a doll cake: even my sister might be impressed

Here it is, the doll cake I made for my daughter’s 3rd birthday tomorrow. Not too bad, considering the dinosaur cake I made in the past. When my husband saw my headline, he said he doubted that my sister would be impressed. I’m not sure if he was serious or not. My sister has talent when it comes to food looking good–me, I just aim for it tasting good. I do not have the patience for decorating cakes. Now if you want to see a masterpiece, check out this beautiful doll cake.

 

Yesterday, I baked the cakes (2 round cakes and for the upper most layer, a cake baked in my biggest pyrex mixing bowl) so they would be ready to assemble and frost today while my daughter was taking a nap. I had intended to make the frosting purple. Didn’t I learn somewhere that red and blue make purple? I had my buttercream frosting whirring in my stand mixer and I started squeezing drops of food coloring. First red, then blue. I watched in horror as my pretty pink frosting turned gray once I put some blue in there. Oh no, red and blue were not making purple. I put more and more red in until it came out an acceptable color, although it’s definitely not the shade of pink I would have chosen.

Oh wait, doesn’t that look like the color I painted my bedroom walls when I was a teenager?

I didn’t think it would be very hard to find a doll to stick into the cake. Boy was I wrong! For about a month now, I’ve been browsing down the toy aisle wherever I happen to be shopping. Going into this venture, I knew that I definitely didn’t want anything Barbie, Bratz, or Disney. I didn’t think it would be too hard to find just a pretty plain doll. But no, these are the only things that the stores have. A plain Barbie runs $4.99 and I was willing to pay $15 for this birthday present. I’d love an American girl doll, but they are of course, out of my price range. I spied a line of Wizard the Oz dolls (made by Barbie). I was going to get the Dorothy doll, but it was $24.99. Sorry, just too much. I saw some wonderful Madame Alexander dolls, but they were $40. whew! Sure were pretty, though, and perfect for the occasion. Cheetah dolls? What the heck? Is this a made up rock group or something? And how about the Hannah Montana doll? Not happening. I don’t want fake outrageous blue and fuschia hair so Strawberry Shortcake and her Blueberry friend were out, plus they stink. Have you ever smelled one of those?

So I went to a craft store. I knew they carried torso dolls for making cakes and I decided to just get one of those even thought it meant I wouldn’t have a doll for the birthday present. But when I saw them, I just couldn’t bring myself to buy one of these unclothed torsos on a stick. Because it didn’t have legs, it just seemed too weird. I didn’t want one of those in my cupboard when I was done (I’d have to save it for next year) and I didn’t want my little miss playing with it.

I was about to give in and just get a plain Barbie (they did revamp her figure a few years ago so she’s not as offensive as she once was) when I thought of going to the Christian bookstore. They would have a doll that wasn’t merchandised with something else (unless you count the Bible.) If I remember correctly, I could get a “heroes of the faith” action figure. Maybe they would have the good judge Debra.  When I went to the store, it was empty. When did it close? TJ Maxx was right next door so I went in there. And voila, I found this sweet little Trixieville doll right next to the scantily clad Barbie (I mean she was seriously wearing something you’d see in the lingerie department; who is this doll supposed to be for anyway?)

The best part was that this blonde number with fairy wings was only $3. Sold.