Cowgirl cake

Princess turning 6 + fierce love of horses = cowgirl cake.

I was so happy with how this turned out.  I tried lots of things I've never done before.  First and foremost, I usually have to bake two cakes to feed our families that come over for birthday celebrations.  I wanted to make one larger cake this time.  So I made large rounds with triple layers.

I used a 2" horse head chocolate mold to make medallions that would circle the cake.  I filled them with Wilton candy melts.

It was also the first time I made the frosting base completely smooth before decorating.  It was so hard!  Up close you can tell where I have work to do.  But I was proud for my first time.

And lastly, the cake was from a box but I made my own chocolate frosting (recipe below). 

I finished it with star borders and dots across the top for texture.

I was so excited to show it to Princess!  This was a huge, heavy cake.  And it did indeed feed our large clan (with more for FHE the next day)!


Note: I was intending to do a sheet cake but my mom couldn't find her large pan, so I went to check out Michael's pans while I was there to buy my candy melts.  I'm glad I did.  They had lots of their Wilton Gold pans on clearance and I got a large 12" round for $3.49!  It's the pan HERE.  The round worked out much better and played off the circle medallions nicely. 

I have many more pics of this cake, but stupid blogger made me work for hours just to get these on here.  I'm tired of waiting, so here it is!

No-Cook Fudge Frosting

from Better Homes and Gardens

Ingredients

2 pounds powdered sugar (about 8 cups)
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 cup butter, softened
2/3 cup boiling water
2 teaspoons vanilla


Directions

1. In a large mixing bowl combine powdered sugar and cocoa powder. Add butter, boiling water, and vanilla. Beat with an electric mixer on low speed until combined. Beat for 1 minute on medium speed. If necessary, cool for 20 minutes or until mixture reaches spreading consistency. Or, if frosting is too thick, add additional boiling water, 1 tablespoon at a time, until mixture reaches spreading consistency. This frosts tops and sides of two 8- or 9-inch cake layers. (Halve the recipe to frost a 13x9x2-inch cake.)

2. Makes about 4-1/2 cups