Green T-Rex birthday cake

I decided to make a separate post for the cake. My Little Helper talked about this so much. He wanted me to fit both T-Rexes and Trucks on it, which I briefly considered but then realized I needed to nip the theme in the bud.
Let me start by saying that I don't really like cake, but think that it is important for birthdays. I thought a chocolate cake would please my fellows the most and chocolate ganache frosting would make a nice back drop for the green T-Rex. I used the same MS recipe that I used last year for the Teddy Bear cake. I decided the pattern I made for the T-Rex puppets would work for the cake topper. I knew I wanted to use fondant, but when I looked for ready made fondant at the craft store, I could only find it in quantities large enough to cover a 3 tier wedding cake which was clearly more than I needed. I considered having a local bakery make the fondant dinosaur for me, which would save me some effort. I tried a couple bakers, neither of whom seemed too keen on the idea and one of them informed me that The Decorette Shop had smaller quantities available. I hadn't had a chance to check there yet. Oh, how I love The Decorette Shop! Not only did they have 1 lb. sized containers, they had them in pre-mixed colors too with the perfect shade of kelly green.
In the interest in saving time, I used a boxed Devil's food cake mix. I used 2 boxes because I wanted a taller cake this year. I always feel my homemade cakes look so forlorn, so I wanted 4 layers. I used the cream cheese frosting recipe from Bakerella's Cake Pops cookbook and tinted it with green food coloring.

The only serving piece that fit with the T-Rex theme was this animal print cake plate. I started layering the cake with the cream cheese filling. I kind of ran out but hoped I could fill in with the chocolate frosting.

I let that set up overnight and then spread the ganache the next day. I took a long time filling everything in, but I'm happy with the way it turned out. Holy smokes it is going to be a lot of cake, but the height looks great!I took a little of the green fondant out and rolled it out and then traced/cut my T-Rex template with a sharp knife. I was relieved that the fondant lifted up easily so that I could get it centered just where I wanted on the cake.It was pretty easy to do, had the simple look for which I was hoping, but still looked impressive. Best of all My Little Helper thought, "It looks pretty cool" and that "It's perfect!"
I love this boy! We added four of the green striped candles he picked out to complete his green, T-Rex birthday cake.