Taste Tested Tuesday: Make a Barbie Cake

In my humble opinion, every celebration, no matter how large or small, calls for cake! And the more festive the cake, the happier the celebration! If you’re planning a birthday celebration for a girl who loves dolls or you’re the mom hosting the girls’  spring tea party, surprise your young guests with a beautiful Barbie cake.

Many people assume they have to purchase a Barbie cake from a bakery, but that is not the case. You, yes YOU, can create a custom Barbie cake in your home kitchen.  You may have to purchase a few tools and extra ingredients, but you’ll spend much, much less than the bakery would charge. Plus, when the guests ooh and aah over the gorgeous cake and ask where you purchased it, you’ll be able to smile and say, “Oh, I didn’t purchase this cake from a bakery, I made it myself.” A slam dunk for mom!

Don’t be afraid. Get your materials and start your cake. Let me show you how.

Materials I Used:

• Barbie Doll
• Pampered Chef Batter Bowl
• The Pampered Chef Easy Accent Decorator
• Wilton Cake Release
• Wilton Icing Gels
• 2 (18.25 ounce) boxes of cake mix (plus ingredients to prepare the cake)
• 3 (16 ounce) tubs of white frosting
• 1 cup powdered sugar
• Saran Wrap
• decorative cake plate
• serrated knife
• icing knife

Notes about the materials I used:

• The Pampered Chef website now lists the batter bowl as discontinued. You can no longer purchase it directly from Pampered Chef, but the same bowl is available on Amazon and ebay.
• To save time and to add to the ease of preparation, I used prepackaged materials to make the cake. Feel free to make your own cake batter and icing from scratch if you choose.
• I grease my baking dishes with Wilton’s Cake Release. I have NEVER had a cake stick when using it, so I never use any other product to prepare my baking dishes.
• I use Wilton Icing Gels to color the icing because it gives the icing a more vibrant color than liquid food coloring. However, you can color the icing with food coloring if you wish.
• I make a mess when using traditional piping bags and tips to decorate a cake. Instead, I prefer using the Pampered Chef Easy Accent Decorator. It is easy to fill and is not messy at all. If you don’t have this decorator, you can use traditional piping bags and tips to achieve the same look.

Cake Preparation:

Preheat the oven to 325 degrees. Grease and flour the batter bowl. Prepare one box of cake mix according to the package directions. Bake the cake in the batter bowl for 60 to 70 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into the center comes out clean.

Allow the cake to rest inside the batter bowl for approximately 10 minutes. Run a knife around the outside of the cake and gently turn the cake onto a cooling rack.

Repeat the process listed above to prepare a second cake, as one cake will not be tall enough to hide the Barbie’s legs. Allow the cakes to cool for at least 3 hours before proceeding to the next step.

Cake Assembly:

There are two goals in this step. The first goal is to make one cake sit securely on top of the other cake. This is necessary because you want the cake to be deep enough to hide the Barbie doll’s legs. The second goal is to achieve the gown shape necessary to make the Barbie’s dress.

Using a serrated knife, trim off approximately 2 inches of the narrow end of one cake. (Discard or eat the portion you cut off as it is not needed to complete the cake.) If more cake needs to be trimmed, continue trimming little by little until the uncut cake rests evenly on top of the cut cake and a tall gown shape is achieved.

Once trimming is complete, remove the top layer of cake. Add a layer of icing to the top of the second cake and sit the other cake back on top. This will prevent the cakes from slipping off one another when the Barbie doll is inserted. (If you wish to have colored icing between the layers of the cake, color the icing first and then spread it onto the cake.)

Preparing the Cake for Decoration:

Color the icing using the coloring gels. Stiffen the icing using about 1 cup of powdered sugar. This helps the icing to maintain its shape and set when it is piped onto the cake. Add sugar little by little until the icing reaches your desired level of stiffness. You may need more or less icing.

Apply a thin layer of icing to the outside of the entire cake. This helps create a smoother surface on which to pipe icing. Refrigerate the cake for at least one hour to allow the icing to set.

Cut a small hole in the center of the cake and hollow out a small portion of it. This is where the Barbie will be inserted after decorating the cake. Do not make too large of a hole. If the hole is too large, the Barbie doll may lean.

Cake Decoration:

Fill the Pampered Chef Easy Accent Decorator with icing and apply the tip. I used the star tip. Starting at the bottom of the cake, pipe a ring of stars around the cake. Continue piping star rings around the cake until it is completely covered. If you wish, you may use another tip to pipe trim around the base of the cake to act as the gown’s border.

Wrap the Barbie doll’s legs together using Saran Wrap. This will keep the doll’s legs together, allow the doll to slide into the cake smoothly and keep the doll’s legs clean. Slide the Barbie doll into the hole gently.

 

© 2008 – 2015, Andrea Thorpe. All rights reserved.