Ann Reardon

How to Make a Princess Cake using Buttercream

buttercream princess doll

How to make a princess cake step 1

Bake your cakes and gather what you need:

A round and a bowl shaped cake – see recipe at end of post
1 quantity of buttercream – see buttercream recipes here if you don’t like buttercream try italian meringue instead
A doll to go inside you cake
Cake board or cake stand to put the cake on
Large serated knife to cut the layers
Simple syrup – see recipe at end of post
red gel colour
large ziploc bags for piping & scissors to cut bags
White or pink sprinkles or silver cachous depending on the bodice style you choose

Vanilla Cake Recipe
(you need to double this recipe to make the princess cake. If making cupcakes this recipe makes twenty)

20 millilitres (0.68 fluid ounces) or 2 Tbsp oil
120g (4.23 ounces) or 1/2 cup plus 2 tsp margarine or butter
1 1/2 cups or 324g (11.43 ounces) sugar (caster or super fine)
2 1/4 cups or 360g (12.7 ounces) plain or all purpose flour
3 1/2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 1/4 cups or 312 millilitres (10.55 fluid ounces) milk (4% fat)
1 Tbsp vanilla essence
3 large eggs

Preheat oven to 180ºC (356ºF).
For best results put the butter, oil and sugar in the bowl of an electric mixer and beat for 3 minutes on high speed until pale and fluffy. Add all of the remaining ingredients at once and beat on low speed for 1 minute only so it is just combined.
Just over half fill a 20cm (7.87 inches) round cake tin and spread mixture over to the sides so dips slightly in centre.  Pour remaining mixture into an ovenproof mixing bowl, mine was 20cm (7.87 inches) diameter at the top of the bowl.   Bake in moderate oven until a skewer inserted in the centre comes out clean.  Tip: For the mixing bowl cake once it looks done – but when you insert the skewer it is still gooey – move it to the bottom shelf and place an empty baking tray on the top shelf to allow it to keep cooking without the top burning.

princess doll buttercream

Simple syrup recipe

100g (3.53 ounces) or 1/3 cup plus 2 Tbsp sugar (caster or super fine)
100 millilitres (3.38 fluid ounces) or 1/3 cup plus 1 Tbsp water
Optional – 1 Tbsp vanilla
Heat sugar and water stirring until sugar is dissolved.  Continue to heat until makes a syrup (approx 104ºC or 220ºF).
Remove from heat, allow to cool completely and put into squeezy bottle.

 

princess doll cake reardon

How to make a princess cake step 2:

Turn your cakes out of their baking dishes and allow to cool completely (warm cakes will melt the buttercream).

To shape the bowl cake place it flat side down and then slice off the bulging round bits at the top edge so that it looks more like flowing hooped skirt and not a bowl.  Hooped skirts are tailored in towards the waistline.

Cut this cake into 3 layers – that is make two cuts through the cake. Take your other cake and cut into two layers. Then take a round cookie cutter and cut a circle out of the centre of all of these cake layers.

To construct the cake, first brush each layer with syrup before you place buttercream between the layers and stack. Make a very thin ‘crumb coat’ of buttercream on the outside of the cake and place it in the fridge to harden – this will help the piped buttercream to stick to your cake. Do not worry too much if it is not perfectly smooth or beautiful looking just do your best.  Place in the fridge to firm up.

 

Cut your ziplock bag in the way shown in the video above and fill one bag with pink and the other with plain buttercream.  Using the plain buttercream pipe a ruffle around the base of the cake.  Then taking the pink buttercream and starting just above the line you just did pipe a pink ruffle around the cake.  Repeat up to the top of the cake.

Take your doll and make the hair how you want it to be – this is easier to do while you can hold the doll rather than when it is covered in icing.  If you are having the hair down then you may like to loosely put it up while you are icing.  Surround the legs of the doll in plastic wrap.

princess cake frosting

bodice 1

princess cake body

bodice 2

homemade princess doll cake recipe tutorial

bodice 3

Choose which bodice style you prefer and pipe the buttercream onto the body of the doll (see video for demonstration) allowing it to come lower than you need.  Then holding the doll by the head place it into the center of the cake – bending the legs slightly if it needs to sit lower in the cake.

Take your bag or pink buttercream and pipe one final frill around the waist to cover any gaps at the waist.

Buttercream recipes for various flavours of buttercream area available on the buttercream post.

 

2013

My Cookbook

ann reardon crazy sweet creations cookbook
Stores that sell my book listed by country: http://bit.ly/ARcookbook
All recipe quantities in the book are in grams, ounces and cups.

192 Comments View Comments

  1. Hi
    I plan to attempt this cake today but just realised I only have caster sugar, can I use this instead of white sugar?
    Thank you so much
    Natasha

    • yes definitely

  2. Hi Anne. Is this recipe dense enough to keep its shape and be firm for stacking for the minion cake? Also do you recommend self raising flour or just plain with baking powder? Is there a difference in quality?

    • Hi Leon, yes you can use this recipe and either plain or sr I tend to use the plain =baking powder where I can because the US subscribers don’t have SR flour

  3. Hi Ann:
    To make the princess cake chocolate flavor. I have to double the recipe for a chocolate cake that is on your page.

    • Hi Katia, the chocolate cake recipe makes two 20cm round cakes, so you will have enough for the round cake and probably need at bit more for the bowl, I’d go 1 1/2 times the recipe.

  4. is this cake moist? x

  5. Hi Ann:
    I´m sorry so much =) I forget the lenguaje
    Only a question. With that I can replace the simple sweet syrup?
    Very good récipe indeed adore =)=)=)

    • Hi Katia, you can make your own simple syrup or leave it off if you do not want to use it.

  6. Thank you so much for this very informative and detailed tutorial! It was so helpful! I was able to make a Barbie ballerina cake for my daughter’s 4th birthday.

    • Awesome Linda, I bet she loved it 😀

  7. I lov cakes …tried at home 2,3 times but :((((……now I wil this 1 after 2 dayss …I hope everythis goesss best

  8. wowww great…….awsum……u r blessed. …..

  9. Ok great thank you 🙂
    Ill give it all a go 🙂

  10. I’m not sure if my last comment was sent :/

    I’m also from Australia where did you get the bowl and tin from I love big w do they haven them in there ?

    I’m so terrible at baking (cooking in general haha )

    My daughters 6 th birthday is next month I’m going to attempt this cake she’s going to live it (if it turns out) ill be doing a few trails

    This video is going to help so much , thank you for making it

    Where it says you new to double the recipe to make the princess cake , do you double all ingredients or do you make 2 batches I’m confused ,

    Can you use cake mix if you don’t have time ,,

    If its made the night before how do you store it in the fridge do you cover it , I’m shocking so confused :/
    I think that’s all haha
    Thank you

    • Hi Tara, yes you should find the pyrex bowls in big w or woolworths / coles. And baking tins should be in big w too. To double it you can just double all the ingredients. Yes you can use a cake mix if you prefer. Yes you can store it in the fridge uncovered.

  11. I very impressed with your tutorial and website. I am making a Barbie cake for my daughter’s 6th birthday. I have a ‘skirt’ tin. How long do I cook the sponge cake in the oven?

    • Hi Elicia, as all ovens an tins are a bit different it is best to check it, would say at least 30 minutes but could be longer, just check every 5 minutes after that.

  12. Hello! I could have sworn I’ve been to your blog before but after looking at a few of the posts I realized it’s
    new to me. Nonetheless, I’m certainly happy I stumbled upon it and I’ll be
    bookmarking it and checking back frequently!

  13. Hi, i was wondering if by plain flour you mean cake flour or did you just mean regular all purpose flour?

    • Hi Lauren, cake flour is hard ot get in Australia, so by plain flour I mean regular all purpose flour

  14. Hello, I stumbled upon this recipe while cruising the internet. The cake is easy to make but looks like I bought it at a bakery. I am making this cake for my daughter’s 5th birthday. Thank you very much for sharing the recipe. Maybe next time I will try the fondant. 🙂

  15. hiee..
    its an awesome cake..i m going to make it for my best friend..but i want to know that instead of six eggs what can i use/ because i want eggless..and also can i bake the cake 36 hours earlier..will the cake still remain proper..and i want to know the exact quantity of butter cream needed to make the doll..please reply soon..i have to make it today itself…/

    • Hi ritika, this recipe needs eggs, you could try the caramel cupcake recipe and swap the eggs for 4 tablespoons of skim milk powder. You will loose moisture from the cake without the eggs so make sure you use simple syrup. Make a double quantity of the buttercream recipe.

  16. Hi ann! Do i need to grease the bowl? Thank you please reply

    • Yes definitely grease the bowl

  17. Hi there – what size cake board did you use?
    Thanks

    • Hi Anoushka it is a 10″ cake board.

  18. I am so excited to make this cake for my daughter’s 3rd birthday! She is going to love it! Thanks for an amazing video tutorial as well as written directions. I wanted to know if this cake needs to be refrigerated after making and if not, how long can it be left out. I would love to make it ahead of time. Thanks so much! (I am specifically interested in the buttercream version).

    • Hi Sarah, It does not need to be refrigerated, it will not go off, but the buttercream will be very soft if it is hot. Because I am in Australia where it is hot I usually put in the fridge and then take out an hour before the party so the buttercream can soften a little and the cake is room temp.

  19. Hi Ann,

    I am going to use the Vanilla cake recipe for the Minecraft cake, can I ask do I just place all of the mixture into my cake tin and not remove any like you have done for this one? Am I also correct in thinking the recipe will need to be doubled to make the two cakes you mention in the Minecraft recipe?

    Finally when you say Oil, what type of Oil do you mean?

    Sorry for the silly questions!

    Thanks

    • Hi Tasha, How much you will need depends on your cake tin size. The size cake i made was 15cm squared so you’d need 2.7 x this recipe, so triple it. Depending on the depth of your cake tin you may need to bake 3 layers or two to make up your cube.

    • Hi Tasha, How much you will need depends on your cake tin size. The size cake i made was 15cm squared once trimmed down. Depending on the depth of your cake tin you may need to bake 3 layers or two to make up your cube. Oil I used in canola oil, any vegetable oil that is not strong in flavour is suitable (ie not olive oil)

  20. thanks for your video. Is a cup same as 250ml b’cos i want to know the cup you are using and is 3 eggs not small for it?I want to know b’cos my cake was too hard to eat after making it.thanks

    • Hi gift, yes 1 cup = 250ml. 3 eggs is correct, egg I use weigh 58g each, are your eggs smaller than that, if so adjust accordingly? Definitely should not be hard.

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