tim and lisa cocking

I made a princess cake for Bethany’s birthday. It wasn’t too difficult, but someone asked me to document the process. So here goes!

I baked the cake in a Pampered Chef 8-cup batter bowl (which I borrowed from a friend). I also borrowed a cake doll torso thing (don’t know exactly what they’re called, it’s like a Barbie from the waist up but a spike from the waist down). Unfortunately there was some kind of mishap with Barbie the Spike and her arms were no longer attached to her body. They couldn’t be reattached, so on to Plan B!

I raided the girls’ boxful of Barbies and pulled out a Cinderella. Perfect! Almost. Unfortunately, her legs were too long–her hips would have stuck out of the cake–so they had to come off.  I was able to snap them off carefully and put them back on when we were done. I wrapped her lower body tightly with several layers of plastic wrap so we wouldn’t end up with cake and frosting inside her.  The only plastic wrap I have on hand right now happens to be red. It ended up looking pretty gruesome, a dismembered doll looking like she’s wrapped in red bandages. The girls thought it was pretty hilarious!

Anyway. I baked the cake the night before I needed it. I used two devil’s food cake mixes. When I filled the batter bowl there was a bit of cake batter left over, so I put it into an 8″ round cake pan. Good thing, too–I ended up using it. I set the temp and timer according to the package and took the round cake out then (35 mins or so). The bowl cake ended up taking about 50 minutes, I think. I just kept testing it with a long bamboo skewer. It did fall in the middle and ended up with quite a bubble there, but it didn’t matter–that was on the bottom and hidden when all was said and done. I froze the baked cakes overnight. It’s much easier to frost and decorate a frozen cake–far fewer crumbs.

Party day. I made a real buttercream frosting. I wouldn’t do that again for decorating. Very, very tasty but it melts at room temperature. I kept having to stick the bowl of frosting and the cake into the fridge, and my hands into a bowl of ice water. Next time I’ll either just buy prepared frosting or make a shortening-based frosting (ew).

Assembly was pretty easy. I realized that the doll looked too big for the “skirt” when it was just the cake baked in the bowl, so I sliced off the domed top of each cake to level them and put the 8″ round underneath, like so:

Except of course I put frosting between the layers. The decorating was pretty straightforward after that. First, a crumb coat:

Then, a top coat. I gently dragged a bread knife vertically through the frosting to make the ridges.

I’d bought some Disney Princess glitter cake decorating gel, which I used for the sashes and stripes on the skirt.

I did the purple first, then the rosettes (I tinted the rest of the frosting after I’d finished the ridged coat), then the stripes.  I cut a hole in the top for the Barbie (I intentionally cut the hole small so she’d fit tightly) after I’d pretty much finished the skirt. I started piping rosettes onto the torso for the bodice, but everything was getting really melty by then despite keeping the frosting in the fridge and repeatedly sticking the whole cake in there for a while. I had a scary moment when I thought the cake wasn’t going to fit in the fridge, but luckily Barbie’s head was jointed and I was able to tip it to get her to fit.

(I think I may have to bust into that Celebrator later tonight, even if it was Tim’s Father’s day gift.) Eventually I was able to finish piping the rosettes on the doll, then decided to do the top of the cake too. I also added straps to the dress with the decorator gel, since the girls complained that she looked weird without them.

I should have stopped there, but I added a bit more purple gel to the top of the skirt to try to tie the parts together. I liked it better before I did that, but couldn’t scrape it off without destroying the rosettes and I was almost out of frosting.

I used the last bit of buttercream to pipe rosettes directly onto the plate, and stuck candles into them.

So there it is. Things I’d do differently: get a doll that’s intended for cakes; don’t use a butter-based frosting; stop sooner.

Maybe I’ll do another post on how I made the castle for Ellie’s birthday.

Here are a few pics from the shoot.

That’s me recording a Vespa scooter driving by for one shot

I did a lot of this! Carrying gear around

I got to take my turns doing this job

More slate board action

This is recording general atmosphere sounds and chicken.

I am back but I’ve been pretty busy (and sick) and have neglected updating here. I’ll post a summary and pictures of the trip soon.

He’s still in Amsterdam. The airline gave him a credit for a 5-minute call so we actually spoke. They did miss their original flight to Nairobi, but there is another 12 hours later instead of 24. They’ll be taking that (another red-eye, the second in a row) in just a few hours, then will have to go straight from the airport to the set. Filming has already started without them. He won’t get to his hotel for another 24 hours or more.

Pray that they’ll all get some sleep on the flight, that all the baggage will arrive with them, and for safe travels in air and on land.

Edited to add: just found some flight details. He leaves Amsterdam at 9:00pm Saturday (3:00pm Eastern), arrives in Nairobi at 6:35am Sunday (11:35pm Eastern).

Tim’s flight from Minneapolis to Amsterdam has been delayed by more than 4 hours, which means he’s probably going to miss his connection from Amsterdam to Nairobi. The next flight to Nairobi isn’t for another 24 hours. He’s traveling in a group of five, so he’s not all on his own. If he does end up in Amsterdam for 24 hours he should have access to internet and will be able to post an update from there.

Edited to add: the flight was delayed due to mechanical problems. They made repairs, loaded the passengers, pushed back from the gate, and had the problem again. So they had to deplane and wait for more repairs. As of right now (7:30 EDT) the estimated departure is 6:45 pm CDT, with an estimated arrival in Amsterdam at 9:51 am. The flight from Amsterdam to Nairobi is scheduled for 10:15 am. Unless they get off on time or early and have some wicked strong tailwinds it doesn’t look good for them making the connection.

Edit #2: According to NWA’s website, the plane left the gate at 7:34 pm CDT but has not taken off yet (at 8:40 EDT), estimated arrival in Amsterdam of 10:40 am. Looks like they’ll be spending some time in the Netherlands.