DOLL CAKE

Doll cakes are a craze at our place. As soon as the birthday planning starts, both my daughters always try and convince me to get a doll cake for them. For the initial few birthdays we had ordered birthday cakes for them from bakeries thereafter I decided to give it  a try myself and with  a few difficulties did achieve a decent result.
I'm sharing the step wise process of how I did it. I've tried taking as many pictures as I could while making the cake. I might have missed out on some of the steps as I usually decorate cakes either when the kids are in school or once they are off to sleep. So basically when I decorate the cakes I'm usually alone at home and so clicking pictures along with decorating becomes a bit difficult. I've tried my best to include most of the steps.
Hope you all find it helpful.

There are two ways in which you can make the dress of the doll.
1. You can bake the same sized sponges and then carve out the shape of the dress using a knife. I find this carving a bit difficult and so i follow the second way.
2. You can bake the sponges of different sizes and place them one over the other, starting from the bigger to the smaller. The top most layer of the cake can be baked in a dome shaped mould or any small bowl. I bake it in a borosil dish that I have.

This is the borosil dish that i use to bake the top most dome shaped layer.

I've used the doll cake mould also that comes in the market but did not find it very useful and so i prefer baking my sponges in different sized tins.
I've made this cake twice, once I used the full length doll for making the cake. I cling wrapped the doll nicely and scooped the cake till the end to insert the whole doll inside.
The second time I removed the legs of the doll and cling wrapped the remaining body to insert. This time I scooped a circle only from the top most layer to insert the doll.

For the cake

2 round sponge cakes 7-8 inches
1 round sponge cake 5-6 inches
1 small dome shaped sponge cake 3-4 inches
sugar syrup for soaking the cake
1 cup heavy whipping cream (whipped to soft peaks) for icing and layering the cake
1/2 cup heavy whipping cream (whipped to stiff peaks) for decorating the cake
1 doll to insert inside the cake

PREPARING THE SUGAR SYRUP

Sugar 1/4 cup

Water 3/4 cup

Boil water and sugar for 2 minutes. Switch off the gas and keep aside to cool.

ASSEMBLING THE CAKE

1. Bake all the cakes and let them cool completely. You can bake the cakes a day earlier, cling wrap them nicely and store them in the refrigerator over night.
2. Layer the cakes into two and keep aside.

3. Place one layer of the 7-8 inch cake on a flat cake board or on the base on which you want to display the cake.
4. Soak the cake with sugar syrup all over.

5. Apply the whipped cream over the cake and spread it all over.

6. Place the second layer of the 7-8 inch cake on the first layer. Soak it with sugar syrup and apply whipped cream over it.

7. With the help of a cookie cutter or a knife, cut a small circle in the center and remove it for the doll's legs to fit in.
8. I've used alternating layers of vanilla and chocolate cakes. You can use the flavours of your own choice.

9. Place the layers one by one on top of each other. Remember to soak each layer with sugar syrup and then add whipped cream to each layer till you reach the dome shaped layer. If putting the whole doll inside remember to scoop out a circle from the center from each layer. I've only put the upper part of the body inside the cake so scooped the top most layer only.

10. Once you've finished with all the layers start applying the whipped cream on the outer side to cover all the layers. Once the whole cake is covered with cream keep it in the refrigerator for an hour to chill.

11. Add your choice of liquid food colour to the remaining cream. Take out the cake from the fridge and apply a second layer of cream over the cake

12. Add liquid food colour of your choice to the half cup whipped cream kept aside for decoration. Mix it nicely with a spatula to get the desired shade.

13. Fill the coloured icing into a piping bag with a nozzle of your choice. Decorate it whichever way you prefer.

I covered the upper part of the doll with fondant and then inserted it inside the cake.

This was my first doll cake that i had baked. The whole icing was done with whipped cream even the bust part of the dress. I've used a star nozzle to make this design.

                                  HAPPY BAKING!! 😊