How to Make a Barbie Cake / Princess Cake

Who doesn’t love Barbie?!?!  For a couple of minutes we can put aside all of the controversy and the thoughts of whether an anatomically correct Barbie would be as loved by today’s society as she currently is, and just enjoy the icon that is Barbie.   Whatever your opinion on Barbie, she has managed to withstand the test of time and continues to run rampent in elementary schools . . . in Cranbrook at least!  We’ve always been about 10 years behind current trends, so maybe Barbie is passe.  Oh well, I’ll add an edited note to this post in 10 years if that is the case. 

Now, lets move to putting Barbie in a cake . . . and make a Barbie cake!  If you want to replace the barbie with another type of doll, change away! Any doll will work with this design.  If you do not have a doll pick, and want to put an actual Barbie in the cake (who has money to do that?!?), after baking the cake, you will need to carve out the center of the cake, wrap Barbie in syran wrap (make sure she’s clean) and follow the same decorating steps as I show you in the video. 

Princess/Barbie cake:

This will make one cake, and serve 10-12 people.

• Barbie doll cake pick

• Silver dragees/edible sugar pearls

• Colored vanilla buttercream icing (teal and purple)

• small star tip  (e.g. Wilton #16)

• flower petal tip (e.g. Wilton #104)

• open star tip (e.g. Wilton 1M)

• 2 quart (1.89 Litres) Tapered Glass Bowl

• 5 Cups (1.2 Liters) cake batter

Procedure:

1. To make this cake, you will need five cups of your favourite batter!  I found a tapered glass bowl, which matched the shape of the dress perfectly, so I used that to bake my cake in (you can also carve the shape if you can’t find a bowl).  

2. Baking a cake in this deep of a bowl causes a few complications.  It takes a long time, and it cooks quickly on the outside due to the glass.  To prevent a cake that is burnt on the outside and gooey on the inside, you can do a couple of things: place the bowl in a water bath (this regulates the temperature of the glass); turn the temperature down to 325˚F/163˚C; or use a heating core placed in the center of the batter to help bake evenly. If using a water bath, bake for 60-70 minutes.  If turning the temperature down, bake for 70-80 minutes.  If using a heating core, bake for 55-65 minutes.

3. Once the cake is baked, allow it to cool completely before levelling the bottom.  Start by covering the cake with a crumb coat using a metal spatula and place into the fridge or freezer for 10 minutes.  

4. Divide buttercream in half, and colour half teal, and half purple.  

5. Divide the teal into two equal amounts and place one teal batch into a piping bag fitted with a small star tip and the other with a large open star tip.  

6. Put the purple buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a petal tip.  

7. Turn the cake upside down, so the top (wider section) of the cake is against the cake plate.  

8. Starting at the base of the cake and using the teal buttercream with the large star tip, squeeze star shapes along the bottom of the cake, where it meets the board or plate the cake is sitting on. Do one entire row around the base, and then place one dragee in the center of the star shape before the buttercream crusts over.  Repeat with a second row, above the first row.  

9. Switching to purple buttercream (with the petal tip), place the wide part of the tip closest to the cake and make a zigzag pattern about an inch wide, up the side of the cake, all the way to the top.  Repeat with a second line, making sure that the zigzags touch each other all the way to the top.  Continue around until the cake is entirely covered.

10. Cover (or protect) the doll’s hair and raise the doll’s hands.  Place the doll pick into the centre of the cake at the top.  Switching to teal buttercream with small star tip, pipe a sweetheart neckline over her chest, under her arms, and around to the back.  Fill in the rest of the torso with small stars, squeezing small amounts at a time.  When the torso is covered, switch back to the large star tip teal bag, and pipe a line of larger stars where the torso and dress meet.  Place dragees into these stars as well.  More dragees can be applied above the neckline if desired.  Uncover the hair, lower the arms.

11. Keep cake refrigerated and remove from fridge 3-4 hours prior to serving. Cake is best consumed within 2-3 days.

I hope you enjoyed the Barbie cake tutorial! 

Happy Baking!