"The Elsa"

My daughter is into Frozen (like every other young girl alive I suppose) and for her birthday last year, we threw a Frozen-themed party that was over the top...the best part, though, had to be the cake.

So, when a friend called my partner-in-crime, Debbie, and said they needed a Frozen themed birthday cake, her first thought was the Elsa Cake at May's party...it was so fun to make, and such a wonderful family that wanted one, how could I say no?

So here she is...Elsa, in cake form:

The cake is constructed of an Elsa doll (a "Sparkle Elsa" barbie-sized doll to be exact) which I chose because her dress top is molded on - no need to worry about constructing one out of fondant, which a) prevents the hassle of trying to sculpt such an intricate bodice, b) eliminates the need to figure out an edible way to make it truly sparkle, and c) prevents putting dyed fondant on the doll, which could in turn dye the doll.  No one wants a blue-toned Elsa to play with after the party!

The skirt is all cake - baked in a Pampered Chef batter bowl (for a long, long time).  The doll's legs are wrapped in plastic wrap and she goes in the cake, then smaller pieces of cake and icing are sculpted to make her skirt shape perfect.  After all that, she's covered very carefully with fondant and a belt is put on to hide the edges.  Best part about this doll is her sparkly cape that finishes it up just right.   To go along with this arrangement, 36 cupcakes were made in three different buttercream icing colors with royal icing snowflakes added on top (made by the ever patient Debbie!)

I think I want to try other princesses too, while Elsa's dress is quite simple, imagine how intricate some of the other princesses could get...might have to play with some of my daughter's dolls and stuff them in a cake! 

Sunshine and Rainbows

I'm not sure why my dear friend Debbie was nervous about the latest cake project she took on - someone wanted sunshine and rainbows...in cake form.  Anyone who knows me and Debbie knows that when it comes to sunshine and rainbows, she's much better outfitted for the job...i'm more like gray clouds and snowflakes.  :) 

She knew she wanted the rainbow inside the cupcake, so with the help of a little gizmo from Wilton that sits in your cupcake liner and allows you to pour a different color batter into the center of the cupcake, she was able to make different colored centers for a rainbow surprise with the first bite.  For the top of the cupcake, white buttercream was piped on in a high-top swirl, looking much like a cloud, where fondant suns would sit. 

All we had to do was make the fondant suns! So after surveying the cutters on hand and finding one small flower cutter and a circle, we were able to put these little puppies together!

 

So the end product when everything was put together?  Fondant suns sitting atop a fluffy white cloud hiding a rainbow inside the cupcake!



Aren't they darling? Two things we learned during this confectionary adventure - fondant that appears rock hard and destined for the trash can just needs some TLC - massage some Crisco into it and it's nearly as good as new; and the little gizmo from Wilton that allows you to make two-tone cupcakes serves you best when you're making consistently colored two-tone cupcakes.  Otherwise, everything needs washed in between, and the waste of batter will leave you short of what you're expecting from the cake mix.

I wonder why no one ever asks for gray clouds and snow cupcakes? ;)