Here is the Tutorial I did last week for U-Create Parties. I like to always repost any guest post tutorial I do back here!!!
Here is the Rapunzel cake I made last week for a birthday party. The techniques I’m going to show you can work for any of the princesses or other women doll cakes you’d like to make yourself.
I used these same techniques to make this Princess Tiana Barbie Doll cake too!
The main supplies are the princess doll you want to make, and Wilton Wonder Mold cake pan. This cake takes a while to cook because it’s so thick. Make sure you use the metal tube down the center for even cooking. If you leave it out the cake will fall. Not pretty. I’ve had this pan for years, But somehow in the last few month I lost a key piece, the screw on the bottom. I emailed Wilton and they immediately sent on to me! It was terrific service!
First we need to do the prep work. We need to cover some cake boards. We need one cake board the same size as the the cake itself. Then we also need 2 or 3 cake boards stacked together for the decorative board. Don’t use just one, it will be too thin and too weak. I’d make these 2-4 inches larger than the base of the cake, depending on how much of the cake base you want showing. You don’t want to put the cake directly on cardboard, it will get soaked. So I cover it with foil! Wrap it around the back, trim and then tape it down.
Let’s start with the decorative cake base. You want to start by covering it with fondant. In order to get it to stick and STAY on the foil covered board I use corn syrup. I rub in all over the board before I cover it! You can leave it like that OR you can make it decorative like I did. I used an Imprint mat, put it on the board and rolled the rolling pin over it! Peel it off and you have a detailed bake base!
Take the cake sized cake board and cover it with some frosting so that the cake will stick to the board. And put the cake on the board! And frost the cake! I totally forgot to take a picture of that part! I always forget one picture in every tutorial it seems!
For any of the Barbie cakes what we need to start with is start at the inside/bottom and work your way out/up! So the underskirt is where we’re starting.
Rapunzel’s underskirt has a lot of detailing in it so I decided to roll the fondant out onto an impression mat and then used that to cover the cake! As you cover a cake the fondant tends to stretch a bit so to keep the details I just focused on keeping one section pretty, the rest I didn’t mind if the impression got stretched and warped.
I covered the pretty section with some luster dust and then to bring out the detail I painted the lines with a paint brush and clear vanilla! (notice I rolled up her 16 inch long hair and using a twist tie kept it out of her face, and out of the way while I worked on the dress!)
Now we need to add the doll and start working our way up! Usually I rip the legs off. But this was a higher quality doll and the legs couldn’t be pulled off without ruining them for the future. SO I decided to leave the legs on. I wrapped them with plastic wrap. The bad part about leaving the legs on is that when you push the legs in it kind of disrupts the cake a bit. Do it when the fondant is fresh so it has a bit of a stretch to it. I waited too long and it cracked the fondant. I had to do some repair work…
Back to the design, next on the out/up is the outer skirt. It’s the same purple, but it’s more simple. So I rolled it out and wrapped it around the base. Before I started wrapping I made sure to add clear vanilla to the base fondant so that the outer skirt would stick! Cutting it at the bottom and straight edges in the front. Don’t worry about the rough edges, we’ll cover them later.
Next up? The sleeves. Her dress has sheer sleeves. Since I can’t get completely sheer I did roll it out as thin as I could, see… You can see the writing through the fondant. Cut it down to strips, about the width of the arm. Paint it with clear vanilla and carefully wrap it around her arms. Trim the edges under the arm!
Now for the bodice. Paint her body with clear vanilla. I should mention why we’re using clear vanilla, or vanilla at all! Vanilla is mostly alchol and so it dampens the fondant and makes it sticky, but it also evaporates quickly so it dries quickly too! If you use regular vanilla the brown could dye or show up if you get it on any of the fondant that shows!. The clear vanilla won’t leave any marks!
Now using a sharp knife trim the bodice into shape! Remember you can do any princess you want, so use the colors and bodice shape of the princess your trying to make.
Her puffy sleeves. I started with 2 fondant balls to make sure they are equal and match. Then I started shaping them! Add the vanilla and add it to our princess! Now we have the base design complete. You could leave it here for a decent cake, but to take it over the top it’s time to start working on the details. That’s what really makes the cake.
Stripes for her puffy sleeves
The pink trip details around the bodice neckline an cover the seam line in the back.
Cover the seam where the bodice and skirt meet… And now time to add the criss crossing of the ribbon onto the bodice. I rolled out the pink really thin, and then using a pizza cutter cut it really narrow. This way I didn’t have to try to roll it evenly into such a small snake! I painted the bodice with clear vanilla (see, you can’t even see it!). Now one strip at a time start cutting and building the criss crossing!
And for the final details: I added a bit of white around the neckline, added some purple between the puffy sleeves and “sheer” sleeves, some detail at the ends of the sleeves, the edges of the outer skirt, the base of the dress AND the bow at the top of the criss cross lace up front!
Her skirt is all shiny, so using a brush (not one you EVER use with paint or make up or anything, JUST for food!!! Anyway, use the brush and edible glitter, or luster dust! I brushed it all over the skirt, bodice, etc… It adds that final shine/glow to the dress.
Undo her hair, add her tiny gecko and paint brush and Presto! She’s done and gorgeous!
And she’s done!
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Kemisola
Very beautiful. thanks for the tutorial.
Ashlee
your welcome! It was such a fun cake to make!
Kemisola
Just create my own Barbie cake. so much fun. thanks again for the tutorial. Hope to see more from you. thanks
Ashlee
Your so welcome! I’m just waiting for the next barbie cake order!!! Wondering as the new slew of parties comes up if I’ll get an order for a Merida (from Brave) cake!
Sibel
yumm! I love fondant cakes. Satin Ice tastes much better than Wilton’s. (srry Wilton! But your pan rocks!)
Your cake looks sooooo good. What an amazing job!
I used this cake pan 2 times already. Both were with Barbie dolls. The cake was chocolate. I never use box mixes since I do not like the taste. I found that I had to bake my usual recipe15 min longer than usual. I used Magnolia Bakery’s Chocolate Birthday Cake recipe. (it is enough for a 9″ three layer cake and fills the wonder mold pan perfectly.) Since it is such a moist cake it didn”t dry out as much when I baked it longer.
Instead of angleing the legs I make one additional 9″ round cake layer and put it below the wilton mold cake. This usually means doubling the recipe.
Today I am trying to make a Belle cake BUT my sons friend wants a vanilla cake. I use the Traditional Vanilla Bithday cake recipe from the same book but the cake fell. The middle simply did not bake evenly ;(
Even after 25 extra minutes. Please help!
Could you share your vanilla recipe with us?
I don’t know how to post a photo of the cakes I made…I would have liked to share. These cakes were such fun to make.
Ashlee
totally, I haven’t used wilton fondant or gumpaste in years, but I love their pans! I’m not a fan of box mixes either and do all my cakes from scratch. I haven’t tried a belle cake yet, but with that amazing dress she wears it’s the perfect one to try! I have done the extra layer before, but not everyone wants that much cake, so I didn’t want to confuse people, or make them think they had to do that to create this cake. But it is a great solution to the leg dilemma.
Has anything changed since the last time you baked a cake? have you moved? high altitude is a KILLER on baking. Did you lose the center metal rod? I did that once and the center fell badly. I have a few dozen recipes I use, depending on what I’m using it for, The white cake I use the most often is from the “joy of cooking”, but it has not worked for me at the altitude I’m currently living at. but my chocolate has worked great so I use it most often.
Carrie
Hi Ashlee,
I have 3 dolls cakes to make soon, and it will be the first time I make it from this Wonder mold (my first cake were stacked layers then carved into a dress shape), and I was wondering: to avoid disruption of the cake when it’s time to insert the doll… could you not carve out a hole where the doll’s legs would be? Maybe even use a paper towel roll to get the hole started and then use a bread knife to make it bigger. Just my 2 cents. 🙂
Ashlee
you are more than welcome to try anything you want, this is just the way I do it.
Ciji
Hi, my 7 year old wants a Rapunzel cake and thought I could probably do it myself. But what I want to know is how far in advance can you make it? I want to be able to make it a day or so before just in case it dont come out and I still have time to order a cake LOL! BTW your cakes are awesome!
Ashlee
you can totally make it the day before, just don’t refrigerate it once you put the fondant on. when it cools it will get condensation on the outside and completely ruin it.
Crystal
You are talented. I was wondering what colors you used to color the fondant? or what color fondant did you buy? I just want to get the right colors right.
Ashlee
I own about 60 gel colors, and this was years ago, so i can’t say for sure what I used. I used a few different pinks to get the shades I wanted. just start with a little at a time and experiment!
khadija
hi, this is truly an informative tutorial! Thanx for sharing!
Ashlee
thank you so much, it’s a really fun cake to make.
Kate Sturge
Hi and sorry to hijack the conversation. Just about to start making “Princess Belle” but i don’t have the Wilton own set and hoping to get a similar effect by carving into a cake baked in a 2ltr Pyrex bowl and 1x 8″ sandwich cake placed underneath. Any tips??? I already have a legless doll! Thanks Kate
Ashlee
make sure you use a really REALLY dense cake. once you start carving a cake it loses a lot of it’s strength from the outer “crust” if you will. And carve frozen, and a little at a time, you can always take off more, but can’t put it back on once it’s off! have fun!
Jo
Amazing cake! can you please tell me how you got the colour of the skirt? I really need this exact shade!!
thanks!
Jo
oh I’ve just seen your answer to a similar question!! thanks for sharing your tutorial!
Ashlee
your totally welcome!
Ashlee Prisbrey
I used a mix of a bunch of different shades. I use gel food coloring I used a few shades of pink. I usually take a little ball of fondant and color it until I’m happy with it, then color a larger swatch (that way you don’t waste fondant on the wrong color.
mayra
guauu sos una genia voy a tratar de hacerla gracias por el paso a pasooooo
Ashlee
you are very welcome!
Gina
Hi Ashlee,
I am going to attempt to do your wonderful Rapunzel cake for my daughters 5th Birthday next month & was wondering what colour luster dust did you use? it’s all new to me so I hope it works out!
Ashlee
Ummm prob just the pearl luster dust, maybe the silver. those are my go too luster dust colors.
SUSIE
WHERE CAN i BUY THE RAPUNZEL DOLL
Ashlee
the mom of the birthday girl ordered it, years ago when it was popular, and had it sent to me. last time I checked you can still find some on amazon.
Lauren
I’m 12 and I’m planning a Tangled party for my sisters 8th in march. I am going to make this cake but I’m not exactly a cake maker-y person so I was wondering (this is going to sound stupid) how did you make the cake itself, like I need some set in stone step by steps to help me. Thanks in advance!
Oh and the party is going to be a surprise for everyone so could you give me the length of time it will take plz?
Ashlee
I make from scratch cakes, but don’t share my recipes, as it’s part of my business. If your cake doesn’t rise enough you might need to add another layer of 8 inch cakes. Pound cakes are good, or a sour cream chocolate is usually dense enough. The decorating alone probably took me 4 plus hours. add the cooking, cooling, frosting, i usually do it over 2 days, baking one day, frosting and decorating the next.
Beverly
Ashlee:
That cake is amazing! What an artist you are! I am making Sleeping Beauty for my granddaughter on Saturday and had a few questions. Isn’t the doll too tall for the Wonder Pan Mold? It didn’t look like you put another cake under it to stick the doll’s feet in; how did you make it work? Did you make a hole in the cake for the doll before putting on the fondant? If so, did you wait till the cake cooled? The waist of Wonder Mold Pan looks smaller in diameter than the doll’s hips; does that make the cake break when you insert the doll? Thanks! I am hoping my turns out half as great as yours! Haven’t used this pan in about 25 years and just used the doll pick at the time, but wanted to use an authentic Sleeping Beauty doll for my little princess :)!
Ashlee
I put her legs in at an angle, for the Merida cake I made the cake fell a bit and was WAY to short so I added another 8 inch round layer underneath to add height. I do cut a hole in the cake before I stick the doll in so it doesn’t break the cake. After I bake my cakes I wait 10 mins just until they are cool enough to handle and I wrap them in plastic and freeze. That way instead of all the steam escaping it stays in the cake and keeps it extra moist. Then I thaw it a bit to start carving and frosting.
Mohammed
Dear Ashlee
It looks very impressive. What can I use as a Vanilla substitute that has no alcohol.
Thanks a lot
Ashlee
I use vodka, it’s cheaper and works better, but clear vanilla works okay, I wouldn’t use anything with a high concentration of alcohol. you put it on and it dissolves a bit of the fondant as it evaporates leaving it tacky, but the alcohol doesn’t stay, it evaporates. I have known some people try a bit of water, but it doesn’t dissolve the fondant or leave it sticky it tends to just be wet and slippery and the fondant/gumpaste doesn’t stick very well.
Emily Smith
How much fondant should I make for this cake? Is one batch of marshmallow fondant enough? (1 lb marshmallows, 2 lbs powdered sugar).
Ashlee
I don’t use marshmallow fondant, I buy my fondant 50 lbs at a time. I’d say 2 softball sized balls of fondant would be enough? I usually say a softball sized ball for the skirt alone, and because this has the extra skirt layer it takes a little more, the rest, bodice, arms, details, etc… doesn’t take very much.
Emily Smith
Sorry, me again 🙁 I rented the wilton wonder mold pan from my library, and there is no rod … is there supposed to be a metal rod in order for it to bake evenly? Is there something I might be able to use instead?
Ashlee
yes there should be a rod, there isn’t another way to make it, I’d take it back and ask if they forgot to give it to you. I’ve bought sets that was missing the rod and I emailed wilton and they sent me a new one, but it did take a week
Charley
Hi Ashlee,
I have only ever made 4 cakes before in my life but really want to try to make this for my daughters 4th birthday – bound to be a disaster – ha ha ha. Had a silly question 😉 (I live in UK) Once you have baked the cake do you add a thin layer of buttercream before putting the fondant on? Also when you mention clear vanilla is this the same as Vanilla Essence? Thank you so much for your help!!
kayla
hey there! not sure if ashlee will reply, thsi was posted YEARS ago…
but i’m american and live in norway, and have had to learn all the “substitutes” here for american baking things.
before applying fondant, you DO need a layer of buttercream so the fondant has something to stick to 🙂 place it in the fridge to harden a bit, then smooth the buttercream out with a fondant smoother to get the smoothest finish to the dress.
not sure about clear vanilla being the same as vanilla essence BUT you can get clear vanilla from a baking store. i got some here! if it’s vanilla and it doesn’t look like water, it’s not the same 🙂 good luck!
Ashlee
Hey thanks for stepping in and answering questions.
I actually DON’T ever use buttercream under fondant, just Ganache. Buttercream is too squishy, soft and a little melty. So I don’t like to use it.
While ganache holds it’s shape great, and is nice and smooth under fondant and once it sets you don’t have to worry about it melting. As for the clear vanilla I actually use vodka usually, it’s cheaper and what you really need is the alcohol, the vanilla part doesn’t matter, but some people like the sound of clear vanilla over vodka.
Ashlee
hey, sorry for the late response, I only respond every other month these days. And no question is silly, so your good!
I do NOT add buttercream. I NEVER add buttercream under fondant, it’s soft, squishy and tends to melt out the bottom and doesn’t hold it’s shape. What I us is GANACHE once it sets it holds it’s shape great.
Honestly I usually use vodka, it’s cheaper and works better than clear vanilla, BUT some people get offended by me saying that so I say clear vanilla. The alcohol in the vodka eats a small layer of the fondant and makes it tacky so the fondant sticks to fondant!
Amy
The Rapunzel cake turned out beautiful! I was able to get all the fondant, etc, in local shops in Ireland. I now know how to roll fondant! My 3 year old will have the best bday. The cake could have looked a bit more professional but I let my 4 year old help with the decorating. Much better to have a cake a little smudged by a 4 year old than a perfect cake with the 4 year old being banished from the kitchen. Thank you for your website! I just googled Rapunzel doll cake and found your website in the first page of search results. I’ll try another cake for the next bday in our house!
Ashlee
I have a ton of little helpers in the kitchen too! While I keep them away from clients cakes they do love helping with just for fun cakes and I bet it looks AMAZING! Email me a picture or tag me on social media, I’d love to see it.