Dragon cake

I found this fantastic cake on Pinterest.   My son saw it a few days before his birthday and decided that this is what he wanted for his birthday cake.  The only problem - no directions!  I like to think I am pretty crafty and can figure things out, so I tried.  Learn from my experience.

I used a store bought angel food cake.  Cut it in half so it is half as thick.  Then cut the cake in half so you have two letter "C's". 

UPDATE - this was way too thick for a strawberry shortcake.  When you cut the cake by the thickness, do it in thirds or even fourths. 

Stack the pieces and form a 'snake'. 

UPDATE - it came out so cute!  Now I want to make other shapes for the girls - a rainbow, flower, peace sign.....

Take off the top layer and put on a layer of whipping cream.  I used a cookie press - just to make it look pretty - and cool whip

After the cool whip is done on the bottom layer, slice strawberries and layer them on the cake.  I used my moms strawberry slicer, but if you use a knife just slice the berries very thin.

Then so the same to the top layer of cake (this could be done with ANY cake!  oh the possibilities!)

Then I took a full (really pretty berry) and used  it as the head

I used a knife to make a teeny tiny slit for the eyes and 'tongue'.  I took a leaf from one of the berries and put it in a slit for the tongue and small pieces of leaf for the eyes. I would have used candy eyes, but I left them at home.

  

 Since it was a birthday cake we then put in candles.  It looked like a Chinese dragon when the lights were out and the candles were lit.  My son loved it.

UPDATE:  This needs to be assembled the day OF the party so the cool whip doesn't soak through the cake.  I made it about an hour before dinner and everything was yummy after dinner.    As previously mentioned, cut the cake thin so you have a good ratio of cool whip, strawberries and cake.  I cut it way too thick and ended up putting more whipping cream and strawberries on everyone's slice.