How to Give Your Doll Cake A "Barbie" Look

A doll cake...one of the popular type of birthday cakes for girls. It is important for it to be of 'Barbie' proportions as little girls play with Barbie all the time and has an expectation on what a doll should be like.

This is the mold I used to bake the cake. Its Wilton's Classic Wonder Mold. It comes together with a Teen Doll Pick. I have inserted it into the mold so you can see the outcome after baking. The effect is a Victorian style of ballroom gown, Cinderella type. However, it could do with a little more height.

Here is an idea for the cake and filling. Its chocolate butter cake. I have this thing about chocolate and blueberries...so I have given it alternate layers of chocolate ganache and blueberry buttercream filling.

Next, place an upside down cupcake on top of the cake. The cupcake here is a normal butter cake to give a clear colour contrast for this tutorial. Two advantages here...you get a tapered waist as well as add height to the doll. The height problem might be caused by cake not raising or cake recipe insufficient to fill up the mold. The sharp edges from the cupcake bottom need to be trimmed before covering with fondant.

Once dressed up, this is what you will get. A doll cake with Barbie's statistics. It makes designing and creating the doll's dresses much more enjoyable. Have fun!

A Rose Obsession

The latest book by Alan Dunn, The Wedding Cake Decorator's Bible (2009), a good value for money and definately going to be one of the most refered to in my collection. Twenty three decorating techniques are shown including some rarely heard of like Battenburg lace, using gelatine for cut-outs and flowers as well as cocoa painting.  

There is one section dedicated to sugar flowers which shows 5 types of flowers, 3 types of foliage, and 2 types of "filler" flowers. Dusting methods are also in detail. Above is one of the 3 types of rose shown in the book. This is known as Formal Rose. The other 2 is Open Rose (as shown on book cover) and Modelled Rose.

My attempt at the Formal rose. It is the half rose stage...another step (10 steps altogether as listed in book) before reaching full rose stage.

Gum Paste: Satin Ice vs Wilton

Wah Seng in Ipoh has just stocked up Satin Ice Gum Paste, an alternative for cake decorators to use besides the Wilton brand. Thought I would experiment on both to construct one of the everlasting favourites to have on wedding cakes; the Rose. The price for Wilton is double that of Satin Ice. Both packaging comes with devices to prevent exposure to air which could cause gum paste to harden. 

Let the test begin! On the left is Satin Ice Gum Paste, and on the right in Wilton Gum Paste.

Open up the packaging and pinch them out. Satin Ice is harder and more difficult to pinch. Could be easier using a metal spoon to help. Wilton is rubbery and more pinchable. The big difference is the colour and texture. Satin Ice is whiter and has a clay-like texture. Wilton is skin tone and rubbery and a little sticky. 

It is recommended to mix 50% Wilton Gum Paste with 50% Fondant(Sugar Paste) as shown above.

Here is the result. On the left is the original Satin Ice, and on the right is the kneaded 50:50 of Wilton Gum Paste + Fondant.

These roses are freshly made. There is a translucent effect on the Wilton rose, whereas Satin Ice remains white. Satin Ice petal is also harder to frill as you can see it looks quite stiff compared to the one on the right which is softer (having been mixed with fondant), therefore easier to frill, making the petals slightly bigger. 

These has been left overnight and has harden. One can hardly notice the difference in colour. In term of price, they even out as Wilton will be mixed with fondant, doubling its bulk. 

Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies

Silicone evolved from being used as non-stick baking mats to spatulas, whisks, and now to bakeware like muffin pans, moulds and even baking cups like the one I used to try out a new recipe, Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies. Shown above is one of the Wilton brand of silicone bakeware. They are the Mini-Baking Cups, 2 inches in diameter at a cost of RM36.40 for 12 pieces. The good points of using the silicone cups are:

• bendable (especially when it come to cleaning them) and retains it shape well
• hygienic, be sure no crust left stuck at unreachable corners as is usually the cake with traditional pans 
• non-porous, doesn't retain odours and flavours
• non-stick and easy to remove (instructions on tag says to grease and flour)
  
• adds colour to any collection of baking equipments

Below is a recipe for Chocolate Cheesecake Brownies taken from a recipe book entitled Hamlyn Cookery School which has 150 recipes with step-by-step photography from stocks and sauces, to starters, vegetable side dishes, desserts and cakes.  

Ingredients

300 g plain chocolate, chopped

      125 g lightly salted butter

      150 g light muscadavo sugar

  75 g  self-raising flour

   75 g chopped almonds

       4 eggs

     300 g cream cheese

75 g  castor sugar

      1 tsp vanilla extract

Melt the chocolate with the butter in a medium-sized bowl.

Beat together the muscadavo sugar, flour, chopped almonds and 3 eggs in a mixing bowl to make a paste.

Beat in the melted chocolate mixture.

In a separated bowl, beat the cheese until softened. Beat in the castor sugar, remaining egg and the vanilla extract until smooth. 

Scoop the chocolate mixture into the baking cups, then spoon the cheese mixture on top. Use a spatula to swirl two mixture gently together, lifting some of the chocolate mixture into the cheese topping, until lightly marbled. (Don't overwork the mixture or the flavours will complete merge together.)

Bake in a pre-heated oven, 190 C (375 F) for about 20 minutes or until very softly set in the centre. Remove from cups when cooled.

A word of advice, follow the instructions on the tag to grease the cups before putting in the batter as yours truly here ignored the instructions and had to pry the cake from the cups using spatula.Conclusion, not all silicone bakewares has non-stick properties.