Dolly cake

My niece is obsessed with Barbie (& my daughter coming a close second with that obsession) and so it was almost natural that she would ask for a Barbie doll cake.





We had a very full-on weekend with a wedding, Christmas party and then my niece's 4th birthday party.. so I was feeling a bit stressed about this cake (when aren't I??). I was about to pull out of doing the cake when I opted to "phone a friend" and she encouraged me to try doing the cake with ready-made icing. She made it sound really easy so off I went to the cake decorating shop, hired the Dolly Varden tin, bought some ready-made icing and colouring paste. My friend had warned me to use thick kitchen gloves to knead the colour in with - good advice!! The basic premise was to roll the icing out into a large circle, then drop it over the cake.. it made its own skirt ruffles.. I then used extra icing to make a bodice to cover up where the doll went into the cake. I warn you now that Barbie does NOT fit into the cake skirt, so I needed to break off Barbie's legs.. yes, queue crying.. They do not look like they go back on.. so we have had to convince the kids that she is a special "cake Barbie" and will be used on all future cakes and funnily enough, I have an order already from her older sister for next year! Hee!

This is actually the easiest cake I have ever made! The ready roll icing is so no-fuss. I love the idea of being able to mold this stuff into various shapes, just like play-doh, and having a LOT of fun with a bit of sculpture on future cakes - yippee!