Horse Cake

The Kentucky Derby calls for a sophisticated party and a horse cake is the perfect cake on the dessert table of sweets and treats. May is the perfect time of year to have a spring outdoor party and this is a great call for celebration. If you are excited you could hold a celebration for all three the Preakness Stakes, the Belmont Stakes and the Kentucky Derby. What would be better than having it be a Triple Crown year.

Of course when thinking about the Kentucky Derby, one often thinks of the fashion. What type of hat are you going to wear to your celebration? Will it be tiny with some smaller top feathers or a larger swooping hat with oversized flowers? Once you settle on your hat choice you can use this color scheme to add coordinating details into your dessert table.

Who doesn’t love horses? My kids have been lucky enough to grow up around horses. My mother and father in law have several. With that said it has always been an important time of year to watch and celebrate the season of horse racing.

How to Make the Ultimate Horse Cake

I made my favorite chocolate cake recipe for this horse cake. Always go with a flavor that will be most enjoyed by your guests. When your batter is ready to put into your baking pan make sure you spray it with extra strength spray in the pan. I used the horse pan from Wilton. I put the batter into the horse cake pan and cook it according to the pan instructions (350 degrees for 40 to 45 minutes).

It took only a couple of minutes longer to cook than usual. Use a toothpick to see if the cake is cooled. It took about ten minutes for the cake to cool in the horse cake pan. You will be able to see the edges shrink away from the sides. Then with a sharp serrated bread knife I cut off the bottom of the cake (using the pan as my guide line). I then flipped the cake out of the pan and let it cool the rest of the way on a cookie cooling rack. After this it was ready for the platter.

As for icing, I only needed to create a couple of colors. I made life simple and used store bought icing in chocolate and vanilla. From this store bought icing I did then dye the icing to create the right colors that I wanted for the horse cake. I then dyed the chocolate icing to make the black eye color, and I used the vanilla for the white and to dye the yellow for the harness. Then, I mixed the chocolate and vanilla together to create the lighter brown horse shade (my simple little secret). That made the chocolate frosting perfect for the mane of the horse. I did use a lot of icing for the mane, but it then looks real. I layered the hair, starting with the closer to the face hair strands and the longer strands go over top.

When applying the icing I started with the inside of the ear and eye in white. I then used a mixture of water and cornstarch to smooth out the icing. I then used tip #3 and piped in the nostril and black portion of the eye. I then worked on the bridal using tip #10 and #5 and then smoothed out with my finger dipped in the cornstarch water mixture. I then switched back to tip #3 to outline the rest of my horse cake. Then to give the horse the short hair I used #16 to cover the horse with a repeated star design. The best part of the cake is that last step. Adding the hair on the mane of the horse was the most satisfying. I used tip #18. Think about the layers of hair and that is the way it needs to be piped onto the cake. Pipe on the underlayer of the hair first and then it layers as you work your way up the mane. Squeeze the piping bag and pull it out to the length you wish the hair to be, then stop squeezing when it is the right length.

The chocolate horse birthday cake was delicious. I made some cupcakes that had a hardened chocolate feather on top to represent the beautiful hats and chocolate covered strawberries drizzled in white chocolate and pink chocolate. I always want desserts to have an assortment of fruit and an ice filled dish with some tubs of ice cream for guests to self serve.

I’m sure your horse cake will be a smashing success. I hope you have a wonderful time celebrating your love of horses with your friends and family.