Doll Cake

Once upon a time, there was a sweet little princess about to turn 5.  She wished for a pretty, pink, princess cake to celebrate.  {Poof}  The cake suddenly appeared!

OK, so it wasn't quite that easy.  But, this cake really wasn't difficult to put together.  I split the work into two days.  I baked the cake the day before her birthday and decorated it on her birthday.  So, I had more time to celebrate her big day!

Recipe Link
Ingredients 
Cake
2 packages of cake mix, made according to directions 
Buttercream
1/2 cup Crisco 
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
2 teaspoons vanilla extract 
4 cups powdered sugar 
Milk as needed (approximately 2-3 Tablespoons)  
Wilton concentrated paste in Pink 
Wilton #16 star tip
Decorating bags, couplers
Directions
Add 2 teaspoons vanilla into mixing bowl. Mix softened butter and Crisco. Then, add powdered sugar slowly (1 cup at a time) until mixed. Add milk until smooth. Makes about 3 cups. Set aside about 1 1/4 cups of white frosting. Add coloring to the rest of the buttercream and mix until even. I use toothpicks and dip them into the jar of concentrated icing paste. Add a little paste at a time until you get the shade you like.  
Instructions
Grease and flour a medium (1.5 L) and a small (1 L) glass bowl. Fill bowls with batter until they are a little over 3/4 full. Use remaining batter for cupcakes. Bake at 325 degrees F. in the center of the oven for about an hour or until the center feels set. (I found that the medium bowl needed an extra 5-10 minutes compared to the cake in the smaller bowl). Remove from oven. After 5-7 minutes remove cake from bowls. I used a serated knife and leveled off the tops first, so the cakes would sit flat. Let cakes cool on cooling rack (about 30 minutes). Wrap cakes in plastic wrap and stick in freezer for a few hours until really firm or let the cakes freeze overnight.  If you freeze overnight, I would make the buttercream the next day when you're ready to decorate.

Layer the small cake onto the larger cake with some white buttercream. With a serated knife trim any over hang. Fill in any gaps with more white buttercream. Stick either a clean Barbie doll or a Wilton cake doll in the center. Place white buttercream in bag with a #16 star tip. Starting at the middle of the waist, pipe stars down into a triangler shape (see photo). Place colored frosting into another bag also use a #16 star tip and pipe around the rest of the cake and onto the doll's body. Embellish however you like. I used some candy pearls on top and used my girls hair clip. Have fun!

Inspiration Favorite Family Recipes 

I placed the bowls of batter on a baking sheet before putting in the oven. Strawberry and Funfetti cake mix, yum!

Stacking the cakes together. There's some white buttercream in-between. Looking back, I wished I had evened out the cake better. Next time, I would carve out more cake to get a smoother looking dress and have less gaps to fill.

I filled in a few gaps with white buttercream. Freezing the cake really helps with the carving. The cake is firm so it doesn't tear as you carve it and there are much less crumbs to deal with!

I used Wilton's #16 star tip and simply piped stars everywhere to cover the cake and the doll's body.  Then, I used candy pearls on the top of the dress and found one of my girl's cute hair clips to use in the doll's hair.  All done!

So sad that it is now ALL GONE! :(

The Results...
A cake fit for a princess!  My little 5 yr. old LOVED it!!!  

This was my first doll cake, ever!  I'm not an experienced cake decorator.  Unless you count the trial and error of making birthday cakes over the years for my family in my kitchen.  I've never taken a class.  That would be fun, though.

With my lack of real experience, I set out to make this cake as simply as possible.  I only used one color to dye the buttercream and just one decorating tip is needed!  No special pans are needed, either.  Just the two glass bowls that I already had.  

I kept it simple, but everyone was still impressed!   

If you've never decorated a cake, here are some great tips from Wilton about making icing, using bags, etc....   



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