The Barbie Cake

It was little Joan’s birthday this past weekend, and though she’s only four, she’s already into Barbie dolls (this compared to big sister Jo who’s six and digs cowboys and cowgirls). Mrs. Pastry and I have been trying to put off the Barbie thing, but when Joan asked not only for a Barbie doll for her birthday, but a cake with a fairy on top, it seemed only natural that we should combine the two ideas into a classic Barbie cake.

I’d never done one before, but it was a snap: a nine-inch layer, a thick eight-inch layer baked in a springform pan and a dome-shaped layer baked in a small metal bowl. Trim some edge here, a little more there, cut out a hole for the dolly and ice the whole thing and presto — a Barbie cake. When presented with it, little Joan didn’t hold back: she blew out the four little candles (propped up on the platter with a few blobs of icing) then promptly grabbed the doll by the waist and yanked it straight out. The whole thing seemed to confuse her a little, but in “a good way” as they say.

The down side for me is that the novelty cake bar has now been set fairly high…and six-year-old Jo’s birthday is now just three weeks away. Ideas anyone?

17 thoughts on “The Barbie Cake”

  2. Oh this looks great. I was going to buy a Wonder Mold for making this kind of cake, but I guess I don’t have . . .

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  3. A cowboy hat or boots? Cactus, lasso? They seem easier than a bucking bronco, or whatever it is that cowboys do these days. Sorry, I had to chime in, yet I know very little about cowboys and girls.
    🙂

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  4. A cake with fondant cow spots and a cowgirl hat on top! Maybe a lasso worked in around the base of the bottom layer (probably easier to pipe a rope-like border than bother with a fondant rope).

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  6. First time on your blog, followed a link from smitten kitchen. Love your barbie cake. I so wanted one, and never got one, when I was into dolls growing up. It must have been so much fun to make the cake for her, and it came out great! For your other daughter I think a cowgirl boot cake would be equally fun, sheet cake or three dimensional. Again, congratulations on a beautiful cake.

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    1. Eileen, thank you for your comment. I’ve received emails from several people telling much the same story. It seems this cake has a lot of emotion associated with it — girls who wanted them and parents who disapproved of/couldn’t afford one. All that love and longing makes this cake a very beautiful thing I think. (It’s never too late, you know!). 😉

      But I can say that yes, I did have fun making it. I didn’t know what the reaction was going to be when I brought it into the room. My little one seemed surprised and a little confused. At first I was disappointed that she wasn’t more visibly excited, but then I guess the next day it was all she could talk about at school. Kids are funny that way, aren’t they?

      Thanks for the good thinking on the cowboy boot. Jesse from Toy Story is my older girl’s hero right now. I think the boot will go over well.

      Cheers and thanks. — Joe

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    1. Wow! That’s a heck of a cake. I wonder if I could pull off something like that? Hmm…

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  8. Use the same shape and make an ant hill at a picnic with a checkered cloth and that will be cowgirls enough

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  9. Hi. Nice new site!

    I made a Fender Stratocaster cake for my son’s 16th birthday (20 years ago now). Chocolate cake and shortbread formed the body of it; icing and liquorice straps came in handy too.

    You could make a cake prairie and some shortbread horses and cows. Or how about a big stetson hat? A Barbie in a cowboy costume? With chaps instead of skirt?

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    1. Actually I’ve been thinking about a hat, but don’t know what I’d make the brim from. Any ideas?

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