Princess Barbie Doll Cake

Ever wondered why those 3D specialty cakes are so expensive?  Yes, it is extremely time-consuming.  It took me more than 10 hours, over 3 days to complete this Barbie doll cake.  Why 3 days?  ha... I think I'm "kiasi" lah, better plan for more than less, especially this is my first attempt.  My baking schedule as follows:

Day 1: Relax ...

• Bake butter cakes - two 8" cakes and two 6" cakes.  I baked an 8" and 6" cakes each time (max my oven and mixer can accommodate).  Hence, two rounds of measuring ingredients, preparing, baking and cooling the cakes.  
• After the cakes are completely cool, wrap them in cling wraps, seal in zipper storage bags and store them in the fridge.

Notes: 

 

i) The cakes need to be chilled to harden up, so that you can cut, fill and trim the cakes easily.  In any case, butter cakes tasted better overnight.  

ii) It is better to use butter cake or any dense cake for fondant-covered cake.  The weight of the fondant plus the multiple layers of cake may be too heavy for a sponge cake.

Day 2: Where the fun begins ...

• Prepare the butter creams and chill in fridge.
• Cut to level the top for each cake.  Then, cut each cake into two layers (i.e. I have 4 x 2 = 8 layers).  For each subsequent layer, I carefully trim down the inches.  So starting with a base cake of 8", followed by 7.5", then 7" and so on.  By doing so, it is easier to trim the cake into a dome shaped later.  Stack up the layers to check for a rough dome shape.
• Many sites suggested making a hole in the cake after filling and trimming the cake (the hole is to insert the doll).  But, I thought hollowing the cake in the centre after trimming is rather risky and messy.  I have small cake rings (or those for making scones), so I stamped out circles in each layer (of course be careful to ensure the circles are aligned for each layer).
• Spread the layers with vanilla butter cream, alternate with Nutella butter cream and stack them together.  Reserve some butter cream to cover the whole cake (for Day 3).
• Finally, use a sharp knife and trim the cake to a dome shape.  Wrap the dome cake with cling wrap again and put back into the fridge to chill again.
• Prepare the marshmallow fondant (wrap and store at room temp) and royal icing (store in fridge) for Day 3.

[Note: I read in some baking forum that they used pyrex bowls to achieve the dome shape.  I tried baking the cake with it, but the cake centre is uncooked :( ]

Two 8" butter cakes and two 6" butter cakes for making this barbie doll cake

Day 3:  The challenge ...

Ha... it was like the night before your major examination.  I slept very little and kept thinking of how to go about rolling the fondant and wrapping it around the Barbie doll ... 

• To adhere the rolled fondant onto the cake, you need to cover the whole cake with a thin layer of butter cream.  Put the cake back into the fridge to chill for another 30 minutes before covering with fondant.
• Prepare Barbie's top from a small piece of pink fondant - wrap around and trim (use a clean paint brush to apply a little water on Barbie to stick the fondant)
• Wrap lower-part of Barbie doll with cling wrap and insert the doll into the cake.
• Prepare the white frills - roll out white fondant and cut into thin strips.  For each strip, roll a toothpick onto the fondant to create the frills.  Starting from the bottom, stick layers of frills onto the cake (only for the front part) and work all the way up to Barbie waistline.
• Roll out the pink fondant and wrap around the Barbie doll (except for the front) and trim away excess fondant.  
• Roll out a smaller piece of pink fondant (create frills using toothpick) and wrap around Barbie's waist.
• Decorate the gown with fondant and/or royal icing.

[Note: Always cover excess or unused fondant with cling wrap to prevent drying out.  If fondant becomes too dry and crack, apply a little shortening on your hands and knead the fondant before rolling out again]

Make your own Barbie Cake Box Carrier - it's easy and affordable!

The task is not completed, yet.  I need to bring the Barbie doll cake to my little girl's school for her birthday celebration.  How to transport the Barbie doll cake?  Jess of Bakericious shared with me her clever idea of using two cake boxes to DIY a Barbie doll cake carrier.  Simply overlap the base of the boxes and use the covers to form a "house" for the Barbie doll.  For my Barbie doll cake, I used two 11" boxes.  I secured the base with a metal clip on both sides and used sticky tapes to secure the "roof".

Recipe for Butter Cake

 

(makes one 6" and one 8" cake)

(A):

7 egg yolks (I used eggs with 55 net weigh each)

60g brown sugar

30g golden syrup

(B):

320g unsalted butter

60g brown sugar

1.5 tsp vanilla essence

Zest from an orange

320g cake flour

1 tsp baking powder

120g whipping cream

50g chocolate rice

(C):

7 egg whites

60g caster sugar

1/4 tsp cream of tartar

Directions:

 

1) Whisk ingredients (A) till thick.  Set aside.

2) Cream butter and sugar in (B) till fluffy and add in mixture from step 1.  Add in the rest of the ingredients in (B), fold to combine and set aside.

3) Whisk ingredients (C) till stiff peak.  Mix 1/3 portion of (C) into batter from step 2.  Fold in the rest of (C) into the batter till well combined.

4) Pour batter into greased and lined 6" and 8" cake pans.  Bake in preheated oven of 160C for 50 to 60 minutes (I cover the top with foil after 25 minutes to prevent the top from over-browning).

[Cake recipe adapted from Richard Goh's Walnut Cake from 色香味精选食谱]

Vanilla Butter Cream

 

(enough to ice the Barbie doll cake)

Personally, I prefer Swiss butter cream or Italian butter cream as they are lighter in texture.  But, they required the use of raw egg whites (which is only "partially heated"), so I use this recipe instead:

Ingredients:

 

200g unsalted butter 

40g salted butter (or replace with all unsalted butter and add a small pinch of salt)

120g icing sugar

1/3 vanilla bean (use the seeds only) - or replace with 1 tsp vanilla essence

80g fresh milk

Directions:

 

1) Beat butter till smooth.  Add icing sugar gradually and beat till fluffy.

2) Continue beating and add in the milk gradually. 

3) Add vanilla bean seeds and mix well.

Notes:

 

i) Use immediately or cover and chill in fridge.  When remove from fridge, wait for it to soften a little and re-whip  it before use.

ii) For Nutella butter cream, I just mix a heaped tablespoon of Nutella with some vanilla butter cream.  The kids love Nutella, so this is mainly to cater to their food preference.

Source: fong-kitchen-journal.blogspot.com.au