Belle Cake - Please Help!!

[1PamperedMommy]

My daughter's 5th birthday is next week and she is having a princess party. She chose Belle as her Princess-of-Choice for her costume and the cake. I planned to make the batter bowl cake myself and turn it into Belle. I've read TONS of stuff on here about the cakes, but I'm a little bit ditsy about this stuff. I need all the tips you can think of to make this cake great! I want to make my own icing...who's got the best recipe for icing? I'm doing the cake from a box, but thinking of adding pudding mix. What do you think? And is it supposed to be instant pudding mix or the regular kind? What am I supposed to do to the top part of the doll? She can't be naked. LOL. Agh! I'm so overwhelmed!! I don't want to go and spend $30 on a store-bought princess cake. Please help!!

 

[wadesgirl]

I just did a football cake using the batter bowl. I put a box of instant pudding in it and it made it so moist and good! I highly suggest this. As far as the other questions... I have no clue! I used store bought frosting.

 

[dme.grant]

If you go to wilton.com and select recipes from the left side, you'll find a ton of cake, filling, and icing recipes. Their buttercream is delicious and can easily be colored to whatever shade you need. Please post pictures of your cake when you're done. I love cake decorating! Good luck.

 

[deanna_g]

I would frost the bodice of the dress onto the doll so there is a continuation of the dress. Definitely use a buttercream recipe for the icing. They are all pretty similar. Just make sure you get one with good reviews and follow the directions exactly. (-: Good luck! Can't wait to see pics!

 

[Jennie4PC]

When I did the doll I star tipped the dress. And for the top 1/2 I just star tipped the bodice. It looked really cute. Wish I had a picture but I believe that was before my digital days.

 

[Becca_in_MD]

I have done Belle in the batter bowl. Remember that it takes about an hour for the cake to bake. Allow yourself plenty of time. I recommend buying the gel food coloring, not the McCormick drops that you get at the supermarket. I get mine at Michael's craft store. I think I may have seen some at the supermarket. I used the EAD to do the dress. I used the decorator bottle set to put the same icing on the bodice. If your daughter has little play dolls, you may be able to find a little tiara or crown in your collection for her hair. I put clear, sparkly sprinkles (Michael's) over the gown to give it shimmer.

My daughter's birthday is end of June. The cake was fine while stored in our cool basement. The icing started to slide when I brought it upstairs and wasn't paying attention to it. I salvaged it and only my mother knew. Just be careful that it's not near a heater or hot oven.

For a craft project at the party, I bought little wooden treasure chest boxes and let the girls decorate them with gems and markers.

Have fun and take lots of pictures.

 

[mclough]

if you go to Michaels or a similar craft store, in the "cake decorating" isle, they have just the top part of the doll, with a stick to insert into the cake. I used a box of rolled Fondant I also got at michaels, and used used a dry paint brush to paint it sparkly pink (the dry paint stuff i used is edible and is in the same isle. I used a cupcake icing I got at the grocery store with the star tip to make a top to the dress...I also put the pudding in and I thought it was great!

....oh and the fondant, people don't really eat that, it comes right off, but it keeps the cake very moist. I made the cake 2 days before and it was very fresh.

 

[akrebecca]

if you go to Michaels or a similar craft store, in the "cake decorating" isle, they have just the top part of the doll, with a stick to insert into the cake. I used a box of rolled Fondant I also got at michaels, and used used a dry paint brush to paint it sparkly pink (the dry paint stuff i used is edible and is in the same isle. I used a cupcake icing I got at the grocery store with the star tip to make a top to the dress...I also put the pudding in and I thought it was great!

....oh and the fondant, people don't really eat that, it comes right off, but it keeps the cake very moist. I made the cake 2 days before and it was very fresh.

I have never liked fondant BUT I found the BEST fondant recipe on the web Marshmallow Fondant Fondant Recipe, Fondant, Marshmallow Fondant, How To Make Fondant, How To Make Fondant for Cakes, Fondant Icing Recipe, How To Make Marshmallow Fondant, Marshmallow Fondant Recipe This is a lot of fun to make (Really it is, totally not being sarcastic!) and tastes great. I have decorated three cakes now using this recipe and have had wonderful results. On the last cake I even made beautiful tropical flowers with the marshmallow fondant. The biggest tip I have for you is to use lots of shortening on your hands. Put it on, rub it in past your wrists-halfway up your arms (Yes, you read that right. Halfway up your arms). Then, do it again. Seriously. I tend to go by the saying "Just a little will do you." I had a massive sticky mess on my hands the first time. Lesson learned. Used lots on the next two birthday cakes.

 

[1PamperedMommy]

I have never liked fondant BUT I found the BEST fondant recipe on the web Marshmallow Fondant Fondant Recipe, Fondant, Marshmallow Fondant, How To Make Fondant, How To Make Fondant for Cakes, Fondant Icing Recipe, How To Make Marshmallow Fondant, Marshmallow Fondant Recipe This is a lot of fun to make (Really it is, totally not being sarcastic!) and tastes great. I have decorated three cakes now using this recipe and have had wonderful results. On the last cake I even made beautiful tropical flowers with the marshmallow fondant. The biggest tip I have for you is to use lots of shortening on your hands. Put it on, rub it in past your wrists-halfway up your arms (Yes, you read that right. Halfway up your arms). Then, do it again. Seriously. I tend to go by the saying "Just a little will do you." I had a massive sticky mess on my hands the first time. Lesson learned. Used lots on the next two birthday cakes.

Fondant is probably a little more professional than for a first-timer. I just want to get through this! LOL. Maybe someday I can graduate to fondant...But I wondered, in your picture of the white cake with the flowers, what kind of icing did you use (the white icing)? I'm still debating using homemade or icing from a can and could use a recipe for icing.

 

[Sheila]

butter cream:

looks like the "rose" tip for the layers

http://www.a-gift-by-profession.com/wp-content/uploads/2010/07/belle-walt-disney-princess-cake.jpg

LOVE the bright cupcakes all around!
http://www.mmgreatcakes.net/images/DP-100220-2.jpg​

Combo with butter cream & fondant:

The skirt is a bit to high on this one, but you can still get the jest ...

fondant:

by far, the prettiest dress!:
http://media.cakecentral.com/gallery/4149/normal_Belle_front.jpg

 

[Careyann]

You can't use canned frosting for decorating, it's just not the right consistancy. You will need to make buttercream and I would do as someone else said, get Wilton's recipe for the basic buttercream. I took a cake decorating class and that is really the way to go. As for Fondant, it's not hard to work with, if you can play with play-doh, you can work with fondant! That class was the easiest of the series of cake decorating classes I took! I have never tried making my own fondant, though I want to try that marshmallow one! I have bought it in a box at Michael's and then rolled it out and cut it, super easy! It is super sweet tasting so some people don't care for it, make plenty of buttercream to frost the cake with before putting on the fondant, this also helps it stick to the cake!

 

[NooraK]

I know some have said fondant isn't for beginners, but I think in this case it wouldn't be hard to work with, since it doesn't necessarily have to be perfectly smooth. A ripple in the dress will probably just make it look even better!

 

[1PamperedMommy]

Wow! Those are beautiful! I am half-tempted to try the fondant... Knowing myself, I will probably decide the night before. I wish I had the time to do another practice. I like the idea of putting butter cream frosting on first, then the fondant. Maybe I will experiment... Thank you all for the tips!!

 

[shelly.nurse]

Working with fondant is a lot like using dough (my girls even used it like playdoh for a dress once, for something like a dress, I would use fondant. You can even fashion the bodice out of it. It comes in assorted colors already mixed into it at Michael's. Then you can pipe accents with butter cream over it.

Make sure you frost the cake with butter cream first and let that set. Fondant tastes NASTY!!!! so it easily peels off when you want to cut/eat the cake.

I made a barbie cake for birthday number 3 for my oldest, I used buttercream for the whole thing. I was overseas, where there was no Micheals, and pre-internet, I bought one of the cheap barbies (the one that comes dressed in a bathing suit) and wrapped her in a couple of layers of plastic wrap before inserting her in the cake. I placed her in the cake FIRST then iced it. My daughter loved it, and when it came time to cut she didn't want "Barbie to be naket"

Wilton Buttercream Icing:

1/2 cup vegetable shortening (like crisco)
1/2 cup butter or margerine
1 tsp vanilla (wilton makes a clear one)
1 pound powdered confectioners (#10) sugar
2 tbsp milk

Bring butter or margerine to room temp. With electric mixer, cream butter and shortening. Add vanilla. Gradually add powdered sugar scraping sides of bowl often. When all sugar is incorporated, it will be thick and dry looking. Add milk. Mix well.

This is the recipe that I used to help my mom make all the time. I have it memorized. If you add color, use the wilton brand icing color. It is better to overestimate how much of each color you need, because if you were to need more yellow (I think the color you may want is called "goldenrod"), it is almost impossible to match perfectly!!

Good luck and post a picture when you are done, I am sure your daughter will love it!!

 

[1PamperedMommy]

Thanks everyone! That's really helpful. I do think I'm gonna give it a go with the fondant On to my next dilemma...this morning, all of a sudden, I started wondering what I'm gonna have all these kids doing! Chloe's my oldest and this is our first "friend-party" so I've never had this problem before. But isn't there supposed to be some activity? My thoughts so far go from as simple as "decorate your own cupcake" to "Sundae bar" and way over to "decorate a pumpkin" (since it's getting close to halloween). What ideas have you guys used? The majority of these kids are 4-5. Keeping in mind, we're doing a pinata already and don't want to spend TOO much money.

 

[shelly.nurse]

I like the "decorate your own cupcake" idea. You can also get patterns on the web for crowns, put out gluesticks, confetti, glitter, stickers, markers, etc and have each child decorate his/her own crown. To combine both, you can even get little cupcake boxes for the children to decorate (depending on how much you want to spend, check the dollar stores for cheap craft supplies).

Here is a site that has templates for crowns, you can take it to Office Max and have it copied onto cardstock that you can cut out ahead of time. You can use pastels for girls and primary colors for the boys.

Prince and Princess Crown | Printable Templates & Coloring Pages | FirstPalette.com

Crafts for Kids
(scroll 1/2 way down the page for crown ideas)

It may be just as cheap to find some already cut at the local craft shop (Micheals, AC Moore, whatever you have).

 

[1PamperedMommy]

Here was the finished product! I ended up failing at my first (two) attempts at making my own fondant. I bought the ready-made stuff at Pat Catan's for the sheet cake, and used only buttercream for the batter bowl part. I used a small amount of my failed fondant on the doll (ie the top of the dress). It was a hit! A couple of the moms thought I must be a stay at home mom to have had time to make it, which made me feel pretty good

 

[debbie mc]

1PamperedMommy - BEAUTIFUL!!

Cheers,
D.

 

[shelly.nurse]

Christen,

That looks very nice, I am sure your daughter loved it!!!

 

[r100g]

Thank you for the great suggestions! I came across this website when looking for a Belle cake to make for my granddaughter's birthday. I baked the cake in the Wilton pan and froze it, then made the marshmallow fondant recipe suggested above, and finally I found a recipe for butter icing that could be kept for a week without refrigeration. I traveled by car from San Diego to Las Vegas and, upon arriving, just put the cake together. My granddaughter helped decorate it and she thought it came out beautiful! Thanks again for the suggestion and tips. I now belong to this group and will be checking it often!!

 

[Sheila]

r100g ~ we are a bunch of Pampered Chef Consultants, but you are welcome to join us!