Circus Carousel Cake Recipes

Steps:

• In a large bowl, cream shortening and brown sugar. Add egg; mix well. Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon, cloves, nutmeg and allspice; add to the creamed mixture alternately with milk. Cover and refrigerate for 1 hour or until easy to handle., Roll out dough to 1/4-in. thickness. Trace body and tail patterns onto waxed paper and cut out. Position patterns on dough; cut out four horses and four tails. Place on ungreased baking sheets. Bake at 350° for 8-10 minutes or until edges are golden brown. Remove to wire racks to cool. (Bake remaining dough for additional cookies to serve on the side or refrigerate dough for another use.), For icing, in a small bowl, beat meringue powder, confectioners' sugar and water on high speed for 5-7 minutes or until smooth and thickened. If too stiff, add more sugar. Place 1/4 cup frosting each in two bowls; tint one purple and the other pink. Leave the other remaining icing white., Wrap the 15-in. ribbon around the 3/4-in. dowel, leaving 2-1/2 in. at end of dowel unwrapped. Use icing to attach ends of ribbon. In same way, wrap each 13-in. ribbon around a 1/4-in. dowel., Attach tails to horses with white icing. Spread white icing over one side of horses. Use pink icing for manes, forelocks, tails and saddles of two horses; use purple icing for the other two horses. Attach chocolate chips for eyes. With icing, attach each horse 2-1/2 in. from the top of a 1/4-in. dowel. Let dry, about 2 hours. Cover and refrigerate remaining icing., When icing on horses is dry, decorate other side in the same way; let dry., For cake, in a large bowl, cream butter and brown sugar. Add eggs; mix well. Combine flour, baking soda, cinnamon and salt; add to the creamed mixture alternately with applesauce. Spoon into three greased and floured 9-in. round baking pans. Bake at 350° for 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick comes out clean. Cool for 10 minutes before removing from pans to wire racks to cool completely., Place 1 cup whipped frosting in a bowl; tint purple. Place 1/2 cup frosting in another bowl; tint pink. Leave the remaining frosting white. Place one cake on a 10-in. serving plate. Frost top of cake white; top with a second layer. Frost top white and sides purple. Place remaining cake on a thin lightweight plate or 9-in. round piece of cardboard; frost cake top white and sides pink., Cut a hole in the corner of a pastry or plastic bag. Insert star tip #21; fill with white frosting. Pipe evenly spaced vertical stripes on sides of cakes. Using pink frosting and star tip, pipe rosettes between each strip on pink cake., Insert large dowel in the center of purple cake. Insert remaining dowels evenly spaced around cake. Place pink cake on top of dowels. For more stability, attach top cake to dowels with cookie icing if desired.

Steps:

• For the cake: Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F. Coat two 9-inch cake pans and one 9-inch pie dish with cooking spray, then line with parchment and spray the parchment.
• Combine the cake mix and pudding mix in a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment and mix on low speed to blend. With the speed still on low, add the oil, egg whites and 1 1/2 cups water and mix until combined. Raise the speed to medium and mix until increased in volume, lighter in color and smooth, about 5 minutes.
• Pour the batter into the prepared pans and smooth the tops with an offset spatula or butter knife. Bake until golden on top and the edges pull away from the pans, about 20 minutes for the pie pan and 25 minutes for the cake pans. Transfer to a rack and let cool completely in the pans, then unmold, remove the parchment and refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
• For the Swiss buttercream: Meanwhile, bring a few inches of water to a boil in a saucepan that can hold a heatproof stand mixer bowl above the water without the bottom of the bowl touching it.
• Add the sugar, lemon juice, salt and egg whites to the mixer bowl and whisk together by hand. Set the bowl above the boiling water and heat, whisking, until the mixture is warm to the touch and the sugar is dissolved. Transfer to the stand mixer fitted with the whisk attachment and beat at medium-high speed until cool and the whites hold stiff peaks, 10 to 15 minutes.
• With the motor running on medium-high speed, add the butter a couple of pieces at a time, making sure the pieces are completely incorporated before adding more. After all the butter is added, continue beating on medium-high speed. The mixture will deflate and appear curdled. Continue beating until the buttercream comes back together to form a smooth and spreadable consistency. Slowly drizzle in the vanilla while beating until smooth and light. (If the frosting is very soft or begins to break, refrigerate until set but still spreadable and then beat until light before using.)
• Scoop 2 cups of the buttercream into a medium bowl and mix in 3 drops of deep pink gel food coloring; the buttercream should be the same color as the pink animal crackers. Transfer 1/4 cup of the pink buttercream to a piping bag fitted with a small round piping tip. Cover the remaining pink buttercream in the bowl with plastic wrap.
• Scoop 1/2 cup of the white buttercream into a medium bowl and mix in 1 drop royal blue and 2 drops neon brite green gel food coloring to make teal. Transfer to a piping bag with a small star tip. Transfer 1/4 cup white buttercream to a piping bag fitted with a small round tip. Cover the remaining white buttercream in the bowl with plastic wrap.
• For the assembly: Mix 1 drop pink food coloring into the melted candy. Line a baking sheet with parchment. Put 8 animal crackers--both pink and white--on the baking sheet flat-side up. Spoon a small amount of melted candy onto each cracker and press on a chocolate-covered biscuit stick so the cracker is glued to the top third of the stick. Repeat with 8 more sticks and crackers, attaching the crackers to the bottom third of the sticks. Refrigerate until set, about 5 minutes.
• For the carousel base: If the tops of the cakes have domed, carefully trim them with a long serrated knife so that they are flat on top. Place one of the cake rounds on a 10-inch cake board. Spread the top with 1 cup white buttercream and cover with 3 tablespoons sprinkles. Top with the second cake round. Frost the whole cake with 1 cup white buttercream to crumb coat. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
• Frost the cake with the reserved pink buttercream. Pipe white lines of buttercream down the sides of the cake every 2 inches to create panels. Press white animal crackers into every other panel. Pipe a shell border around the top and bottom edge of the cake with the teal buttercream and top the border with sprinkles. Refrigerate the cake until ready to assemble.
• For the carousel top: Wrap a 10-inch cake board with plastic wrap, making sure the plastic on one side is smooth and taut. Place the pie-shaped cake layer on the white side of a 6-inch cake board with the wider side of the cake facing up. Frost the cake with a thick layer of white buttercream. Put the smooth side of the 10-inch board against the top of the cake and flip it over so the 6-inch board is now on top. Frost the angled sides of the cake with white buttercream. Pipe pink buttercream lines down the angled sides every 2 inches, creating panels. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
• Place a second 10-inch cake board on top of the 6-inch board and flip the carousel top back over. Gently peel the plastic-covered board off the top. (If you have difficulty doing this, chill the cake 15 minutes more. You can also gently loosen the edge of the buttercream from the plastic using a warm offset spatula). The top of your cake should be flat and smooth.
• Re-melt the melted candy. Pipe a shell border around the edge of the pie-shaped cake with the teal buttercream and top with sprinkles. With kitchen shears, trim 4 strawberry cream-covered biscuit sticks to 3 inches, gather them in a bundle and press them into the top of the center of the cake; they should stand upright like a column. Dip the coated ends of 10 strawberry biscuits in the melted candy and insert the uncoated ends around the rim of the cake, angling the sticks toward the center column like the spokes of a wheel. Dip the bottom of the gumdrop in the melted candy and affix to the top of the column. Refrigerate until ready to assemble.
• For the center column: Spread 1 teaspoon of white buttercream in the center of a second 6-inch cake board and top with a doughnut. Spread it with buttercream, add another doughnut, more buttercream and the last doughnut. Insert 3 chocolate biscuit sticks through the center holes of the doughnuts and trim to the height of the doughnut stack. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
• Frost the doughnut stack with white buttercream. Press 8 strawberry biscuit sticks against the side of the doughnut stack 1 inch apart. Press 6 animal crackers into the buttercream between the biscuit sticks, using a little buttercream to get them to adhere if necessary. Refrigerate until firm, about 30 minutes.
• To assemble: Carefully transfer the doughnut stack to the middle of the carousel base. Insert the cookie sticks with the animal crackers around the rim of the cake, alternating heights and pushing them 1 inch into the cake. Carefully transfer the top of the carousel to rest on top of the doughnuts (leave the 6-inch board on the underside for support).
• Serve the cake on a lazy Susan or rotating cake stand. To serve, remove the carousel top and cut the base into wedges.

Steps:

• To make the carousel roof: Place a piece of wrapping paper, design-side down, on a flat surface. Place a 10-inch round plate on it and trace around the plate to make a 10-inch circle (A). Cut out. Fold circle in half, fold again and again. You will have eight pie-shaped wedges (B). Place a glass along curved edge and trace around edge of glass to make a scalloped edge on the wedge (C). Cut out. Fold one of the pie-shaped sections in half towards the underside of the paper. Crease and fold sideways and secure with tape. Re-crease all fold lines to make them go in the same direction. You should now have a roof with seven sections rather than eight. Set aside.Prepare the carousel poles: For each pole, glue two of the same animals together on a straw, using small dabs of frosting for the glue. Vary the position of the animal crackers on the straws, leaving the bottom 2 inches empty on all straws. Set poles aside to let frosting dry.To prepare the cake: Brush loose crumbs from surface of cake with a soft pastry brush. Place cake on cake plate. Frost all surfaces of cake with remaining frosting.To decorate the cake: Sprinkle cake with colored sprinkles either in stripes or totally cover the cake. Press twelve individual animal crackers around base of cake alternately with a gumdrop. Arrange straws in a circle on top of cake. Top with paper carousel roof.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 350°F.
• Beat cake mix, dry pudding mix, water, eggs and oil with mixer on low speed 1 min. Beat on medium speed 4 min. Pour into greased and floured 12-cup fluted tube or 10-inch tube pan.
• Bake 50 to 55 min. or until toothpick inserted near center comes out clean. Cool in pan 5 min.; remove from pan to wire rack. Cool completely.
• Transfer cake to plate. Drizzle with Semi-Sweet Chocolate Glaze; top with sprinkles. Let stand until glaze is firm. Decorate cake with crackers and straws as shown in photo.