Carousel Cake

by Julee
(Taylorsville, UT)

As my daughter was preparing to turn six, she was fascinated by carousels. We bought the Wilton Carousel kit, which includes two cake plates and the pillars with horses.

I made a 12" cake, double layer, on the bottom and used a Pampered Chef glass mixing bowl to create the half-circle cake for the top.

I made a double batch of buttercream icing:
1 cup butter
1 cup shortening
1# powdered sugar
2 tsp. vanilla and enough milk to reach desired consistency.

Cream sugar and shortening until smooth and creamy.

Add powdered sugar and beat until smooth and well blended.

Add vanilla and enough milk to make desired consistency.

(Note: You need a heavy duty mixer as this WILL burn up the motor of a hand mixer!)

My daughter selected some silk flowers and we cut the stems off those and tucked them under and into the top layer cake.

We found some suckers shaped like flowers and I cut the sticks off the suckers and used them around the bottom, adding green leaves from the silk flowers.

I piped a lace design on the top using a Wilton #4 tip and placed two plastic butterflies on the top.

This cake was a great hit with my daughter and her guests and it was easy enough that she could help me!

Editor's Note: That's a lovely cake, Julee. Thanks for sharing all the information on how you made it. Your success will inspire other moms to try to make this cake for their daughters.