Advice needed on Barbie Cake construction ASAP!

[IDismyname]

I've rashly offered to make a Barbie cake for my nieces birthday next week. I'm now in a terrible panic about it all...

I was planning to create a crinoline effect cake, and stick a real barbie down in the middle of it all, and make it pink, pink, pink...

Has anyone tried this? Do you bake a cake in a pudding basin, turn it upside down, and deal with it like that, or do I need to bake a stack of victoria sponges, stick them together, then "sculpt" it into a skirt shape?

Any advice welcome. Many thanks

Rats, I know I've seen Nigella explaining thsi somewhere, but I've just looked in both her books that I've got without success. She must use something like a pudding basin that you can put into the oven, and I remember reading her saying that you plunge a naked Barbie into it and then put icing all over the cake and up across her chest. It doesn't sound all that do-able though, does it, as though the cake would fall to bits. Presumably you can't possibly cook it with the Barbie already in, so I would guess your first option would be right. The recipe I did find just had a pink-iced cake with a Barbie sitting on the side of it, but that is much less appelaing than the crinoline idea.
Blimey, good luck!

She says in Domestic Goddess that you can hire a 'conical shaped affair' to make the cake in. If you've got a good cake decorating shop near you they'll have one.

Its in Domestic goddess, and Nigella uses a conical mould. Helpfully she doesn't say where from! I'd be tempted to go with the pudding basin, making a firm sponge, then crinoline it up with layers of frilly ready roll icing (you can get frill makers quite easily) Use ready roll to make a bustier type top as well, sticking it on with jam.

Def use a pudding basin. Easiest to use circle of readyroll icing for skirt, hole in middle, lowered over barbies head (once naked body in cake of course), then ruche icing around waist. Easiest to decorate skirt with sweets stuck on with icing.

Are these instructions any good?

I've done this with a conical shaped cake mould that came with its own Babrie-torso on a stick. If you plan to plunge a real Barbie doll a la Nigella, make sure your pudding basin is deep enough so she goes in up to her waist. Also, it helps to tie babrie's hair up so it's out of the way while you do the icing.

The stack of sponges idea would work too, and has the added advantage that you could make different flavours or colours for the different layers. It's very easy to sculpt cakes, but make sure that you take the brown 'crust' off the cakes first - it feels a bit odd when you eat a sponge that has crispy bits on the inside.

There are instructions in one of the Australian Women's Weekly children's birthday cakes books.

I did this for my dd 3rd birthday. I used a huge pudding basin, but it still wasn't tall enough for her long legs!! I ended up making another sponge for it all to sit on. I found the sponge took forever to cook and ended up really solid. If I were to do it again I would either hire a cone shaped mould, or do a stack of sponges. Perhaps all differnt sizes and have a 'stepped' skirt. This would also be easier to cut, and for kids there is more icing!!

For her 4th birthday I did a Sleeping Beauty cake. I made a huge bed, a large slab of cake, covered in pink roll out icing, strewn with those sugar flowers and topped with a Sleeping Beauty Barbie and a Prince leaning over. This worked well and was easier to do!

She's already planning her 5th birthday cake, and it's not until March!!

blue2, if the 3d effect is all a bit too much (and if you haven't promised a 3d barbie cake) then why don't you do a 2d one? ie a normal round or square cake with some bright barbie pink icing and flowers and those silver balls all over it - then either make a flat portrait of barbie out of coloured sugar icing or if that is too tricky, put the cake on a board which is a good bit bigger than the cake and pose some barbies around it(you know, legs crossed, looking like they are on the beach) and write her name and happy birthday in big icing letters on the cake?
Bit of a cheat but if she is 5 or under she will probably think it is wonderful.

whoops, just read crunchie's post and this is what she suggests too. sorry crunchie!!

I made a Barbie's te4a time cake for my daughter which was basically a big victoria sponge covered in a white fondant table cloth, topped with a mini tea set and with babrbies sitting around on little chairs - it looked great and was easy peasy to make. I've made the crinoline one b4 using a pudding basin and a shelley rather than barbie because her legs are shorter!

I did this years ago for my daughter.I used a pudding basin and then took the legs off of an old barbie doll (!) and stuck the body in the cake and decorated her.Otherwise it was very difficult to stick the whole doll into the cake without destroying it. HTH

Thanks everyone! I just KNEW you'd be full of ideas.

I spent a few minutes ( no longer, as I had a 5 yr old in tow...) in a local cake shop in Farnham. I've hired a large cake tin - round one - and I've a pyrex mixing bowl at home too.

I plan to put bowl shaped cake on top of the circular one, and hack through.... I've checked the overall height re barbie height, and would love the option of the leg chop, but it ain't my Barbie to chop! Shame...

I'm armed with a little flower cutter (a la Barbie), fushia colouring, enough ready to roll icing to coat my entire kitchen, and a little jar of edible "pearls", and some paint on paearly lustre.

I feel quite confident and terrified at the same time.

Will keep you posted...

pearly lustre! sounds fantastic, I'd say you can't go wrong. digital photo and post it on the web for us please!

"pearly lustre" even! Doh! One glass of wine and the fingers and brain (brian?!) lose their connection!

Don't have a digital camera, but will see what I can do.... IF it works!

Barbie cake update!

It's done. At last. Barbie now sits in a cardboard box on top of the (switched off) Aga, bedecked in edible pearls, pink in various shades, clutching a wrapped up matchbox to look like a present. The whole thing weighs a ton!

I won't go into the details of construction, but if anyone wants to know, I'm happy to help!

Many thanks again for your advice

sounds incredible. I'd love to see a photo - I've avoided making a 3d barbie cake for 2 years, I don't think I'm going to get away with it this year as well!

blue2 please share how you did this. i'm going to attempt it. a photo would be great

instructions here

more here

When friends did this few weeks ago, took legs off barbie & gave them to birthday girl after party to stick on barbie after cake eaten!