husband’s next birthday cake comes up.  Wish me luck this summer! Hopefully inspiration will strike soon…