Knight’s Horse Birthday Cake Inspired by Misty’s Oat Cake

Tiz a Knight, my handsome bay buddy, turned 17 over the weekend. I was inspired to bake a horse birthday cake while researching the life of Marguerite Henry and the real Misty pony for my book Marguerite, Misty and Me. Marguerite threw elaborate parties for the celebrity pony’s birthday. In order to celebrate in style and try something a little different, I baked Knight a horse birthday cake based on Marguerite Henry’s recipe for Misty’s birthday cake. You can find this recipe in the book A Pictorial Life Story of Misty on page 50.

Scroll to the bottom for the Horse Birthday Cake Recipe

Misty of Chincoteague History

Every year Marguerite would host a birthday party for Misty at her home in Wayne, Illinois. The neighborhood children would come over and give Misty cards and treats. As the years passed and Misty’s fame grew, what started as a simple party with just local kids bloomed into a community event. I saw a home movie of one Misty birthday party and it looked as though at least one or two hundred people were in attendance.

I read and re-read the Misty’s Oat Cake recipe. I had to make a few modifications. For example, Marguerite’s recipe calls for 1/2 cup of shortening. I substituted coconut oil instead (does anyone bake with shortening anymore?). Also, the last step involved dusting the top of the horse birthday cake with chopped walnuts. I wasn’t sure if horses should eat walnuts (and, quite honestly, they’re not my favorite nut). After a quick Google search, it seemed like almonds would be a better alternative for horses. I had almonds on hand, so that won.

Click here to peep the real Misty pony in this blog post. 

The original recipe calls for two 9 x 9 cake pans (which I didn’t have), so I used a large rectangular cake pan. There was no mention of making a layer cake, so I inferred maybe one cake was for the pony and the other for the party attendees? At any rate, I cut Knight’s cake into a square for serving and kept the extra part off to the side to taste test. It was pretty good!

I decorated the platter with flowers and it looked quite fancy. Then I met my sister at the barn so she could take pictures and we could celebrate my good horse together. My sister arranged the seventeen carrots as “candles” as I pulled Knight out of his small turnout area. The horses have not yet been introduced to the rich spring grass in the big fields. It was a challenge to lead Knight over to the fence line where his cake was waiting as his head went down to immediately graze on the lush field. My sister rested the cake platter on the top of the fence. Knight gave it a courtesy sniff and dropped his head to much grass again. Womp, womp.

“Put it on the ground,” my sister recommended. I did. Knight promptly plucked all the “candles” out of the cake except for one. He began mowing the field again.

I broke off a corner edge of the yellowish, molasses-frosted cake. I put it in front of his muzzle and he sniffed it and went back to chewing grass.

“It’s hard to compete against this spring grass. Maybe if he was in his stall he’d go for it,” I said, trying to reassure myself that I hadn’t wasted a whole cake for an uninterested birthday boy.

Knight got to have his birthday off, so after about several minutes of hand grazing, I put him back in the small field with his buddies. I gave the excess cake I had brought in a separate container to my sister to give to my brother-in-law. I took home the uneaten horse birthday cake and dumped it in the garbage. I thought it was pretty tasty, but Knight was all about the grazing. Would I recommend you try this horse birthday cake recipe based on Misty’s Oat Cake recipe? Sure, why not. It was a fun experiment and your results may vary.

By the way, if you want to see a picture of Misty of Chincoteague during one of her birthday parties, you can turn to the last page of Marguerite Henry’s book Dear Readers and Riders. Have fun!

Horse Birthday Cake Recipe (Based on Misty’s Oat Cake recipe found in A Pictorial Life Story of Misty)

Grease and flour a 9 x 13 cake pan.

Mix together:

2 1/4 cups flour

1 1/2 cups sugar

3 tsp. baking powder

1 tsp. salt

Mix in:

1 cup uncooked oats

Add:

1/2 cup coconut oil

Beat in:

2 egg yolks

1 cup milk

After everything is well mixed, fold in: 

2 beaten egg whites

Bake at 350% for 35-40 minutes. When cake is cool, spread top with molasses and finely chopped almonds.

Top with carrots as candles for the birthday horse or pony!

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Your turn: Have you ever baked a cake for a horse or pony? What was your experience like? I hope you’ll leave a comment. 

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Click here to take a peek at Marguerite, Misty and Me, my Marguerite Henry biography which talks more indepth about the famous Misty birthday parties in Chapter 13, “Influence Before Influencers Were a Thing.”