Rocking Horse Cake

Kenneth Chen

Ingredients:

• 1 (9-inch) round cake
• 1 chocolate frosted doughnut
• 2 cans (16 ounces each) vanilla frosting
• Red, purple and yellow food coloring
• 15 spearmint leaves
• 1/2 cup green decorating sugar
• 4 anisette or almond toasts (Stella D’Oro)
• 4 red spice drops
• 2 strands red licorice laces
• 1 white Jelly Belly Mint Creme
• 1 Junior Mint 
• 1 brown mini M&M

Tools:

• 2 freezer-weight zip lock bags
• Rolling pin
• Scissors
• Serrated knife

Trimming the cake:

1. Place the cake on a clean work surface. Use the template and serrated knife and cut a 1 inch slice of cake from 1 edge. Cut slice in half to make the legs.
2. Cut out the wedge of cake below the cut area to make the head (see template for reference).
3. Cut the doughnut in half. Cut one half in half again.
4. Arrange the cake and doughnut pieces on a serving platter in the shape of the horse (see template for reference).
5. Place the breakfast cookies below the feet as the rocker, rounded side facing away from the cake.

Frosting the cake:

1. Tint 1-1/4 cups of the vanilla frosting yellow with the food coloring. Spoon the frosting into a zip lock bag. Tint 1/2 cup of the vanilla frosting red with the food coloring. Spoon the frosting into a zip lock bag. Tint the remaining vanilla frosting purple with the coloring.
2. Spread the purple frosting all over the cake, not the cookies, and make smooth.

To complete the cake:

1. Sprinkle the work surface with some of the green decorating sugar. Press 8 of the spearmint leaves together and roll out, adding more sugar to prevent sticking into a 5 inch oval (see template for reference). Press the remaining spearmint leaves together and roll into an 8 by 4-1/2-inch rectangle.
2. Using scissors and template, cut out the saddle from the oval. Cut the rectangle into three 1 by 8-inch strips.
3. Arrange the spearmint leaf pieces on top of the cake as shown. Trimming the excess from the strips on the feet and the bridle.
4. Snip a small corner from the bags with the yellow and red frostings. Pipe long overlapping lines of yellow frosting to make the mane and the tail.
5. Pipe dots along the top of the feet and around the lower edge of saddle with the red frosting. Pipe red frosting to cover the tops of the cookies.
6. Add the red laces under the saddle and trim any excess. Flatten 2 of the red spice drops and attach with a dot of frosting as shown on the base of the saddle and the bridle. Add the 2 remaining spice drops to tips of end cookies.
7. Add the crème mint as the eye and attach the Junior Mint as the pupil with a dot of frosting. Add the M&M as the nostril.

Serves 16