Birthday cakes are especially fun to make when you know it will delight a young child. You can make them from scratch or from a box mix and the kids will love it either way because it’s the decoration that makes all the difference!
This is a cake I made for my son when he was 6 years old. He loved Legos, so I bought a small castle set with the horses and knights and used the pieces as decoration for a castle cake. The turrets are made from ice cream cones dipped in chocolate icing.
The recipe below was my grandmothers cake recipe and happens to be the first cake I ever learned to make. But I think it’s the icing that really makes it special so if you want a shortcut you can buy a Devils Food cake mix and follow the instructions for the icing.
If you need a larger cake to serve more people, make two 13x9 inch cakes and two batches of icing so you have enough to pour over the top of the first layer, then place second layer on top and pour remaining icing over all.
CHOCOLATE CAKE RECIPE & DIRECTIONS
MIX TOGETHER
2 cups flour
2 cups sugar
1 tsp salt
HEAT TO A BOIL & POUR OVER THE DRY INGREDIENTS
1 stick margarine (1/2 cup)
½ cup solid shortening (Crisco)
4 Tbs cocoa
1 cup water
MIX INTO BATTER (batter will be thin)
½ cup buttermilk
2 eggs, slightly beaten
1 tsp soda
1 tsp cinnamon
1 tsp vanilla
Butter and flour a 13x9 inch cake pan (Baker’s Joy spray works well in place of butter & flour). Pour mix into pan and bake at 400 degrees for 20 minutes.
Let cake cool in pan for about 15 minutes and then turn out onto a platter for cooling completely.
CHOCOLATE ICING
If you are making this cake without any decoration, I would consider including the chopped pecans. If you are decorating it, though, you will probably want a smoother surface so leave out the nuts.
NOTE: You will need to make two batches of icing for the castle cake. Make one to dip the ice cream cones. If you are making a double layer cake pour the remaining icing over top of the first layer. Then make the second batch to pour over top of the whole cake.
This icing will harden very fast so pour it on immediately after mixing in the last ingredients.
1 stick margarine (1/2 cup)
4 Tbs cocoa
6 Tbs milk
1 box confectioners sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1 cup chopped nuts (optional)
Melt margarine and blend in cocoa. Add milk and heat to a boil. Mix in sugar, vanilla and nuts. Pour immediately over the cake.
CASTLE CAKE DIRECTIONS
WHAT YOU’LL NEED:
Cake style ice cream cones (for towers)
Chocolate chunks
Andes Thin Mints
Lego castle accessories
Use the ice cream cones for towers. Create stone lookout post by attaching chocolate chunks to the icing on the bottom of the cone. Either add immediately after dipping or attach by extra icing after you’ve coated all cones.
I poured icing over the cake and added the Andes mints to look like stone blocks around the edge. I used more chocolate chunks for the top just to define the middle of the castle.
Then the lego castle accessories really finalized the look I wanted.
TO START
Make icing and quickly roll and dip cones to coat outside. Place on waxed paper to cool. This step can be done a day ahead.
Don’t worry if it’s not perfectly smooth. In fact, that would be pretty hard to get perfect because your fingers take up some room on the cone. But, nobody will notice with all the decoration. In fact, if you look really close at the picture, I used a knife to score more decoration into the cake.
Make cake and invert on a wire cooling rack.
Then cut out a half circle from each corner of the cake. This should fit the inverted ice cream cone. Note: If you are making a double layer cake just cut out a half circle on each corner from one cake which will be the top layer.
Make icing and pour over cake so it covers top. If making a double layer, do this twice.
Place cones inside cut out area. You may have to cut in a little to make the cone sit flat if you have a layer of cake underneath.
DECORATIONS:
Decorate with thin mints and chocolate nuggets as stone work.
Use a knife to lightly score blocks or X's for further decoration.
Flags can be made by gluing construction paper cut in a flag shape around a toothpick. I use an icepick to create the hole in the ice cream cone and
insert the toothpick flag at each tower.
If you want to buy a small set of legos with knights and horses they are
relatively inexpensive and make a great addition.
I also found some wavy candles that add a fun decorative look to the castle.
Just remember, the point of this cake is to have fun! You can always cover
up mistakes with more chocolate candy or using a knife to score decoration.
Look in the candy section of your grocery store and you might get other ideas
to decorate.
Enjoy!!
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