Farmer Boy Barnyard Birthday Cake

Last December we celebrated our 3 year old's birthday with a Farmer Boy/Barn themed party! At the time I shared a few pictures of him with his cake, but the rest of his birthday pictures have been sitting in my drafts folder ever since. Last night I had a request for directions on how to make the cake so I decided to finally finish up those posts. This cake, inspired by a picture in an old Family Fun magazine, did take some time to assemble and decorate, but it was so much fun and is definitely one of my favorites! 

Barnyard Cake with Farm Animal Cupcakes

Ingredients:

Cake and Cupcakes
2 - Round Cakes (I baked Carrot Cake in 8" round pans, recipe below)
1 - Sarah Lee Frozen Pound Cake (or bake your own in a loaf pan and freeze for easy handling)
3 Cupcakes (for Silo)
8 Cupcakes (for Animals)

Frosting and Cake Decorations
Frosting, divided (use your favorite recipe, the Cream Cheese recipe below, or purchase a couple cans of Vanilla Frosting)
Leaf Green Icing Color (for the round cakes and coconut)
Pink Food Color (or a few drops of red, for the pigs and cow noses)
Yellow Food Color (for the coconut on the chicks)
Black Decorating Icing (for the spots on the cows)
Blue Sparkle Gel
Shredded Coconut (divided, mix some with yellow food color for the chicks and some with green food color for the grass)
20 Pretzel Sticks (I used Trader Joe's Honey Wheat Pretzel Sticks)
Peanut Butter or Light Cocoa Candy Melts

Note: As an alternative to the coconut you can create grass with green frosting and Wilton's Tip #233 for grass. For examples you can see my son's Hobbit Hole Cake here. 

Barn Decorations
Twizzlers Pull 'n' Peel Candy, Cherry
Life Cereal

Chick Decorations (makes 2)
4 Mini Chocolate Chips (for eyes)
2 yellow or orange gumdrops (I used Trader Joe's Fruit Jellies, cut in half for wings)
1 yellow Starburst (cut in half from corner to corner for beak)

Cow Decorations (makes 2)
4 pink M&M's (for ears)
4 brown mini M&M's (for eyes)
1 Marshmallow (cut in half and frosted pink for nose)
4 black sprinkles (or use additional black decorating icing)

Pig Decorations (makes 2)
4 little pieces of Twizzlers Pull 'n' Peel Candy, Cherry (for nostrils)
4 M&M's Minis (for eyes)
2 pink Starburst (cut in half from corner to corner for ears)
1 regular sized Marshmallow (cut in half and frosted pink for nose)

Sheep Decorations (makes 2)
2 pink M&M's (for nose)
4 Chocolate Chips or brown M&M's, regular size (for eyes)
2 regular sized Marshmallows (cut in half diagonally, for ears)
38-40 miniature marshmallows



Directions:

Bake cakes and cupcakes.  Make frosting according to directions and gather all decorating supplies. You will also need a tray or piece of cardboard to place your cake on. I used a n 18"x12" cutting board.

Barn and Silo:
Unwrap 3 cupcakes and trim off the tops. I stacked three cupcakes along with one of the trimmed tops to create the silo. Trim one end of the loaf shaped pound cake to resemble the top of a barn when standing on it's end as pictured below.

I missed getting a picture of this step, but you will also need to cut a small curve out of one of the 8" round cakes so the two cakes can be put together for the base.

In a small bowl, tint 1 cup of the frosting with pink or red liquid food color to make pink frosting. In a medium bowl, tint 1 1/2 cups of the frosting with green gel or paste food color to make desired color of green frosting for the grass; set aside. Reserve remaining white frosting.

Spread a thin layer of green frosting over the two round 8" cakes. Place the barn and silo on top of one of the cakes and cover with a thin layer of white frosting, to seal in crumbs. Refrigerate or freeze cake 30 to 60 minutes. Cover with remaining green frosting and another layer of white frosting.

Decorate the barn with Twizzlers Pull 'n' Peel Candy, making sure to leave a space for the barn door and window.  I pulled the candy into strands of three (instead of individual) to make it a little easier to place on the cake, cutting them into the correct lengths with my kitchen shears. 

Cover the roof of the barn and silo with Life Cereal. (Shredded Wheat or a variety of other cereals would probably work as well.)

Pond: 
Using Blue Sparkle Gel create a pond.

Grass: 
Mix (or shake in a plastic bag) some shredded coconut with Leaf Green Icing Color (or green food color) until the desired shade of green. Place on top of cake surrounding the pond and over to the barn.

Pasture Fence: 
Place two dabs of melted Peanut Butter or Light Cocoa Candy Melts near the top of two vertical pretzel sticks and then lay two more pretzel sticks over the melted candy horizontally to create sections of fence. Repeat until you have enough for your cake. Place around the bottom edges of cake and slightly into the frosting to hold them in place.





Decorate cupcakes and arrange on coconut grass.



Chicks: Frost 2 cupcakes with white frosting. Top with yellow coconut. For eyes, add 2 mini chocolate chips. Cut orange gumdrops to look like wings and Starburst for beak; place on cupcakes.



Sheep: Frost 2 cupcakes with white frosting. Add brown chocolate chips for the eyes and a pink M&M for the nose. For ears, add white marshmallow halves, cut sides down if necessary. Place mini marshmallows on face for wool.

Pigs: Frost 2 cupcakes with pink frosting. For snout, cut a large marshmallow in half and cover with pink frosting; place on cupcake. Add two small pieces of leftover Twizzlers Pull 'n' Peel Candy for nostrils. For eyes, add two M&M Minis. For ears, cut a pink starburst in half diagonally and place on cupcake.

Cows: Frost 2 cupcakes with white frosting. Add a couple black spots using Black Decorating Icing. For nose, cut a large marshmallow in half and cover with pink frosting; place on cupcake. Place two black sprinkles on nose for nostrils. Add two M&M Minis for eyes and two pink M&M's for ears.

The Ultimate Carrot Cake 

This is the recipe my mom always made when I was growing up. I think it was originally from her Betty Crocker Cookbook. Yummmm! 

#1 Combine: 
1 1/2 cups Whole Wheat Flour
2/3 cup All-Pourpose Flour
2 teaspoons Baking Soda
2 teaspoons Cinnamon
1/2 teaspoon Salt
1/2 teaspoon Nutmeg
1/2 teaspoon Ginger

#2 Combine in Large Bowl:
1 cup Sugar
1 cup Buttermilk
3/4 cup Oil
4 Eggs
1 1/2 teaspoons Vanilla
Mix well.

Add to #2: 
1 lb. grated Carrots
1 - 8oz. can Crushed Pineapple, undrained
1 cup Walnuts, chopped

1 cup flaked Coconut

1/2 cup Raisins

Now combine #2 and #3 mixtures to #1.

Grease three 8" round cake pans. Line bottoms with wax paper.

Bake at 350˚F for 30 minutes (mine was a little too moist and could have used a few more minutes…) or until done. Cool in pan for 10 minutes.

Note: I used two of the three 8" rounds for the Barnyard Birthday Cake. 

Cream Cheese Frosting

1/2 cup butter
1 - 8oz. package cream cheese
1 - 16oz. package powdered sugar
2 teaspoons grated orange rind - optional
1 teaspoon vanilla extract

Combine butter and cream cheese in large bowl; beat until light and fluffy. Add sugar, rind, and vanilla, mixing well.

You can find additional Farmer Boy birthday posts here: 

Happy 3rd Birthday Bud!

Farmer Boy :: Big Red Barn Birthday 
(with farm themed birthday gift ideas!)

Saint Joseph's Day Cathedral Cake

To celebrate the solemnity we baked another cake in our cathedral shaped pan in honor of St. Joseph, patron of the Universal Church! I also had a lovely new Blessing Block of this beloved saint to give to our son who celebrates a nameday on this special feast.

Prayer for Priests to St. Joseph

O illustrious patriarch St. Joseph, who carried the Infant Jesus in thy blessed arms and who, during the space of thirty years, lived in the most intimate familiarity with Him, take under thy powerful protection those whom He has clothed with His authority and honored with with the dignity of His priesthood, whom He has charged to continue His mission, to preach His Gospel, and to dispense everywhere His graces and blessings. Sustain them in their fatigues and labors; console them in their pains; fortify them in their combats; but above all, keep far from them all the evils of sin.

Obtain for them the humility of St. John the Baptist, the faith of St. Peter, the zeal and charity of St. Paul, the purity of St. John and the spirit of prayer and recollection of which thou, my dear Saint, art the model, so that, after having been on earth, the faithful dispensers of the Mysteries of thy foster Son, Our Lord Jesus Christ, they may in Heaven receive the recompense promised to pastors according to the Heart of God. Amen.

St. Joseph, Patron of the Universal Church, Pray for Us!

Ranger's Apprentice Archery Target Cake

"Will was in the open meadow behind Halt's cottage, practicing. He had four targets set up at different ranges and was alternating shots at random between the four of them, never firing at the same one twice in a row." ~ Ranger's Apprentice, Book 1, The Ruins of Gorlan 

This past weekend we celebrated our "Ranger's"13th birthday! Our boys love all the books written by Australian author John Flanagan and we thought it would be fun to celebrate with a Ranger's Apprentice themed party this year.

I considered making a castle and cabin combination like this Ranger's Apprentice birthday cake, but thought it was a little "too childish" for our newest teen, and wanted to "keep it simple" for myself! I ended up deciding to try and create an Archery Target Birthday Cake using candy instead of fondant. It was so easy to decorate and the boys said I "hit the bull's-eye with this cake!"   

Archery Target Cake

Supplies:

• 2 - 9" Round Cakes
• Buttercream Frosting (or white frosting of your choice)
• 11 KitKat Candy Bars, Full Size
• Yellow, Red and Blue M&M's
• Bamboo Skewer, Duct Tape & Scissors (for arrow) 

Directions:

Prepare and bake cakes according to directions. Cool.

To make the top of the cake nice and flat I trimmed the rounded tops off each cake. I placed the first cake on the center of the platter and then turned the second cake over, placing it bottom side up and centering it on the trimmed top of the first cake. Cover the cake with frosting. Since it was going to be covered with candy, I didn't worry about any crumbs in the frosting. 

I decided to trim one side of the KitKat bars so that they wouldn't stick up too far above the top of the cake. I also broke them in half (sections of two) before wrapping them around the cake. 

Using yellow, red, and blue M&M's I created the archery target's concentric rings on the top of the cake. 

To create an arrow for the center of the cake, I used a Bamboo Skewer with a little Metallic Chrome Duck Tape.  I folded a piece of Duck Tape over the end of the Bamboo Skewer and then trimmed it with scissors to resemble the end of an arrow, before sticking into the center of the cake. 

"Will, his quiver empty for the tenth time that morning, stopped to survey the results. He nodded in satisfaction. Every arrow had hit a target, and most of them were clustered in the inner ring of the bull's-eye itself. It was shooting of an exceptionally high quality and it proved to him the value of constant practice. He wasn't to know it, of course, but there were already few archers in the kingdom, outside of the Ranger's Corps, who could have matched him."  ~ Ranger's Apprentice, Book 1, The Ruins of Gorlan

Made with Love :: Chocolate Cake, Strawberries & Thirty-Seven Candles!

I didn't think the kids were going to have time (after an afternoon spent ice skating!) which is why I made the Mud Pie, but the girls were putting the final touches on a birthday cake when Sean and I arrived home from our dinner date on my birthday last Friday night! They have decorated my birthday cakes the past couple years and apparently it is now "our tradition!"

We already had a couple chocolate cakes in the freezer (extras I had baked last month when I made from Bud's Farmer Boy Barnyard Birthday Cake, just in case the carrot cake didn't turn out) but I hadn't purchased or prepared any supplies for decorating. The girls frosted the cake and creatively decorated it with some strawberry halves along with the leftover chocolate topping and chopped almonds from the Mud Pie. It was such a delicious combination!

They were able to round up 37 random candles, leftover from all the birthdays this past year, and managed to fit them all on the cake… Even Bud helped!  

Mmmmmmm… I think they might need to make another one next month for St. Valentine's Day! 

Dairy-Free Cappuccino Almond Fudge Mud Pie

One of my favorite desserts has always been Mud Pie from Baskin-Robbins. I can't enjoy it any more, thanks to my dairy-intolerance, but this past Friday I decided to try and make a homemade dairy-free and gluten-free version for my birthday. It turned out really yummy!

Dairy-Free & Gluten-Free

Cappuccino Almond Fudge Mud Pie

Ingredients: 

• 15 Gluten-Free Joe-Joe's (or your choice of Chocolate Creme Sandwich Cookies)
• 1 pint Luna & Larry's Naked Almond Fudge Coconut Bliss, softened
• 1 pint Luna & Larry's Naked Cappuccino Coconut Bliss, softened
• 7 tablespoons Coconut Oil, melted and divided
• 3 tablespoons Maple Syrup
• 4 tablespoons unsweetened Cocoa Powder
• Non-Dairy Whipped Topping (I used Soyatoo Soy Whip) 
• Almonds, chopped

For the Crust:

Using a food processor (I don't own one so I used my Vita-Mix) crush the Gluten-Free Joe-Joe's. Add 4 tablespoons of melted coconut oil and mix until combined. Using a spoon, press the cookie mixture into the center of a pie dish working it out from the middle and up the sides.  Place in the Freezer for 10 minutes.

For the Filling: 

Remove the crust from the freezer and add the Coconut Bliss. Depending on the size of your pie dish you may or may not need the full two pints. Spread the Coconut Bliss evenly over the crust, using a mix of both Cappuccino and Almond Fudge.  Place in Freezer for 10 minutes to refreeze while you make the Chocolate Topping. 

Note: Mocha Almond Fudge from SoDelicious would also be perfect for this Mud Pie!

For the Chocolate Topping: 

In a small bowl combine 3 tablespoons melted coconut oil, 3 tablespoons maple syrup, and 4 tablespoons of unsweetened cocoa powder. Mix until smooth. Drizzle over the top of the pie, or spread with a spatula if you prefer to cover the whole pie with chocolate.  

Note:You may need to reheat the chocolate topping if it starts to harden before you have a chance to drizzle it over the top of the pie.

Garnish with non-dairy whipped topping and chopped almonds. 

Note: I did this before placing the Mud Pie back in the freezer, but next time I'll probably add the whip cream just before serving. 

Place the Mud Pie back in the freezer for at least 1 hour before serving. 

Happy 3rd Birthday Bud!