AHello, I am hoping that someone could please help me with some advice! I've only just starting making and decorating cakes the last few months for fun, bit of a hobby really! But my friend has asked me to make her a 3d simba cake from the Lion King and the picture she sent me to recreate was amazing! It's on www.thetiergarden.com if you want to go and see what it looks like! How am I going to do the head without it being too heavy and falling off, as I assume I will need to use dowels at an angle!! And is there any tutorials on how to carve a cat/lion/any animal in the lying position around?! Thanks in advance ;) x

AIf you use dowels at an angle the head will fall off. Craftsy.com has a class called "cake a saurous Rex." It'll give you a much better understanding of the internal structure necessary to pull this one off.

AThanks manddi! That's what I was thinking would happen! I'll take a look now ;) x

The great thing is that Simba is lying down.  Treat his head like its own cake with a need for dowels and a plate to hold it up. I drew this last year, but if you realize that the head needs a plate.  It must be treated like a separate tier that sits above (and get supported by the bottom of  the body tier.  

AWow, did you make that cake? That is amazing! And thankyou for your advice, all gratefully received :) x

you could make the head out of rice crispie treats they are lighter than cake although it would still need supports.

AAh yes I didn't think of that! Thankyou! Would everyone suggest a dummy run? X

I would definitely suggest a first pass at this cake - then by the time you make the actual cake, you'll be calmer and will have learned a ton from making the sample.  I tried making a monster cake and it looked no where near the target monster.  I was never so thankful that it was for a relative.  I learned SOOOO much and now have a great idea for lightweight bat wings  :-)

Yes, definitely make a trial cake.  I do it all the time...helps tremendously!!

AAhh thanks everyone, really appreciate all your comments! As I said I'm new to this decorating lark so normally just see how things go! But this request really baffled me! Thankyou :) x