Make a pony portrait cake!

If you’re after a fancy pony-themed cake for your birthday, or can’t decide what to make for a charity bake sale, then look no further! Our pony portrait cake not only looks amazing and tastes yummy, it’s super simple to make, too.

What you’ll need…

• two 20cm sandwich cake tins
• greaseproof paper
• pencil
• scissors
• 200g caster sugar
• 300g butter, softened,   plus extra for greasing
• 200g self-raising flour
• 4 eggs
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 2 tbsp milk
• 140g icing sugar
• cocoa powder
• black and brown food colouring
• piping bag or tube with 2mm plain nozzle

Step one

Heat the oven to 180ºC or 160ºC fan and prepare your cake tins. Grease them lightly with butter and cut two circles out of greaseproof paper to fit the size of your tins. On one of your circles, trace the pony portrait template, you can download yours here. Then, place the circles in the tins.

Step two

In a large bowl, mix together 200g of the butter, the sugar, flour, eggs, baking powder and milk until you have a smooth cake batter.

Step three

Divide the mixture into two bowls. From one half weigh out two lots of 20g of cake batter into two small bowls and colour one black and one brown – add a sprinkling of cocoa powder to the brown one for an extra chocolatey taste!

Step four

To draw your pony portrait, start by adding a small amount of plain cake batter into your piping tube and fill in the pony’s blaze and the white of his eye.

Step five

Next, fill your piping tube with the black-coloured cake batter and draw the pony’s nostril, eye, mane and forelock and all the other black lines.

Step six

Now, get your brown cake batter ready in the piping tube and fill in the rest of the pony portrait.

Step seven

Carefully pour the rest of the plain batter on top of the pony portrait and gently smooth it out so it’s level.

Step eight

Add the remaining bowl of mixture to your empty cake tin and smooth the surface.

Step nine

Ask an adult to put the cakes in the oven and then bake for 15-20 minutes, or until golden and the tops spring back when pressed. Once cooked and left to stand for 10 minutes, carefully remove the cakes from their tins. Leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

Step ten

Put the remaining 100g of butter in a bowl and sift in the icing sugar and a tablespoon of cocoa powder, then mix well to make a smooth icing. Spread evenly on the bottom half of the plain sponge. Sandwich the two halves together with the pony on top and there you have it – a pony portrait cake that’s sure to wow your pals!   

TOP TIP

Have a go at experimenting with different colours and flavours to make a portrait of your pony!