Please talk me through the PRINCESS CAKE thing (Barbie atop a bowl-shaped skirt)

[franch]

I'm going to do a vanilla sponge with blue icing - probably buttercream which won't look smooth and lovely I know but will require less dexterity I feel (of which I have none, esp under pressure). I then plan to smother the messy icing with glittery sprinkles and flowers etc.

Please tell me (as if I were an idiot):
What tin/bowl do I get?
What method of lining/greasing said tin?
What quantities do I accordingly use for the cake?

I am not bad at baking but a rather basic amateur so take nothing for granted when explaining this to me ...

See also my doll appeal

Oh and for the icing do I need paste colouring or can I use the stuff out of a bottle

Thanks Califrau. Am v scared of the idea of handling a sheet of rolled-out fondant - convinced I'd roll it out too thin and it'd tear, or I'd just generally mishandle it and mess it up. The pictures I've seen online are great but I've just never used the stuff and get very clumsy when stressed ...

I rented a skirt tin from a local cake shop, but my first attempt was a disaster because the outside of the cake cooked while the middle was still raw and runny! The middle then started erupting and overflowing onto the oven floor... On my second attempt I filled it only 2/3 of the way up, and cooked at a lower temperature, and that worked better.

You can use a Pyrex bowl. Either way, you may need a second 'normal' round cake to go underneath, to build up enough height, especially if you are using a whole doll with her legs on. I just greased my tins with unsalted butter.

You can get packs of 'Barbie Fairtopia' sprinkles in supermarkets, including pink and purple glittery bits, which work well with this sort of thing.

If you make a madeira cake, you just need a little butter to wipe on the pyrex bowl. It won't stick, because a madeira is that much more moist, than a vicky sponge.

With fondant icing, if you roll it too thin and it tears, you can simply rub over the break with your finger and it disappears. I also find that placing flowers, silver balls or glitter over said break, works marvellously!

this is the one i made my dd1. I used a glass bowl. (final cake pic in profile!)

The icing wasn't too hard, But i did have a wonky join at the back!

I have just added a pic on the photos on my profile of the one I did (I am very amateur.) It is fondant icing, took about an hour and a half to decorate but wasn't too difficult. I rolled up 'snakes' of white fondant icing and stuck them on the skirt first to give a rippled effect, then put the lilac icing on the lower part of the skirt (use apricot jam to glue icing to cake, or water to glue icing to icing), and then used a 3/4 circle of pink icing (with zigzaggy edges) for the upper part of the skirt.

Many thanks. I'm almost convinced about the fondant icing ... Would I need to cut it into a circle shape before I start, with a hole in the middle to get it over the doll? Can see me messing that up too ...

And is this the stuff?

Also a bit scared by your story melpomene - wonder if I should get the Wiltons tin which has some kind of heat conductor rod in the middle. Or is that the kind you rented?

Just roll in roughly into a circle and lay it gently over the top of the cake. Once you've teased it down and over the cake, you can cut round the bottom. Don't worry about making a hole for the doll either, you can do that once it's covered or just push it through it.

Remember, you can cover all sorts of mistakes with another bit of icing or something sparkly! And also however bad you think it turns out, your dd will be thrilled that you made the effort. She will remember for ever the cakes you made for her birthday. Good luck!

Thanks for the encouragement MML

melpomene and tortoise, your cakes look brilliant

When did you all make your cakes? How far ahead? Do they have to be iced & decorated on the day?

Thanks franch.
I made mine the day before her Birthday. Well, i cooked the cake the night before that so that it had a chance to cool over night before i decorated it.

When I do cakes (I make to sell to friends and family) I usually make them about 3 days before I ice them and wrap them in foil. There's no reason not to ice it the same day though. It will keep the cake nice and moist.

I do have cakes on my profile actually, I think they are private atm, but I'll sort that now!

Wow - amazing cakes MML. So like tortoise you decorate on the day of the party, right? This is why I must keep things simple, otherwise it'll be Stress City.

DD2's party is also ON MY BIRTHDAY this year, so there's a bit of a limit to how much stress I'm prepared to tolerate

I must just say, that poor old dd never gets a cake quite as perfect as that lot! When I'm making cakes for other people, I don't have the added stress of organising a party or presents or getting the house straight!

Yes, I think the icing I used was like the ones in your link. The tin I used was a bell-shaped one (think the technical term is a tiffin tin?) and didn't have a conducting rod in the middle.

I made and decorated my cake the day before the party, and it kept very well (We covered it with an upturned clean wastepaper basket because it was too big to go in a cake tin!) As MaureenMLove said, it's best to decorate the skirt first then you can stick the doll in and cover up the join with a bit of icing if necessary.

This pink piping icing is good too, and easy to use (much easier to control than those teeny weeny tubes of 'writing icing' that you can buy). You can do rosettes or ribbons with it.

Thanks melpomene. Do you realise your profile says you have no children?!

I have made two for my daughter, and what I did was just make two normal square tin cake (I enhireted the greatest from my mil approx. 25cm x 25cm), and then just cut out circles (I alternated between two flavoured cakes i.e. vanilla and banana)in different sizes, stacked them up whereafter I decorated with buttericing, marshmallows and flowers.
I think one of them is still on my profile.

Aha, finally! Now that's what I had in mind decoration-wise - to me it just seems easier to smother in buttercream then plaster with decorations, which will stick to the icing with no help - rather than to fiddle about ineptly with sheets of fondant.

more, where did you get those big flowers? They're fab, as they mean none of the icing is actually visible!

I found them in Lakeland. They are great and they can be used again and again as they are not edible.

Ooh great - thanks more

Oh but I can't find them on Lakeland ...

You should make a buttermilk sponge - it holds it shape better than a victoria sponge.

Do you have a recipe Squeaky? Is this it?

I think I got it from Nigella's Domestic Goddess.

I can type it out if you like.