My daughter, Sheza turned six last month. I prepared this ombre doll cake for her birthday with her favourite color, pink…
Ingredients:
For Cake:
2 1/2 cup plain flour
2 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda
1 tsp salt
4 eggs
1 1/4- 1 1/2 cup sugar
2 – 2 1/2 tsp vanilla extract
1 cup oil
1 cup buttermilk
pink food coloring
For Buttercream Frosting:
1 cup butter, at room temperature
4 cups powdered sugar/ icing sugar
1 tsp vanilla extract
2-3 tbsp milk
Preparation:
For Cake:
- Preheat oven to 180 degree celcius. Grease and flour two 6 ” baking pans and one oven safe glass bowl and keep it aside.
- In a medium bowl, add plain flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt and stir together with a whisk and keep it aside.
- In a large mixing bowl or in the bowl of an electric mixer, add eggs and beat well.
- Add sugar and continue to beat on medium speed about 30-40 seconds. Add vanilla essence and oil and beat well.
- Then reduce the mixer speed to low and slowly add about half of the flour mixture. Add half of the buttermilk, then alternatively add the rest of the flour and buttermilk and beat until just combined.
- Divide the batter evenly between 5 bowls and add food coloring on each bowl with different shades of pink. ( I left one bowl without any food color and for the remaining bowls used Americolor gels in soft pink, electric pink and a bit of electric purple for the darkest layer).
7. Transfer two coloured batters into two prepared baking pans and plain batter to the glass bowl and bake it in preheated oven for 12-15 minutes.
8. Remove cakes from oven and place onto a wire rack and let them cool completely..
9. Bake the remaining coloured batters like this and cool completely before frosting..
For Frosting:
- In a bowl or in the bowl of an electric mixer, add butter and beat on medium speed until completely smooth.
- One cup at time, add 2 cups of icing sugar , beating after each addition.
- Add vanilla extract and beat to combine. Add about 1 tbsp of milk/ cream and continue beating.
- Add the remaining 2 cups of icing sugar, one at a time and beat. Add 1-2 tbsp milk/ cream and beat until the desired consistency is reached.
- Reserve about 1 cup of frosting, to use between the layers and to crumb coat the cake ( very thinly frost the outside of cake). Divide the remaining frosting between 3 bowls and color it with various shades of pink from lightest to darkest.
Assembling the cake:
- Level the cakes top and using a round cookie cutter or a knife, cut a small portion ( 1 ” hole ) in the center of each cake to insert the doll into the cake.
- In a serving plate/ cake board, layer the cakes, darkest on the bottom and frost with a layer of buttercream icing between each layer. ( You can brush each layer with sugar syrup before spreading buttercream between the layers).
- Using a serrated knife, trim all around the cake to a dome shape. Then frost the outside of the entire cake with a thin layer of frosting (crumb coat) .
- Place this crumb coated cake in the fridge for about an hour to firm up the frosting.
- Take a clean doll, remove the doll’s dress and wrap it in a plastic wrap and insert the doll into the cake.
- Prepare 3 piping bags with each color of frosting, fitted with open star tip/ nozzle. Start piping along the bottom of the cake with darkest color icing, creating rows of swirls.
- Continue piping each row with remaining colors of icing and finish the upper side with lightest color icing. Also pipe some designs over the doll’s bodice ..Decorate it with sugar sprinkles as desired…
8. Once fully frosted, leave the cake in the refrigerator until ready to serve…Cut the cake into slices and serve..
Cake recipe adapted from here…
My girl also wants a doll cake again, despite me getting one for her last birthday… she also turns six month… I wish you were next door so that I could order one… 😀 This looks so good!