A recent call from my sister-in-law, Mary, introduced me to her co-worker, Amy, who wanted someone to make a cake for her daughter's 4th birthday party. It's theme was to be from the video, "Barbie's Fashion Fairy Tale". We agreed to "friend" each other on Facebook so she could look at the cake photos I keep there.
Having never seen the video, I turned to the Internet, but couldn't download it. My husband, Tim, suggested I check our grandaughter's book order that had just arrived. Since 'Pappaw' is the one who reviews the order sheet with the little girls so they can select their books, and he remembered the title. And that's exactly where I found it.
The story is that Barbie travels to Europe to visit her aunt, who is a fashion designer in Paris. She befriends three fairies who help her design a gown of her own that she makes and models on the fashion runway. Now knowing what the story was about, I was able to sketch out my idea for the cake: Barbie dressed in a tri-colored buttercream frosting ruffled gown made of chocolate cake. She would stand at the top of stairs that would decend to a runway sprinkled with pink hearts as three fairies look on. Initially, the cake was to be surrounded by cupcakes but Amy decided the runway cake itself would easily serve her 50 guests and Barbie's 'gown' cake would be for her birthday girl. I sent a rough sketch of my design idea to Amy for her approval and we were off and running.
The story is that Barbie travels to Europe to visit her aunt, who is a fashion designer in Paris. She befriends three fairies who help her design a gown of her own that she makes and models on the fashion runway. Now knowing what the story was about, I was able to sketch out my idea for the cake: Barbie dressed in a tri-colored buttercream frosting ruffled gown made of chocolate cake. She would stand at the top of stairs that would decend to a runway sprinkled with pink hearts as three fairies look on. Initially, the cake was to be surrounded by cupcakes but Amy decided the runway cake itself would easily serve her 50 guests and Barbie's 'gown' cake would be for her birthday girl. I sent a rough sketch of my design idea to Amy for her approval and we were off and running.
Wanting to incorporate the Eiffel Tower into the design to represent Paris, a second visit on-line brought me to a vendor from Columbus who sold grosgrain ribbon by the yard in bright pink with small, black Eiffel Towers stamped on it. From a rough pencil sketch I provided him, Tim constructed the perfect wooden platform to support the weight of both cakes. The next day, I covered it with black plastic from a roll of table cover. When the pink ribbon arrived in the mail, hot glue worked well to adhere it to the edge. I was really pleased with the end result.
The next step was to prepare the pedestal for Barbie to stand on. Using a rectangular piece of floral foam covered in the same black plastic, I gathered the top of a rectangular scrap of bright pink glitter-flecked sheer fabric, tacked it to the block and hot glued ribbon to cover the upper raw edge of the skirt. Glued to the platform, the fashion stage was coming together.
It was time for a trip to my favorite cake supply store to shop for edible glitter and confetti and anything that could be used for stairs. I was excited to find clear acrylic bridal cake stairs with arched cutouts in a clearance box. A small piece was missing from the bottom step, but it wouldn't be noticable once set into the icing of the cake. And the price was right--$1.00. At a nearby dollar store I located a clear glass arched picture frame, again for $1.00. I arrived home feeling pretty pleased with my findings.
On Friday, two days before the party, I began to bake the layers of the large cake and the skirt of the Barbie cake. I decided to vary my recipe slightly to create a small element of interest. The first of four layers was a deep, dark, fudgy chocolate, made a little more dense to support the weight of the other layers. Layer two was more of a red devilsfood cake. The third layer was a combination of chocolate and vanilla recipes. And the fourth and final layer was vanilla with just a hint of cocoa. Once cooled, I stacked each layer on top of another with a slather of vanilla buttercream in between and gave the whole cake a thin layer of crumb frosting just before making room for it in the fridge.
For Barbie's skirt cake I baked chocolate cake in a tall glass mixing bowl and two small rounds to be high enough to accomodate the doll's height. Once cooled, stacked and crumb frosted, I used an apple corer to remove enough cake from the center section for the doll to fit down into. It then went into the fridge to set up overnight.
Locating a colorful picture of the Eiffel Tower on my computer, I printed a
4 X 6 photo and slipped it into the picture frame. Using glue dots, I set it up against the tall block to serve as a support for the acrylic steps.
On Saturday, I stirred together a batch of frosting with a hint of rose water. Then, reserving some plain white, I tinted colors in deep pink, pale pink. A second larger batch was made and tinted antique green and deep green. Beginning with Barbie's gown from the waist down, I created layers of frosting ruffles of pinks that ended at the top of a large white ruffle around the bottom of the 'skirt'. Going back to the waist, I worked upwards over Barbie's Saran-wrapped body to create the appearance of a ruffled, strapless bodice and applied tiny dots around the top to resemble beads. Finally, the whole dress was given extra sparkle by lightly dusting it with tiny pink flakes of edible glitter.
The runway cake was then given a smooth layer of antique green frosting with deeper green border accents of shells and swirls. After placing the heavy layered cake on the platform, with Tim's help, it was time to for the final elements: placing the stairs; icing embellishments on three sides and on top; tiny heart-shaped pink glitter; and three colorful fairies floating above it with the aid of bamboo skewers. Everything went together according to plan and with a bright pink "Happy Birthday Alea!" in place on top as the final touch, we were ready to load it into the car and make the delivery. I made the decision to hold off placing Barbie on her perch until everything was safely transported. A dallop of icing was all that would be needed to adhere it to the waiting block.
For the next 25 minutes or so, I held my breath riding in the back of my vehicle beside the cakes while Tim cautiously drove through the countryside to our destination. We met Amy and her beautiful daughter for the first time and they seemed genuinely happy with the birthday cake. I left feeling good about my accomplishment, but the real joy was in seeing the smiles on the faces of two new friends.
Front view Side view
Awesome cake!!
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