For my daughter’s 6th birthday her grandmother bought her a chocolate fountain so I was pretty sure I was free and clear on the cake. WRONG. Apparently, it is not a birthday if there is not cake. Never mind that all they eat is the frosting. So when Ella spotted a doll dress cake on display in the bakery at the grocery store… that’s what she wanted. With a price tag of $35, I decided I could make it myself.
The supplies — I found them all on Amazon
Now, you can make this with pans you have right in your house. But we were at my mom’s house and I had to bake in an oven I’m not used to with supplies that weren’t mine in more humidity than I’m used than should be legal. So I cheated. I ordered the Wilton Wonder Mold Kit
and doll pick 
, which is basically half of a fashion doll that sits right on top of the cake. It turns out that the mold kit comes with a brunette doll pick, though, so I didn’t need to order one, but now I have a blonde and a brunette.
I baked the cake on Friday for a Saturday party. Because this was my first attempt at this kind of cake, I stuck with box mixes. I used two Duncan Hines strawberry boxed cake mixes in the wonder mold. I doctored the mix and added 2 boxes of vanilla pudding (they don’t make strawberry, I guess), 2 small containers of strawberry yogurt and substituted milk for the water called for on the box instructions. These additions will take your box mix from good to delicious!
You can see it’s till a little oozy right in the center.
The directions say to bake the wonder mold for 50-60 minutes, but I ended up baking it for 90 minutes and the very top in the middle was still a little oozy. I’m not sure if the additions to the box mixes made the baking time longer of it is just my mom’s 20 year old oven. But it worked out fine because I cut off the very top (bottom of the dress) to make a flat bottom anyway.
The cake popped right out of the pan!
I prepped the baking mold pan by liberally covering it with palm shortening and flour. I made sure every single spot was covered! The cake popped right out!
I decided to also bake a single 8″ round cake to add a little more height. My mom actually had a mix for a single chocolate cake so I used that. I’m glad I added the cake because it just made the doll a bit bigger and more majestic looking in the end.
The dress mold cake on top of the 8″ round
I let the molded cake cool completely, but got impatient with the 8″ round and started a crumb coat while it was just barely still warm. I put a layer of frosting between the 8″ round and the mold and then just did a thin layer of frosting, called a crumb coat, all around. I then put the cake in the fridge for a few hours.
Crumb coat
I put the doll top in the cake once I was ready to finalize the decorating. I did pull her hair up with a hair tie to keep it out of the frosting. I added another layer of frosting and swirled it around with an off-set spatula to try and make the frosting look like flowing fabric. I piped stars on to the doll’s bodice to cover her and my 12 year old placed stars on the dress. She also piped on 2 rows of stars on the very bottom of the dress. I bought a Norpro cake decorating set
and I love it! It’s very inexpensive and has the basics.
The end result!
I am absolutely thrilled with the way the cake turned out! My daughter loved it and that’s really all that matters. Hopefully she wants a doll dress birthday cake for at least a few more years!
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Love this! My daughter would love this cake! Thanks for sharing at our Pinteresting Party.
The cake looks great! Thanks for linking up on Saturday Show and Tell. I hope you’ll be back again this week with some more of you great ideas.
-Mackenzie
http://www.cheeriosandlattes.com
That is such a beautiful cake! A little girl would feel like such a princess! Thank you so much for stopping by and sharing on my linky party. Please come again soon!
This is beautiful! My daughter had one for her 2nd birthday, but my SIL didn’t tell me how she made it! lol.
wondering if you can bake the cake in a round pirex bowl…yours looks great!
Absolutely! I just didn’t have anything to do it in so I got the pan.
I want one of these cakes too! You did an amazing job and I want to thank you for sharing your talent with us at The “Sunday Stop”!
Hugs,
Bj
Ugh … double posted! Don’t you just hate when that happens?! 🙂
Hugs again LOL
Bj
Usually happens when my brain is working faster than my computer! LOL Thanks for stopping by!
I need one of these for my grand babies! So so cute!!! You did an amazing job and Thank you for sharing your talent with us at The “Sunday Stop”!
Hugs,
Bj
Is it wrong that I want one of these cakes for my birthday….LOL I hope you will link up with me here:
http://www.thegingerbreadblog.com/2012/07/sweet-saturday-link-party-v49.html
Just dropping in to see the doll cake! I saw you on DIY Show-Off. I had a doll cake on my 6th birthday much like the one you made for your daughter – you will never regret it because she will remember it forever, just like I have. I am approaching my 50th birthday in a couple of months and I still mention that to my mom sometimes telling her how much I loved it!
Oh yes, the DO make strawberry pudding – it’s called Strawberry Creme’ Jell-O pudding. It’s hard to find but we use it all the time in banana/strawberry parfaits!
You have a beautiful site!
That is so sweet! I’m so, so, so glad I did it! And now I’ll have to be on the look out for that pudding — thanks for the tip!
Oh my word, I will have to hide this from my daughter!! Cute!
Yay, thanks for linking this to Foodtastic Friday!!
Wow, your cake turned out beautifully! I’m sure your daughter was excited, although I totally agree with Emily – I have so much more appreciation for all the things my mom did for me now that I’m a mom myself!
Thank you! I distinctly remember a cake with my initials in M&Ms on it and I thought it was so cool! I asked my mom about it recently. I had turned 5 and she had a 3 and a 2 year old as well — and she just threw it together! But for me, it is a happy memory. 🙂
My mom made me a doll cake once. I never knew how much work she put into it! Holy moly. I’ll be sure to thank her – nearly 30 years later!
Too funny! This one was actually pretty easy. I made a tie dye cake for her one year. Dealing with 6 different colored cake batters…. now that’s love! 🙂
Great idea! I just suffered the $35 barbie cake set-back so I admire your creativity. 😀
LOL!! 🙂 My sister tried to talk me out of doing it myself, but I’m so glad I just did it!