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:
