If you need to create a horse head cake for a special occasion but can't find the right shape of pan, or it doesn't fit into your budget, you can make one on your own. With a very small amount of carving, you can transform a plain rectangle cake into a horse cake that will delight equine lovers of all ages. While the shape of the cake is extremely simple, you can kick the design up a notch by decorating with assorted candies or additional icing.

Bake one box of prepared cake mix in a greased 13-by-9-inch pan. Invert the cake onto a serving platter when it is finished baking and let it cool before you continue.

Arrange the cake so that one of the 9-inch sides is facing you. The left side of the cake will form the horse's head, and the right side will form the mane and neck area of the horse.

Trim away the top left corner of the cake with a sharp knife to gently round the top of the horse's head.

Cut a small triangle from the bottom of the cake approximately 4 inches from the left side of the cake. This cut will help form the horse's nose, and the triangle of cake you remove forms the horse's ear.

Cut off the top right corner of the cake. This will create the natural curve of the horse's head where the mane is located.

Position the triangle of cake from Step 4 at the top of the cake. Attach it to the cake with icing.

Cover the top and sides of the cake with a layer of icing tinted to the desired color of the horse's fur.

Decorate your cake with round candies for the horse's eyes, shredded coconut or piped icing for the mane and a halter made from shoestring licorice.