A horse cupcake cake is a delicious and fun option for the horse lover in your life. It makes a really fun birthday cake, and since it is made from cupcakes, there’s no cutting involved. Everyone can just pull the cupcakes apart.
While you could search “bakery near me” and call a local bakery to make you a horse cupcake cake, it’s not that tough to make your own. Gather your ingredients, and get to baking. Here’s how.
Ingredients you need:
- 2 boxed cake mixes
- 6 eggs, or the amount called for by your cake mixes
- 1 cup oil, or the amount called for by your cake mixes
- 2 cups water, or the amount called for by your cake mixes
- 4 cans of chocolate frosting
- Black string licorice (lots of it)
- 4 Oreo cookies
- A googly eye (you can buy these at most craft stores)
Equipment you need:
- 2 normal size cupcake tins
- 2 mini cupcake tins
- Cupcake liners for both size tins
- A mixing bowl
- A big spoon or scraper
- Measuring cups
- A frosting knife
- A pastry bag
- A piece of cardboard measuring at least 12 x 24 inches
- A hand mixer
- A sharp knife
Step 1: Making the cupcakes
Start by pouring the two cake mixes into the mixing bowl. Add the eggs, water, and oil, and then start blending the ingredients together using a hand mixer on low speed. Once the ingredients are pretty combined already, turn your mixer up to medium and mix for two minutes. Scrape down the sides of the bowl, and mix in any lingering cupcake mix that’s hanging out around the edges.
Place cupcake liners in each of your cupcake tins. Then, fill each of the cupcake tins with the cupcake batter. You only want them to be about ⅔ full so your cupcakes don’t end up too big. This goes for both the big and the small cupcakes. You might have some batter left. Do whatever you want with it. Make another little cake, make some extra cupcakes, or just eat it. Yum!
Place the cupcakes in a preheated 350 degrees F oven. Remove the mini cupcakes after 18 minutes. Let the big ones sit in there for an extra 4 minutes so they bake for a total of 22 minutes. Let them cool for a couple of minutes, and then remove them from the pan so they can finish cooling.
Step 2: Arranging the cupcakes
Now that you have your cupcake batter prepared, it’s time for the hard part. Somehow you have to make them into the shape of a horse. Relax — it’s not that bad!
Find a horse cupcake cake template online, or just print out a big picture of a horse. It should be a simple picture. You want it to fit nicely on your 12 x 24 board, though, so you may have to print half of it on two sheets of paper.
Once you have your horse template, trace it onto your big piece of cardboard. Then, arrange the cupcakes to fill the template. Use big ones to form the horse’s body and little ones for the legs. It won’t quite look like a horse yet, but that’s okay. That will come.
Step 3: Frosting and decorating the cupcakes
With your cupcakes laid out in the shape of a horse, it’s time to start the yummy part: frosting. Fill your pastry bag with frosting. Then, use the pastry bag to squeeze the frosting over the tops of the cupcakes. Do not stop at the edge of a cupcake. Keep frosting so that the frosting basically connects the cupcakes together.
After all of your cupcakes are coated in frosting, use your frosting knife to spread the frosting around and smooth it out. Pay attention to the horse cupcake cake template you drew on your cardboard so your frosting ends up in the right shape.
With the frosting in place, it is time to add the few finishing touches that will make this cupcake cake really look like a horse! First, it’s all about the tail. Your horse will have a black tail because you have black licorice. Stick five or six strands of black licorice into the cupcake that forms the horse’s rear end.
Next, make the mane. Cut some of the licorice pieces shorter, and stick them along the neck. Your horse now has a mane!
Now, you’re on to the feet. Take the Oreo cookies, and use your sharp knife to cut the edges so the cookies take on a more oval shape. Stick one cut cookie to the bottom of each of the horse’s legs.
Finally, you need to add that googly eye. Stick it on the side of the horse’s face. Now, you’re done.
This horse cupcake cake is not that hard to make; it just takes time. If this seems too difficult or you need a cake sooner, just search “bakeries near me” and call up a few local bakeries. Most will be happy to create a cupcake cake for you.
