Princess Barbie Doll cake

Barbie doll cakes aren't as popular as they used to be. I made my very first Barbie cake as a teenager, for my sister's birthday. I didn't take into account just how long Barbie's legs are and the cake I baked only came up to about half her thigh-level. What to do? Bake more cake? No time! So, I ripped poor Barbie's legs off and just stuck her body on top of the cake! My sister was pretty happy with her cake. The decorations and frosting perfectly matched Barbie's hair accessories and everything. Happy, that is, until she found out that it was her Barbie that I used. Haaaaa.

Princess Barbie Doll Cake

This Rapunzel inspired princess Barbie cake is for big girl Caitlyn, who is celebrating her 4th birthday! She loves princesses! In fact, when I met her mummy so she could hand me the Barbie doll, Caitlyn was wearing a Snow White dress! So pretty. 

This princess Barbie cake is 6 layers of strawberry cake, filled with strawberry Swiss meringue buttercream. I baked the cakes up in 7", 6", 5" pans, with the top layer being a cupcake! After stacking and filling the cake, I did a bit of carving to shape the dress.

view from the back

I tied up Barbie's hair and wrapped her torso and legs in saran wrap before sticking her into the cake so that she wouldn't get all greasy. Because the birthday girl loves pink, naturally, her princess Barbie cake had to be pink too! She is decorated with vanilla Swiss meringue buttercream. 

I just used a small off-set spatula to cream the vertical stripey pattern on her dress. I used piping tip no. 104 for the white ruffles at the base of the dress, and a small star tip to add the waves on top of the ruffles. I used the same star tip for the top part of her dress and for the little rose in the centre of her torso. I added some pink sugar pearls to glam up the cake a bit. What princess doesn't like pearls?

details on the top part of the dress

To finish the cake, I hand-wrote the happy birthday message for Caityln with some buttercream on the cake board. I love that this cake is all-buttercream decorated. Fondant cakes look great because of the smooth, neat finish, but to be honest, not many people really eat the fondant. (with the exception of my son, who ate all four black fondant tires on his 4th birthday cake. In fact, he waits eagerly for any fondant scraps that are left when I'm done decorating a cake...) 

I'm so glad that this pretty pink princess cake brought a big smile on the birthday girl's face when she saw it! Happy 4th Birthday, sweet princess Caitlyn!

Happy 4th Birthday, princess Caitlyn!

PS: Here's that stunted Barbie cake that I made for my sister back in the day. Don't laugh. It was my first one. Ok ok, you can laugh. Haaaaaaaa. And PPS, apparently my sister STILL has the Barbie doll! (a black rubber band reused from a piece of broccoli keeps her legs in place!) Bwaahahha.

Thanks for the pic, Joo! Hahahaa.