Even if you can’t make it to the Calgary Stampede, you can bring a little bit of rodeo home to your ranch with this fun and exciting cake.
Nothing says ‘classic’ like a chocolate cake with a decadent fudge frosting. Add a little espresso powder to the icing for a little jolt of ‘Yeehaw!’ Sophisticated in flavour, with a rustic homemade presentation, this cake is perfect for celebrating your big rodeo win or your special cowboy’s birthday.
The perfect blank canvas (well, chocolate canvas), this cake is a great base for any party theme you’re after. The sides and top are iced, not too perfectly, to give it a rustic, approachable look. Bring the excitement of the Stampede to your cake by topping it off with little horse and cowboy figures, homemade bunting, and sugared rosemary sprigs.
Looking for more delicious cake ideas? Try our one of our best birthday cakes.
ingredients
Cake
Frosting
Decorations – Sugared Rosemary Sprigs
Decorations – Yeehaw! Bunting
directions
Let the decorations dry overnight.
For the cake, preheat oven at 350°F. Grease 4 6-inch cake pans.
In a large bowl, whisk together all the dry ingredients.
In a mixer with a paddle attachment, beat the butter and brown sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs, 1 at a time and mix until well incorporated.
Add in the dry ingredients and start mixing on slow. Gradually add the milk and sour cream/Greek yogurt.
Divide batter evenly into 4 cake pans. I used an ice cream scoop to make sure each pan had equal amounts of batter. You can also you a scale to do this.
Bake for about 30 minutes until the cake springs back when you press the top gently. Let cakes cool before removing them from pan.
For the frosting, beat butter and powdered sugar until light and fluffy. Add the cocoa powder and espresso powder and beat until smooth.
Add the melted chocolate and beat until smooth.
To assemble the cake, level the cake layers if they have a domed top. Place the first cake layer on a plate or cake stand. Apply a large dollop of frosting and smooth it out, right to the edges of the cake. Place the second layer, apply frosting, and repeat. It is okay if things get a bit messy. With an offset spatula, coat the cake with the remaining frosting.
For the decorations, whisk egg white until it’s no longer stringy in consistency.
With a pastry brush, lightly brush a thin coat of egg white on rosemary sprig.
Sprinkle with granulated sugar. Let dry overnight.
For the bunting: apply a small dab of glue at the end of each skewer stick and attach each end of the twine to a skewer stick.
Cut out 6 small triangles from cardstock. Write the letters of “yeehaw” on each of the triangles.
Attach to twine with a small amount of glue.
