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I'm going to attempt to do is bake a cake for my daughter's first birthday. The cake is going to be based on this recipe, but I want it to look more like this one.

Now if you look at the 2nd link, it seems as though the icing has been put directly onto the doll. I can see a problem here, how will it stick to the smooth plastic of the doll.

What would be the best way do you think? Create some sort of base layer which is more tacky and then ice over that?

Edit

The recipe which I have linked to is incomplete when it talks about the Icing. So I would probably use this Butter Cream recipe.

Update

I took all your comments and suggestions on board. Spent a few weeks trying out different sponges, and then did a rough prototype.

http://timjames.me/media/proto-1.jpg

Then the day before her birthday, I made this

http://timjames.me/media/version-1.jpg

I am happy with it! Hope you approve :P

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  • Have you tried it already straight on the doll?
    – Mien
    Commented Jun 28, 2012 at 12:53
  • No not yet. I haven't bought the doll yet until I have done some research :) But I just thought straight away that this could be a problem.
    – Tim B James
    Commented Jun 28, 2012 at 12:55
  • It might depend on the frosting itself. If it's hot, the butter would slip off more easily I think. But what frosting will you use? The one listed on the first recipe isn't complete (0g sugar is most likely a typo).
    – Mien
    Commented Jun 28, 2012 at 12:59
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    +1 For being a creative dad. Make sure to take pictures and post a url in the comments so we can see the result :) (Plus I'm sure your daughter might want to see it and appreciate it more when she is a bit older than just 1 year old)
    – Jay
    Commented Jun 28, 2012 at 17:14
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    @Jay I have attached some photos :)
    – Tim B James
    Commented Jul 29, 2012 at 9:19

1 Answer 1

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Are you sure you want to use icing? The barbie cakes I have seen all have the skirt made from rolled marzipan, not from icing. The bodice can be a normal fabric top or dress (inedible, can be washed after the cake is eaten) or also molded from marzipan. I agree that it isn't as tasty as buttercream icing, but it surely makes a more beautiful skirt.

This recipe has 196 pictures, you can see different variations of the bodice.

If you insist on using icing, I would try to smear something sticky onto the doll first, for example honey or syrup in the softball stage, then apply the icing on the sticky layer. I haven't tried this myself (nor have I tried applying icing directly to plastic, so I don't know if it will hold).

On another note, don't forget to put the barbie's legs in a cut-off paper towel cylinder, so she doesn't get damaged when the cake is cut, and doesn't fall when pieces of the skirt are missing. Also, if you bake the layers in a guggelhupf pan, you don't have to cut a piece out of the middle, which is hard to get right.

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    +1 for the tip on putting the doll in a tube to keep it standing after cutting the cake. Is guggelhupf the same thing as a bundt pan?
    – Jay
    Commented Jun 28, 2012 at 17:12
  • @jay I mean backform.de/de/artikel/gugelhopfform.html. Now I search around, it looks like there is a difference between bund and gugelhupf, but nobody says what the difference is.
    – rumtscho ♦
    Commented Jun 28, 2012 at 19:35
  • Thanks for the link, I will take a look. I like your idea of the honey or syrup, I think that would be the best way to get a tacky surface first. I would prefer to go with the butter cream as my wife isn't a can of marzipan (even though I love it!). I will experiment a little first though :)
    – Tim B James
    Commented Jun 28, 2012 at 20:38
  • @rumtscho I have attached some photos :)
    – Tim B James
    Commented Jul 29, 2012 at 9:19

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