Barbie Doll Birthday Cake!

16 years ago this week, Liz's mom delivered the most magical birthday cake of all birthday cakes to her 9-year-old daughter (if you know how to do math then you know how old Liz turns this week.  And if you don't know how to do math, you're Liz's new bff).  To add special birthday fuel to the fire that is Liz's raging Peter Pan syndrome, Fat Kid Kitchen attempted to re-create this magical birthday cake.  Here is a story about that...

Peppermint Rose:  THE LEGEND.

From the Diary of Liz: Ah, there she is, guys.  My mind-blowing, gravity-defying 9th Birthday Cake, courtesy of a bakery called Deerfields, located in the Chicago suburb my family and I used to live in.  It's still around today, making Fat Kid dreams all over the Midwest come true, one epic birthday at a time.  I had a cake consultation and everything.  This bakery was determined not to disappoint me.  I brought in the doll, this chubby-faced barbie-knockoff in a pink pirate captain's hat that actually smelled like peppermints and roses.  I said "I'd like a cake baked around this doll, please!" I had seen the doll-dress cakes in their brochures, boasting that they could turn your daughter's favorite doll into a birthday cake that "she'll never forget!".  And trust.  I never forget that damn cake.

For years I contemplated its many complex mysteries.  Did they bake her with the cake?!  If so, how the hell didn't she melt?  Did they carve out a little hole for her legs?  How'd they do the freakin' layers?!  SO MANY QUESTIONS.  Well, now I'm a highly functioning adult who can solve mysteries on her own and has a baking blog.  So it was time to unlock the Secrets of Deerfields! (*You can turn on the soundtrack to Inception now if you want).

We found this really fantastic doll-cake-baking kit at Michael's to help us on our mission.  It would be a very smart idea to purchase this kit if you want to go on this journey!  That dome shaped dress is no easy feat.

Oh HEY there awesome Mermaid.

Barbie Doll Birthday Cake

The doll that came in our special kit was not an actual Barbie and was kind of an amputee of sorts (see below), but we think you could easily use a real Barbie doll.  Or just forego the doll altogether and eat the cake because the cake is delish!  But where's the fun in that...?

You can pretty much pick any kind of cake you want as long as you follow this simple rule:  Make enough for a two-layer cake so it properly fills the dome.

First, crack open your doll-cake-kit.  You will find the following inside:
-Doll pick (which is basically the torso of a doll with a straight plastic pick where its legs would be)
-Dome cake pan
-Metal rod + Screw
-Stand for the dome pan

Momma warned me 'bout evil bakers who would put me in a cake but I NEVER LISTENED!

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees and put the cake pan together following the instructions in the box.  The metal rod should stick straight up through the dome.  It's where your doll will go later.

Next, in a large bowl, combine your dry ingredients for the cake:  Flour, sugar, salt, baking powder.  Then separate the yolk from six eggs and put them in a smaller bowl.  Britt is the master egg yolker.  Observe.

Make egg white omlettes later with the leftovers!

Combine the wet ingredients SANS MILK with the yolk and then add them to the dry mixture.  Then add the butter.  It's going to start getting pretty sticky, and this is when you need the milk.  If you find it's still really thick and sticky you may add a tad more.  You don't want the thing being a giant sugar cookie (as delicious as that would be).

The consistency it ought to be...

Grease the dome pan before pouring in your vanilla soup of the gods.  Once it's all glopped in there, take a heaping tablespoon (or more if you wish!) of the blackberry preserves and swirl it around the top of the cake, comme ça:

 

Stick it in the oven and bake for about 45 minutes.  You may need a wee bit more time due to the shape of the pan, so definitely test with a long toothpick before you commit to taking it out!

Once it's ready, let it cool for a good long while.  It helps if your house has lousy heat like Liz's does. :-/  Then flip it over onto a cake platter and make sure your doll-pick fits in the hole.  Now, if you chose to use a real doll with legs, you'll probably need to CAREFULLY carve the hole in the cake a little wider to accommodate.

Clothe me now, for the love of all that's holy!!!

Now here's the fun part.  The cake kit recommends using fondant for the dress, but Britt and Liz HATE fondant.  But if you don't, then by all means go for it.  We used a simple vanilla cream frosting and decorative white icing for the top of the dress.

Take notes, Katy Perry.

We pondered who this character ought to be.  It was a white dress, and the doll had luxurious brown curls, so we thought a Kate Middleton cake ought to be quite easy!  LIES.  Without lacey sleeves, this could be any trashy bimbo of a bride.  The lacey sleeves defined that dress.  And we were quite ill-equipped to make them, we needed smaller tips for the frosting tube.  That is where we failed.  We're sad to admit it.

Sleeveless bimbo bride.  You're no Kate Middleton.

Decorate as much or as little as you want!  At that point we'd been working on the cake for almost 3 hours and our blood sugar was low and the sun was setting and it was almost time to have wine.  So we wrapped it up and called it a day!

Bongiorno Principesa!

And was Liz satisfied with the result?  Did it live up to the legend?  It might not have looked quite as fancy, but judging by these identical awkward expressions...

...we're pretty sure we did a-okay!  And the best part of this whole endeavor?  We've got this princess cake mold now that we can use for years to come.  Hey friends.  Guess what you're all getting for your birthdays this year?

Love,

Liz & Britt