Who's Your Disney Princess?

My cake orders are slowing down, so I'm thinking it's time for a new challenge. April is a new month and time for a new experiment. Barbie cakes have always fascinated me. It's just a giant skirt of cake with a Barbie sticking out of it! Genius! When I was little, I thought they baked the Barbie inside the cake. I was amazed that the Barbie face didn't melt plastic all over.
I made my first "Barbie" cake last year. It was my roommate and dear friend's birthday. Tangled had just come out and she was in LOVE with the movie (and Flynn), so we threw her a Disney princess party. Just a classy evening with three ladies in their 20s, playing dress up and watching Disney movies. I spent the afternoon baking a cake in a pyrex mixing bowl. I was so nervous because it's deeper, thicker and has to bake longer. The final/cooled cake looked like this...

I was pretty excited about it. It was sturdy and smooth, but still looked like a skirt. And then I stuck the doll inside...(Seeing as this blog is PG, I did a bit of censoring. She is a princess after all)

Rapunzel seems to be the shortest princess, but yet her thighs weren't even covered. Gah! I was running out of time. It took some work with a lot of frosting and the leftover cake crumbs, but I was finally able to create the top layer of the skirt. I covered her in frosting and worked hard to make her the beautiful princess that she is.

Rapunzel became the first (and best) doll cake that I ever made. She gave me hope and a new goal...attempt to make all of the Disney Princess! And then there was Belle...

My church was having a Halloween party, and it happened to fall right on my friend's birthday. Of course, I had to make her a cake. I did a bit of research, found out she loves cherry chip cake and her favorite Disney Princess is Belle (also my favorite!). I decided to up the ante and incorporate the mirror and rose into the project. 

After finishing the mirror and I rose, I was feeling pretty good about everything. I liked how they turned out, and I felt unstoppable. I did the cherry chip cake just like my Rapunzel skirt...baked in the mixing bowl. This one didn't work out so well. I baked it for an hour, cooled it for an hour, and took it out of the bowl (I was in a big rush!). It looked good for about 5 seconds and then...

Holy cow. My heart broke. I looked at it...stared in silence...walked out of the kitchen...down the stairs...and collapsed in defeat on the couch. It may be "JUST A CAKE" but I was devastated! I had two hours before the party, I looked nasty, and my cake was in ruins! I composed myself, went back upstairs and tried to figure it out. My mom eventually saved the day and went to the grocery store. She bought me two angel food cakes (already made). I leveled them, frosted the two layers together, and carved out a skirt the best I could. I stuck Belle inside the bundt hole and frosted her dress. Thanks, Momma. You be a lifesaver. 

 
So Belle wasn't as good as Rapunzel, but I was still proud of her. Aurora however...she was no sleeping beauty. I decided to do something a little different. The mixing bowl didn't work so well with Belle, so I figured I'd make a layered cake and carve the skirt. I baked two 8in circles and two 6in circles and buttercreamed them together. The cake still wasn't tall enough, so I cut a cupcake in half and put that on the very top. 

I stuck Aurora right in the middle and started carving away. Here's the thing...I may be able to hold my own with a frosting bag, but apparently knives and carving are a completely different story. I mutilated that poor girls dress. Instead of a curvy hoopskirt, it was an uneven mess of jagged lines. I'll spare you the image of the pre-buttercream dress. I frosted it the best I could, but failed on the crumb coat. Chocolate crumbs can be seen all throughout her dress. BAH! Regardless, I was proud to make my third Disney Princess. And besides, Sleeping Beauty is my least favorite of the princesses. So take that, Aurora. Haha :)

 So that's it. So many lessons already, yet so much more to learn. Only three down! Now I need your help. Who's next? Snow White and her cupcake dwarfs? Cinderella with a cookie carriage?  Ariel in the ocean? Or maybe Tiana with some froggy cupcakes? What say you?

Birthdays, Experiments, and Fundraisers!

It's the end of March...and I have yet to post any stories. I'll make up for it in this one weekend! It has been a crazy couple of days. I had a cake order for my friend's grandpa's 90th birthday, cupcakes for a bake sale, and a giraffe cake for my friend's birthday. AND my weekly experimental cupcakes. On top of all that craziness...my mixer broke in the middle of it all! It's just an old hand mixer (probably 10 years old) but still necessary when making my buttercream. BUT, I made it through. The cakes are done and eaten. 

So...Birthdays are my favorite! And today, the very lovely Alexis turned 22! 

We've been baking friend's birthday cakes together all year, so OF COURSE I had to make her a special one. Giraffes are her favorite animal (they're tall and yellow!), so I searched the internet for cute ideas. There are some adorable 3-D giraffe cakes out there, but nothing I could do with my current pans. It wasn't until the day before that I found the winner! He was covered in fondant, but I knew I wanted to stay true to buttercream. I used a star tip and covered the two layer 8-inch cake in a brown and yellow pattern. I had to use fondant for the head, neck and tail. He was a little funky...the head kind of looks like a cow skull and the neck is snake like...but I think he's one of the cutest things I've ever made :)

I am attempting to experiment with cupcake flavors every week or two. So far, it's been going well. Last week I tried Neapolitan cupcakes. Layer of chocolate cake, then strawberry, all topped with vanilla frosting. Received good marks from my "tasting committees." :) (Thanks Miller Movie Night and Steelcase)

This week's flavor was Strawberry Lemonade! Lemon cupcake, strawberry filling, strawberry/lemon swirl frosting. I have yet to hear the test-taste results on the Strawberry Lemonade, but they're hoping for a spot on the menu! (P.S. - better picture to come for these babies)

Next on the list...fundraiser. This may be a shameless plug...but it's for a good cause. Nationwide, Family Video is currently doing a fundraiser for Lymphoma research. We ask each customer if they'd like to "round it up for lymphoma." (In case you can't figure it out...round up your total bill a few cents to make it an even dollar = donation to cancer research) Most of us are or know someone who has suffered from cancer. This cause is near and dear to my manager's heart because both of his sons have struggled with the disease. My store (Lowell Family Video) will be holding a bake sale tomorrow (March 24). If you're in the area, please come! Rent movies and buy a cupcake! The profits from all our baked goods will go towards the research.

That's it for now. My next plan is to make a Disney princess cake! So be thinking which one I should bake :)

Sweet Dreams!