barbie cake or giant cupcake for dd's 5th birthday

[r4blessings]

Hi everyone....Happy Thursday! DD will turn 5 next Friday and I have to make cupcakes for her preschool class and am getting the amazing Costco cake for Saturday when all the family comes over (you can't beat that budget cake!!) but I also want to make a cake for her actual birthday (friday) and I want it to be special.

I was thinking about doing a barbie cake for her, and looked online and it "looks" pretty straightforward.....but then I saw pictures of the Wilton giant cupcake cake and really like that idea as well. For the barbie cake I need to get the barbie and also a bowl to bake it in....it says a 2qt glass bowl which I don't have. For the cupcake I would need the cupcake pan which is around $25 but I would be able to use it again with the boys. I showed dd pics of both on the computer and she is excited for either.

What do you ladies think? Have you made either one? I just don't want to pick one and have it turn out to be a flop. Any tips or thoughts?

 

[mickeyboat]

I had a "Barbie" cake at one of my wedding showers, and I absolutely loved it. A new Barbie is cheap, and you will be able to use the bowl for more than just cakes in the future.

Denae

 

[2Blue1Pink]

Hi! I made a "Barbie" cake for my daughter's third birthday. My tip would be that I used a bakeable bowl that I already had, that looked deep enough to be enough of a skirt. So check your own bowls first. Mine was part of a nesting set of bowls. I also bought a "Barbie" at the dollar store for it! Hey, this is the budget board after all!

Good luck, I think doing it this way would be the cheapest but I also like the look of the cupcake cake too!

 

[HeatherC]

Also check out familyfun.com for cake ideas. They have adorable ones that are actually very easy to make. My dd is now 12, but I remember making her a "castle" cake when she was five from Family Fun.

Have fun!!

 

[Accentuate+]

It is my firmly held belief that every little girl should have the barbie cake at least once in their life. I finally got mine last month for my 40th birthday.

Yes, seriously.

One vote for barbie.

 

[3boymthr]

I make lots of fancy shaped cakes and while I've not done the Barbie cake I've done other half round cakes (baseball) - you can also use a metal bowl that's oven safe - that's what I did. Or you can bake two 9 or 8 inch layers and "carve" the top one to the shape you want. (I made a Firetruck using two loaf pans then cut the pieces to shape and attached with frosting.) You can still frost just use a layer of warmed/melty frosting first to seal the crumbs let it cool then frost again. As far as the expense and a new barbie can be had for about $5 (or just take an old one and put it thru the dishwasher to sterilize - I did this with hotwheels) and you'll probably spend that much on the extra frosting for the cupcake cake because you have to fill in all the crevices with frosting and it takes a lot!

 

[r4blessings]

I did the castle cake a few years ago for my ds's 4th birthday...it was pirate themed and I made the cake out of yellow mix, surrounded it by light brown sugar to look like sand, added little paper flags and mini pirate figures. Everyone loved it! I've since used it to make a pink castle too.

I also feel like every little girl should have a barbie cake, and not sure how much longer I could do it if not in the next year or so. I definitly don't have a bowl, but like a pp mentioned I could always use a bowl for other things.

I guess my next question is this...how hard is it really?

 

[englishteacha]

My mom used to make me doll cakes for my birthdays when I was a little girl. I kept asking for them, so she kept making them! She used an angel cake and set the doll in the hole. I believe she used a Skipper doll (Barbie's kid sister) because she was a bit shorter than Barbie.

If you have a Bundt cake pan, you probably could use that on top of a round layer of cake. That should make it tall enough to be Barbie's skirt. You'd just have to stick Barbie's feet in your bottom layer.

 

[englishteacha]

Here's a mom who made her daughter a frugal Barbie cake, complete with photos!
http://frugalupstate.blogspot.com/2007/05/make-barbie-cake-part-i-making-cake.html

 

[bnf2]

I used the Pampred Chef 2 qt batter bowl for my DD princess cakes (we've had Cinderella, Belle & Sleeping Beauty). I'd post pics of our cakes, but it was before my digital camera.

I left the dolls in their dresses and wrapped their skirts & legs tightly in plastic wrap then matched the icing to the dress so the cake skirt would match the original dress on the doll. I used and apple corer to hollow out a hole for her legs... and having them wrapped made getting her in there pretty easy. HTH and have fun!

Here's a link that shows the product and gives directions.
http://www.pamperedchef.com/our_products/recipesearch/recipedetail.jsp?recipeId=12272

 

[Disneynutbsv]

Here is one that I did with the wilton cupcake pan (you have to be careful it doesn't bake very evenly, you have to keep checking it every couple of minutes.

 

[albertamommyof4]

i love that big cupcake cake. I have made the barbie one and it is very easy , don't bother going to go get a new barbie use one that you have and just saran wrap it so no need to wash it

 

[kkwis2]

I made a Belle cake for my DD's 5th birthday last June. It was really pretty easy - and I am definitely not an artsy craftsy kind of gal!

I also used the Pampered Chef bowl. I made the frosting from a Wilton's recipe that I got from their website. I didn't use a doll, though. I bought a doll pick from Michael's. Thank goodness because we melted (scorced) some of her hair when the candles were blown out!

If you do the Barbie cake, give yourself ample time to bake the cakes early in the day, let them cool, and then assemble and decorate.

Good luck!

 

[momandkidslovedisney]

I used the Pampred Chef 2 qt batter bowl for my DD princess cakes (we've had Cinderella, Belle & Sleeping Beauty). I'd post pics of our cakes, but it was before my digital camera.

I left the dolls in their dresses and wrapped their skirts & legs tightly in plastic wrap then matched the icing to the dress so the cake skirt would match the original dress on the doll. I used and apple corer to hollow out a hole for her legs... and having them wrapped made getting her in there pretty easy. HTH and have fun!

Here's a link that shows the product and gives directions.
http://www.pamperedchef.com/our_products/recipesearch/recipedetail.jsp?recipeId=12272

I also use the Pampered Chef batter bowl. I have used the 2 qt for a regular size barbie. But, my favorite is to use the small Pampered Chef batter bowl and make a small cake with a "Kelly" doll (Barbie's little sister). They are so cute. For my DD's 6th birthday we made one for each girl in attendance. They were a hit!

 

[r4blessings]

Wow! Cute picture of the giant cupcake! I gues I'll head off to Michaels in the am and decide there which one to do. But I love the idea of wrapping the barbie's legs in saran wrap.....very smart!

 

[chrissyt27]

I used to like to have Barbie cakes. My mom usually bought them. I love the Giant Cupcake and have been wanting to get it, I found it on the Collections Etc. website for half as much. It's Silicone, which I like, but I haven't used it yet. so Can't tell you how it does, it's is flimsier than a normal pan, but I would think sitting on a cookie sheet it would work.

http://www.collectionsetc.com/Giant...cake_Silicone_Pan&N=0&productid=134261&srhe=1

 

[degrapevine]

A suggestion if you end up doing the Barbie cake - Instead of using a whole doll, go to the craft section in Michael's/JoAnn/WalMart and get a doll torso.

It's much easier to just place the torso in the top part of the cake than trying to stick a whole doll in it and you can use frosting to cover up her "parts." That's unless your DD will notice it's not a "real" Barbie doll. Then I would wrap a doll in the Saran Wrap, just not in a full dress, maybe in a less "puffy" outfit?

Whatever you pick, I'm sure your DD will LOVE it! My DD is 8 1/2 and past the Barbie stage, so I'm getting a little sad realizing my Barbie cake days are over. But the big cupcake is adorable. I'll have to keep an eye out for those pans and (of course) coupons to use at Michael's or JoAnn.

Have fun!

 

[mickeyboat]

A suggestion if you end up doing the Barbie cake - Instead of using a whole doll, go to the craft section in Michael's/JoAnn/WalMart and get a doll torso.

It's much easier to just place the torso in the top part of the cake than trying to stick a whole doll in it and you can use frosting to cover up her "parts." That's unless your DD will notice it's not a "real" Barbie doll. QUOTE]

IIRC the person who made my cake ripped off the legs and just used the torso in the cake. Maybe that would cause too much trauma for your DD, but I didn't care.

Denae

 

[tzolkin]

Can't you just use a bundt pan for a barbie cake? Maybe you're talking about something different than what I'm thinking. I know my mom made one like that. Stuck the Barbie in the hole and iced the cake as a dress.

My sister has a really cute castle-shaped bundt pan. She made a strawberry cake for her daughter (so the castle was pink) and then used icing and candies to decorate the castle. She had a princess Barbie that was standing in the hole in the middle. It was cute-- very easy-- and her daughter loved it.

 

[denisenh]

I love the barbie cake! a friend of mine gave me the baking pan and barbie torso years ago when her dd outgrew it. I haven't used it in a while but for my next birthday i think i will make myself one.

the barbie in saran sounds like it would work but the doll torso isn't that expensive... $2 or $3? (been a while).

it is easy to use the decorating "star" tip and decorate the whole cake and torso. have fun!