Sometimes when I look back at the cakes I’ve done, I can’t believe how many I’ve made. Today when I was looking through my cake pictures trying to decide which one to write about I found this horse cake I did for the Editor of Elle magazine.
I should back track a little first. I first got into Twitter after a much needed lesson from the Web team at Woman and Home magazine! I sat directly behind the lovely web girls and would listen to them all day talking about who was saying what and I got hooked. I followed who they followed and one day, just as I was about to start planning my Christmas interior features – which was my craziest time, we saw that the editor of Elle magazine (the only non home interest title I subscribed to and completely love I might add) had put out a tweet asking where she could get a cake made for her daughter’s birthday in the shape of a horse. Now although I was getting quite confident at decorating and shaping a cake, a horse really would be a huge challenge. I mean the head would have to stand up and stick out without toppling over! And I had already said that I wouldn’t do anymore cakes till after the Christmas issue was finished.
A friend, who is also a huge Elle magazine fan said “You can’t pass up an opportunity like this” and messaged the editor directly saying how I made cakes and to see my Flickr pics. The editor got in touch and the rest as they say is history. Lorraine Candy told me about her daughter’s love of the horse she rode at her riding lessons called Megastar and we arranged a date for delivery.
Around this time there were back to back episodes of ‘Ace of Cakes‘ on TV, which I was totally hooked on. One of the cakes they made had to be top heavy and to overcome the problem they used a combination of Rice Krispies and melted Mars bars. You simply mix the two together and they become a mouldable and edible shape. So I had my answer to the horse’s head problem. I only wish I had taken step photos of it to show you, but this was before I started blogging.
Once the head was shaped and had set hard in the fridge I covered it with brown sugarpaste icing and smoothed it all over. The cake was cut into a horses body shape and the head was secured into position then the whole thing was covered in the tan coloured icing. Megastar is a Palomino so the cake would be a lovely light colour. I would have hated to make a black horse. People in general don’t like to eat a black cake!
The legs were shaped from solid sugarpaste and were secured to the body with a little royal icing. The mane and tail were also made of thin strips of sugarpaste.
For the cake board I decided to make it a green field, complete with pretty flowers so Megastar looked like she was resting.
In all I was pretty pleased with this cake. I could imagine being very happy to have it as an eight year old girl. The horse looked friendly and was just the right size. When I delivered it I found out that Megastar belonged to Noel Gallagher! Which was just the icing on the cake! (sorry- I couldn’t help myself)
EmmaMT
More Kids Birthday Cakes you may enjoy
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Your horse birthday cake is wonderful. Their anatomy makes them notoriously difficult to make using cake (I seem to remember that even the team at ‘Ace of Cakes’ struggled with making a dressage birthday cake, complete with a horse whose leg wouldn’t stay in one piece) and you’ve made it all seem so simple. Thanks for sharing
So beautiful! Cx
What a fantastic cake!
Thanks. X
Hi Emma , Your cakes are great Regards Rowena
Ah thanks. So nice of you to say. X
Ah thanks. X
Oh how absolutely fantastic! I’ve seen the american shows using rice crispy treats but was never quite sure what they were – will have to try them next time I have a big shape to make 🙂
You must be a very good artist
This was one of the scariest cakes I’ve had to sculpt. I’ve learnt over time that the fear of doing it is often worse than actually doing it. Now I just don’t let myself dwell on what I am worried about and just get on with it as soon as I can.