Presenting the Barbie Cake

As you know, from the previous post, each Tiziversary has had a different theme.

The first one I chose because Tizita loved everything about Curious George.  The cute cake was baked by Walmart.

For the second Tiziversary I chose a panda theme because Tiz had visited the National Zoo in Washington D.C. and loved the pandas.  That cake, too, was baked by Walmart.

Tiz chose princessess for her third Tiziversary because what little girl doesn't love princesses at some point.  I baked the cupcakes and displayed them on a princess tiered plate I bought at, are you ready, Walmart.

So, this year, we took her to the Party Store to choose her theme.

She chose Barbie.

I remembered a Barbie cake where a real doll was in the center of a cake skirt.

I thought it was a bundt pan.

I put out a plea on facebook for a bundt pan.

So many people came to my aid with offers of bundt pans, but a few mentioned the pampered chef batter bowl which apparently is just the right size for the skirt.

I was offered a few of those bowls, too, so I took a friend up on the offer and prepared to make the cake.

I wanted to use a black Barbie, so I asked John to stop at West Towne to look for a black Barbie.  I knew we would not have any black dolls in our stores.

He brought home a rather polynesian looking Barbie with straight black hair.  While she did have brownish skin, she certainly was no Ethiopian.  In looking for black Barbies, I have found they do not make them with authentic hair and eyes.  The closest one I ever found was at the Packer Pro shop, her hair was curly and her skin was a deep brown.  Anyway, I figured the Polynesian one would have to do.

(Packer Barbie is up in Oshkosh)

I chose a cherry chip cake, only bought one box since it seemed that was all the online recipe called for.  I also chose numerous tubes of frosting in various shades of pink, plus two cans of white frosting and some of that new flavoring you can add to canned frosting.  I chose a cherry vanilla.

I also chose some pretty pink sparkly sprinkles, white pearl candies, and white and pink heart candies.

I came home on Friday afternoon all ready to begin my project.

I baked the cherry chip cake and soon realized that the Barbie was much too tall for just that cake, so I called John and asked him to stop and buy one more cherry chip cake mix on his way home.  I decided I would bake it in a round pan and use it under the skirt.

He called, after checking two stores and not being able to find any cherry chip.  I told him to just get vanilla and hurry home.  I did not want to be decorating at midnight and I could not do anything until I baked that bottom layer.

I was worried about the cake coming out of the pampered chef bowl.  I do not have the best luck with getting cakes out of pans, but my worry was for naught.  The cake just slid right out.

I placed it on top of the layer cake which did not have sufficient time to cool, but I was impatient.



I had already gotten the frosting all ready.  The tips were attached, the flavoring was in the white frosting, and I had made two batches of my own buttercream with almond just in case we needed more.

Polynesian Barbie was prepared.  I frosted a pretty top on her and wrapped her from the waist down in plastic wrap.

I was so excited to stick her in the cake skirt.

I pushed her down and

much to my dismay, she was just too tall.

The skirt was hitting her below the butt even with the extra bottom layer.

I had to think fast.  I tried to frost a bit more skirt on her, but there just was nothing for it to stick to, so I went to our box of Barbies and selected one with light brown skin and black hair.  I broke both her legs off and stuck her in the hole.

The hole was now too deep for a legless Barbie.  I couldn't figure out what to do.  I tried to fill that hole with lots of frosting, even tried to fill it with some left over cake from the other round layer.

Now the skirt is hitting her on the boobs and she is slowly sinking into the hole.

I pulled her out and continued my Barbie search.

I found a gymnast Barbie with movable knees.

I amputated just below the knees and she was the perfect height for the skirt.

She was white as white can be, her hair was blonde and very messy, but she would have to do.



I put yet another frosting top on her to cover her boobs.  Mind you, this is the third Barbie top I have put on three different Barbie dolls already!

I started frosting the skirt and it was actually pretty easy.

I always get carried away during cake decorating, I have never learned the lesson that less is more.

I did finally stop with the decorater frosting and candies and called it a night.

The Barbie table was set and ready for the party.

And the look on Tizita's face made it all worth it!

She loved the doll cake and didn't care one lick that it was a blonde, white Barbie.

Tizita cut the cake herself and did a wonderful job.

I didn't hold out much hope for the taste of the cake, but it was really very good.

That cherry chip cake was very moist and sweet.

 

So to sum it up,

Cost of cake mixes and frostings  -  $15.00

Cost of Barbie dolls  -  $10.00

Cost of candies and sugar to decorate  -  $8.00

The look on Tizita's face when she first saw the cake  -  priceless!

 

As for me, I am not giving up my day job anytime soon!