Step 5: The Finished Product

The cake is finished! We decided not to hide it all day tomorrow. (I am a little fearful of what could happen to it if its not in a safe, visible place at all time.) I'll have to update you on Rory's reaction. I may even try to get it on video. (And if I'm feeling really ambitious, I might learn how to post a video on here.)

It now sits on top of the stove, and the hood light gives it an aura of reverence.

The Barbie cake....

Step 4: Finishing the Frosting

After doing a little time in the freezer, the cake was ready for some good amounts of frosting. I tried to make it swirly like Video Lady described as "billowing fabric," but I'm pretty sure I fell short in that area. It was nice knowing no one but my happy-to-be-5 daughter would be critiquing my skills. (And don't forget, she has never seen Video Lady's rock-star version.)

Overall I was happy with how the large amounts of frosting covered the uneveness of the cake layers. Chris was impressed with the outcome (but I don't think he looked too closely at Video Lady's cake, either).

Once the skirt was done, I had to wrap Barbie in Press N' Seal. I then discovered that she was too tall for the cake, with everything above her thighs sticking out of the top. I solved this by turning Ballerina Barbie into Contortionist Barbie. I used a couple of rubber bands to bend her legs backward. Then she fit fine. I'm hoping the physical effects are not permanent.

Once Contortionist Barbie was stuck into the cake, I "piped" some frosting on her bodice. Really I just used a Ziploc bag with the hole cut a little-too-large. The instructions say to make rosettes, and by golly that's exactly what Video Lady did. Not me- mine are more like pebbles of frosting. They eventually all blended together. Here's what she looked like before I finished her hair, wiped off the plate, etc., etc.

Stay tuned for Step 5: The Finished Product

Step 3: The Crumb Coat

This is pretty much where I gave up on the techniques of Video Lady. This crumb-coat is supposed to be a very thin coat of frosting to hold the crumbs onto the surface of the cake so they don't show on the finished product. Video Lady even went so far as to use a strip of paper to smooth the cake on all sides from bottom to top. (I did not smooth it that much, and was lucky enough to have the alternative she suggested- an off-set spatula.)



After the crumb-coat was on the cake, I had to freeze it for 45 minutes for it to set. We had to make room in the big freezer for the cake plate, which included figuring out how to suspend the pedestal between some frozen spinach dip and a box of Cheerios. (If you want to know why I have cereal in my freezer, come back Saturday to read about the great grocery deals I got this week!) So far, so good.


I got so preoccupied with positioning the plate in the freezer that I forgot to take pictures of the finished crumb-coat. This is what it looked like stacked up on the plate, before I put the crumb-coat on. (I even used the parchment paper strips recommended by Video Lady to keep frosting off of the serving plate.)

Coming Soon.....Step 4: Finishing the Frosting

Step 2: Trimming the Cakes

Step 2 was totally easy. I trimmed the rounded parts off each layer, and cut the "bowl" layer in half. I used my extra-large-really-sharp serrated knife, and it worked just fine. I didn't even freeze it first.

Step 2 also involved cutting the 2-inch holes in the middle of each layer. The ultra-prepared demonstration lady on the video used a cute "decorative cutter" (although it looked suspiciously similar to a biscuit cutter to me). I couldn't find anything that small, so I just cut the holes with a knife. Nobody is really going to see them anyway!

Stay tuned for Step 3: The Crumb Coat