Alligator or Crocodile Cake

We made THE CUTEST alligator cake for my husband's birthday.
Since moving to Florida, this is the first 'baking' that we've done so far.
I was really nervous about the humidity and low altitude, but it turned out SO great.

My kids were so creative and helpful. We really enjoyed making this cake together - we got the idea from a family fun recipe posting.
Their recipe is HERE

While their recipe was solely for the alligator, we made some creative additions.
We make a chocolate cake for the base, and frosted it with a german chocolate frosting for the dirt/earth element. Because it was still light, we added cocoa powder to the frosting.
We made butter cream frosting for the alligator, and then added green coconut to give the frosting texture and make it a bit more bumpy.
We found some licorice called Rips, and used it for the grass on the sides. The girls decided to add swedish fish, and blue coconut to give it a more 'swampy' feel.
Finally, instead of leaving the snout square and turned (as the recipe suggested), we cut the opposite side to make it point and straighten out the face.
We also used a different part of the pretzels for his teeth which we thought made him look less dorky.

He's SO cute!!
And my husband loved him!