Recipe courtesy of Amy Stevenson for Food Network Kitchen

Scooby-Doo Dog Bowl Cake

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  • Level: Intermediate
  • Total: 1 hr (includes setting time)
  • Active: 40 min
  • Yield: 8 servings
Celebrate Scoobtober and everyone’s favorite doggy sleuth with this cute dog bowl cake that’s full of treats for humans only (sorry Scooby-Doo!). The outside of the cake is decorated in the colors of The Mystery Machine and sports the vehicle’s signature groovy flowers. The top is overflowing with Scooby snacks — tempting bone-shaped graham crackers. The recipe calls for two 8-inch round cakes to form the bowl. You can bake these from a mix or from scratch, just make sure they’re sturdy since you’ll be cutting them to make the dog bowl shape.

Ingredients

Decorations:

Buttercream:

Cake:

Directions

Special equipment:
a small offset spatula; a large offset spatula; a small daisy-shaped flower cutter, 1 1/2 inches in diameter or smaller; 2 piping bags fitted with medium plain pastry tips; a small paintbrush; a 6-inch cake round
  1. For the decorations: Make the flowers by very lightly dusting your work surface with confectioners’ sugar. Roll out one piece of fondant to slightly less than 1/8 inch thick and use a small daisy cookie cutter to cut out flowers. Transfer to a parchment-lined baking sheet. Repeat with the remaining 2 colors, making sure you clean the previous color from your work surface before continuing. Use a pastry brush to brush off any excess confectioners’ sugar from the flowers.
  2. Fill a small bowl with water. Use the rounded end of a small paint brush to make a small round indentation in the center of each flower. Brush the indentation with a tiny bit of water. Add a sugar pearl to each indentation. Set aside to let dry.
  3. For the buttercream: Combine the butter and salt in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat on medium-high until smooth and light, 1 to 2 minutes. Add the confectioner’s sugar and beat on low to combine. Add the vanilla and 2 tablespoons of the cream. Continue beating on medium-high until light, fluffy and spreadable, 2 to 3 minutes, adding the last tablespoon of cream if it seems too stiff. Remove about 1 cup of the buttercream and divide between 2 bowls. Color one bowl vibrant orange with the orange gel and the other vibrant green with the green gel. Put the orange and green buttercream separately in piping bags fitted with medium plain tips and set aside. Color the rest of the buttercream vibrant blue with the blue gel.
  4. For the cake: Level the cake layers by trimming off any domed portion with a serrated knife. Set one cake layer on a plate or cake stand. Spread the top with a layer of blue buttercream. Top with the second layer, cut-side down. Set a 6-inch cake round on top, centering it. Use a serrated knife to cut down along the round at a 45-degree angle, shaving off the edge of the cake to create a slope all around. Dust away any crumbs with a pastry brush. Spread the cake all over with a thin but even layer of blue buttercream. Refrigerate until set, about 20 minutes.
  5. Frost the cake smoothly with the remaining blue buttercream. Pipe a green border around the base of the cake. Pipe an orange border around the top layer at the point where the cake starts to slope to make the rim of the dog bowl. Press the candy flowers around the sides of the bowl to decorate it. Fill the space inside the orange rim with a heaping amount of bone-shaped graham crackers.

Cook’s Note

If you’d like to save buying three different colors of fondant, you can dye your own but make sure it’s very brightly colored.