Richard Goh’s Cake Deco Class 6: How to Make a Barbie Doll Cake?

14th April 2013

I guess this must be the most popular lesson among all the 8 lessons. Weeks prior to the lesson, some of us had started to discuss what doll to buy, where to buy, what colour to use for the Barbie Doll dress…etc. Personally I have also done some research from the Internet and think about the design of my Barbie doll dress before the class.

What you need?

• One basic round 8” or 9” sponge cake (height 1.5” to 2”)
• One basic round 6” or 7” sponge cake (height 1.5” to 2”)
• Turntable
• Long serrated knife
• Flat spatula
• Piping bag
• Piping tips
• Whipping cream
• Food colour
• Barbie doll (of course it can be any doll)
• Two cake boxes

What I learn from this class?

• Carve and trim cake into the shape of Barbie doll dress and secure the Barbie doll (without legs) on the cake.

How to make a Barbie Doll Cake?

1) Slice and stack the cakes (bigger cake at bottom). Sandwich each layer with whipping cream as usual. Avoid chunky fillings and place your fillings near the centre only because you are going to trim away the side. I used sliced strawberries and mangoes which is ok. Just don’t cut into cubes.

2) Make a small round marking on top (this is where you insert the Barbie doll). You can use a small bowl or a round cookie cutter. Use a serrated knife, hold it 45 degree, use the round marking as a guide to cut and carve the cake into dome shape. Take note that the tip of the knife must touch the base (cake board). 

3) This is how the cake looks like. If you are not satisfied with the shape (eg. the cake is slant), use the excess cake to patch back and trim again.

4) Once you are satisfied with the shape. Cut a small hole based on the round marking and insert the Barbie doll (pull out the legs first) and patch the hole using the excess cake crumbs to secure the Barbie doll. If you are using half body doll bought from baking supply shop, you can skip this step. (Tips: make sure you tie the hair of your Barbie doll before inserting the cake).

5) Remove the doll and crumb coat the cake now. To smoothen the frosting, cut a small piece of baking paper or plastic sheet (about 3cm x 30cm), hold it at both ends horizontally. Glide the paper from bottom to top of the cake. Scrape the cream on paper and repeat this step around the cake until the frosting is smooth.

6) If you going to cover the whole cake with piping you can do so now after the crumb-coat. Insert and secure the Barbie doll first before piping (refer to step 3). If you only intend to pipe some designs (i.e. not cover the whole cake with piping) then you need to apply another layer of whipping cream and make sure the frosting is smooth. Decorate the cake (design your own Barbie doll dress) as desired.

This is the doll I use for my cake. It costs me S$2.00 from Daiso. It is smaller and shorter than the usual Barbie doll.

And here is my Barbie Doll Cake. By the way, the cake didn’t survive till we reached home. It was hit by my little boy when we were on our way home and the doll almost dropped.

There are many ways of making a Barbie doll cake. The method we learnt in class is to pull out the legs of the doll before inserting the cake. I find the biggest problem with this method is the short waistline especially if you are using a small doll because in order to secure the doll you need to push it into the cake, so part of the waistline will be inserted into the cake. As a result, my Barbie doll looks like she is wearing a Hanbok (Korean traditional costume). If I were to try making another Barbie doll cake I am sure I would like to try inserting the doll without pulling out the legs.  

When doing piping it is always good to do some markings before you start. After crumb-coat, I marked the area where I wanted my ruffles to be. Then I used a big rose tip (Wilton # 104) to pipe one round at the bottom. Hold the tip vertically, narrow side facing up. Pipe ruffle by moving the tip in “up down up down” motion (like write “N”). After which, I changed to a smaller rose tip (Wilton # 101) to pipe ruffles at the centre front where I have marked.

Photo taken in class. The colour is closer to the actual colour.

Next, I changed to Wilton # 32 to pipe swirls all over to cover the rest of the gown, starting from bottom. For the top, I just piped lines to form a tube top by using Wilton # 02. Lastly, I piped ruffle using Wilton # 104 at the back of the waist and added some sugar pearls on the swirls and front of waist.

 
For the cake base, I used the same recipe as this Matcha Chiffon Cake.  I scaled down the recipe to 7 eggs, replaced partial flour with cocoa powder and made into one 8” round cake and two 6” round cakes. I must say that I am really happy with the result this time. The cakes did not shrink at all after cooling down and the texture was very good.
 

Cross-section of my cake - with sliced strawberries and mangoes.

Here are some of my classmates' masterpieces.