For my daughter's birthday, I decided to try out making a "doll cake" or "Barbie cake." I don't have one of the cake pans in the shape of a dress but I do have a batter bowl that fit the shape of a dress quite well. I apologize now that this post looks incredibly long but I wanted to give you exact details on all the different parts of doing a cake! Here goes....
Two days ahead of time, I made the Meringue snowflakes for the dress. They need about 24 hours to sit as they are extremely fragile! I would suggest making double of what you think you will need as many of mine broke when I applied them to the cake. I found a pattern of a snowflake that I thought would work and printed it out and placed it underneath wax paper. I piped it using a #2 size tip with the recipe as follows:
Snowflake Meringues
2 tbsp. meringue powder
2 cups powdered sugar
3 tbsp warm water (can add more if needed)
Mix together in mixing bowl until stiff peaks form. Add water if the consistency is not correct. It should be thick enough that it will not be runny when doing the piping.
Using a #2 size tip, outline your snowflakes with the icing. Try to add a couple layers so they don't break apart as easily.
With the extra icing I had, I shaped some icicles for decorations on the cake and with the "ice caps" I made out of blue jello.
One day ahead of time I made the cakes. The height of one batter bowl cake (2 boxes cake mix minus about 3 cups worth so it doesn't overflow) wasn't tall enough so I also did another cake in an angel food cake pan. This allowed more height on the outside rather than the center of the cake where the doll was going. You can make the cakes a day or two ahead of time so that they are cool when applying the buttercream and fondant to them- this makes things much easier.
When you are ready to assemble your cake, you need to level the cakes with a leveler or serrated knife so that your cake won't be wobbly.
Next, I made the buttercream: 1 cup unsalted butter, about 1/2 cup milk, 1/4 tsp salt, 2 tsp vanilla extract, and 2 pounds of powdered sugar in a mixing bowl.
Then spread a thin layer of buttercream on the bottom of a cake board. This helps to "glue" the cake to the board so it's easier to decorate. I used my angel food shaped cake as the bottom layer. Apply more buttercream and then stack the batter bowl cake on top of that. Once it is shaped how you want it, you can apply the crumb coat.
I took out about 1 cup of the buttercream and put it in a smaller bowl and mixed in a couple tablespoons of water for the crumb coat. This is the "base" coat of icing that seals the crumbs so that in the next layer of icing, you have a smooth coat of the buttercream. I used a knife to lightly apply the crumb coat on the sides of the cake, then the top. Once your cake is covered, let the icing harden before applying the next coat. I put mine in the freezer about 20-30 minutes.
Next you apply the buttercream frosting. I used a spatula to apply and then a scraper to smooth the buttercream onto the cake. I let this harden for about 15 minutes and applied a second layer of the buttercream. This all works much easier if you have a turntable to help rotate the cake around!
For the next step, I made the fondant. I like my fondant to be marshmallow so people don't feel the need to peel off the fondant to eat the cake. The fondant can be just as enjoyable! Here's the recipe for the fondant:
Marshmallow Fondant
1 bag of mini marshmallows
2 pounds of powdered sugar
about 1/2 cup of Crisco
2-3 tbsp of water
Melt marshmallows and 2 tablespoons of water in a large, microwavable bowl for 1 minute. Stir and continue for another 30 seconds until the mix is completely melted.
Add in the powdered sugar and stir. I used Crisco at coat the counter top and my hands and started kneading the fondant until smooth. After about 5-10 minutes, I split off a small chunk of the fondant to leave to use for white small snowflakes and a snow pile for the candle to sit on. I added in blue food coloring to the rest of the fondant and kneaded it in.
Next I rolled it out using a large plastic fondant roller starting from the center each time and rolling outwards. Measure your cake from one side, over the top of your cake, to the other to see how far out you will need to roll the fondant out. Once it is the correct measurement, roll the fondant around the rolling pin. Starting from one side of the cake, roll the fondant out over the cake, to the other side. Trim off any excess edges you have.
Then you can shape the pleats on the dress. This will also help cover any imperfections your cake and buttercream have! Once you have the shape you like you can decorate with your snowflakes, candies, sprinkles, edible spray paint (I used Wilton Color Mist in blue for the dress bottom), or whatever else you want!
I used some of the cut off edging of the fondant and added more of the food coloring for a darker color fondant and cut them into the top of her dress for decoration. There are really so many different options for decorating these doll cakes that it makes it a lot of fun! Hope you enjoy!!
