Ann Reardon

How to Make a Princess Cake Using Fondant

princess cake tutorial video how to

How to make a princess cake – Step 1

Make your cakes and gather what you need

You will need:
A round and a bowl shaped cake – see recipe at end of post
1 quantity of buttercream – see buttercream recipes here
Doll to go inside you cake – or you can make your own out of fondant. The video below shows you how to make a fondant face.  Lots of people seemed to be having trouble finding the reusable food grade molding gel, you can get it here: Food grade reusable mold making material

Cake board or cake stand to put the cake on
Large serrated knife to cut the layers
Simple syrup – see recipe at end of post
Fondant and red gel colour FONDANT RECIPE CAN BE FOUND HERE or you can purchase it ready made
Royal Icing – see royal icing recipe here
silver cachous (edible little silver balls)
flower cutter or small round lid or icing tip that you can use for cutting a circle
fine paint brush
baking paper
rolling pin
plastic wrap
small circle cookie cutter – you can use a knife to cut a circle if you do not have one

How to make a princess cake Step 2:

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

20mL (0.68 fluid ounces) or 2 Tbsp oil
120g (4.23 ounces) or 1/2 cup plus 1 Tbsp 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 313mL (10.58 fluid ounces) milk (4% fat)
1 Tbsp vanilla essence
3 large eggs

Preheat oven to 180C (356 degrees Fahrenheit).

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 it dips slightly in centre.  Pour remaining mixture into an 2L (0.53 gallons) ovenproof mixing 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.

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

princess doll cake tutorial

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

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.

Assembling the Princess Cake
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. Split the bottom layer round cake 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 using a pastry brush, then 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 helps to stop crumbs mixing through the icing which makes it hard to get a smooth finish. Then apply a slightly thicker layer of buttercream and use a strip of baking paper to smooth – stretch it out firmly and drag it up the cake.

Place in the fridge to firm.
princess cake tutorial video

Roll out a strip of white fondant and wrap around the base of the cake creating creases and ruffles as you do.

Roll out the pink fondant into a rectangle and wrap around the cake. Making a rectangle helps you to get the fabric gathered look at the waist of the cake.  If you roll your fondant into a circle and place it over the cake it results in a skirt that is smooth at the top and ruffled only at the bottom which is not how fabric on these skirts fall. Around the base of the cake at even intervals push up the pink fondant to create a swagged look.

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 you can’t hold it because it is iced.  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.

Cover the body of the doll in pink fondant and then using a knife shape the top of the bodice. Place the doll into the cake – bending the legs slightly if it needs to sit lower in the cake. Roll out some white fondant and cut it into a circle. Using the base of an icing tip or small round cutter cut a scalloped pattern around the edge of the circle. Cut a small circle out of the centre of this and then split one side and place around the waist of the doll, cutting off any excess.

princess cake how to

Using either a flower cutter or the technique shown in the video make fondant flowers, place a silver cachous in the centre.  You will need one for the waist and one for each swag on the skirt, make a couple of extra just in case you break one.

cake decorating video princess

Place your royal icing in a ziplock bag (royal icing recipe here), cut off a tiny corner and pipe details onto the cake.  If you want to do rows of dots like shown pipe three dots down then two dots next to it in line with the spaces, then another three… when you reach a swag pipe a few more dots going up the dress.    Attach the flowers using the royal icing.

princess doll cake tutorial

Buttercream recipes for various flavours of buttercream are 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.

248 Comments View Comments

  1. Hello Mam,your videos are so impressive and helpful. My daughter’s birthday is on 17th. I have 20 guests for the party and I am planning to make this princess cake. Can you pls give me the measurements of ingredients for the cake? Butter cream and royal icing is fine. I am also planning to do the McQueen cake from your site. Thank you.

    • Hi Sreepallavi, The recipe is give about half way down the blog page above the comment section.

      • thank you mam. will 1 kg of pink fondant be sufficient?

  2. I like your doll dress even the flower idea

  3. Hi Ann,
    Thank you very much for a lovely tutorial, i made my this cake for my 7 years old dughter. First time i made a fondant and I’am very please with the result… Thank you once again.

    • Hi Terry, What a fabulous effort. Well done!

      • I liked what you did with the flowers and stuff

  4. thank you very much for your time, but I would like to know the size of cup you normally use for measurement

    • Hi Faith, Ann uses Australian standard cups. 1 cup = 250mL.

  5. Hi Ann! Thank you so so much for this tutorial… i made the cake for my daughter’s first birthday 🙂 🙂

    • She is beautiful Anuprita! Hope your little girl loved it.

    • Thanks so much for the tutorial!
      Loved making this cake for my niece.

      • Hi Deb, Your princess cake looks beautiful!

  6. Thank you so much for the step by step guide to making this princess cake. I made it for my daughter’s 4th birthday today and was really happy with how it came out as it was my second cake with fondant ever.
    Thanks again,
    Tracey
    (Johannesburg, South Africa)

    • Hi Tracey, your cake looks lovely. Hope your daughter loved it too.

  7. Thank you so much, this my cake

    • Great work Manar, we love the detail on the dress.

  8. I made this cake for my 3 year old nieces birthday it came out much better than I expected. I did find that the double cake quantity made enough mix to make 2 round cakes and a bowl which enables me to get the height I needed to cover the doll. I also needed to double the buttercream mixture to have enough to put some in the layers and cover the sides. I had the same problem others mentioned that the founding for the dress kept tearing as I tried to hang it, so I did this in 4 sections rather than 2 and was able to hide the joins quite well. The cake mix was lovely and moist and final result amazing. My family didn’t believe I had actually made it !

    • Hi Emily, Your princess cake looks beautiful! Well done! If you continue to find that the fondant tends to tear you may want to look at a different brand that offers more flexibility. Your problem solving strategy worked a treat though as you can’t tell that their were any issues with the skirt.

  9. Thanks alot. I tried my best to copy you. But you are super awsome and I am a beginner as mentioned on Facebook. God bless you. Amen.

    • Great job Maryam. I love the way you have layered the skirt.

  10. hey Ann !! This was my first attempt with fondant decorating… i made it for my little cousin. Thank you so much for your tutorial, it helped me a lot!!

    • Hi Malinha, Well done!

  11. I have been begged by my little grand-daughter for the princess cake for her birthday party and I am keen to do so but although you say there is a printable recipe for everything on your home website, I cant find anything and I dont really want to print off the whole of the tutorial, even if I could find a way to do that too! Please help – perhaps I’m being daft and it is obvious!

    • Hi Pauline, Just do a web page print.

  12. hi, love the cake have done a very similar one for a girlfriend a few years ago and need to repeat again for another princess. I am just curious I normally ganache a cake rather than buttercream and use a heavier style cake like a mud cake (type). If I were to use a butter cake with butttercream icing like you have used how far in advance can I make the cake. Once you seal the cake with the fondant is the cake safe for a few days?

  13. I made this cake for my sister’s birthday. It was my first attempt at “elaborate” cake decorating and this tutorial helped me a lot!

    • Hi Miriam, This is a fabulous first effort. I hope your sister loved it!

  14. Hi Ann! Thank you for this tutorial… i made the cake for my niece first birthday :*

    • Great job Claudia!

  15. Wonderful thank you so much. I am now able to get my head around making a barbie doll cake for my niece … I was a little concerned I would make a complete mess but this is do-able … Thanks once again

  16. Do u have ur classes in Mumbai and can u mail me ur fees structure

    • Hi Balsara. Ann doesn’t have classes in Mumbai. Her blog is readily available with instructional videos on utube.

  17. please I will like to have a detailed picture of your Elsa frozen cake, coz I love it. And will like to know how you decorated it. Thanks

  18. Hi Ann, I tried making this but the doll was too big. What size bowl do you use please? Thank you.

    • Hi jamie-louise, Ann used a 2litre bowl. Hope that helps.

    • Hi jamie-louise, Ann used a 2L oven proof bowl.

  19. thanks alot…. i did it..

  20. Hi Ann,

    I am Franki from Hong Kong. I love your website and vedio so much.

    Today is my nephew 6 years old Birthday ( 14th September). i have followed your vedioand made a princess cake for her. Although it is not as perfect as yours, i will improve and try more later on.

    However, i got a question on storage of the cake with fondant. I have put my cake into the fridge and take it out for making more decoration. I found that condensation is appeared on the fondant. Did it do something wrong by putting the cake into the fridge? Or I should keep the cake in a place where is under air conditioning?

    Please kindly give me some direction!

    Thanks so much.

    I am looking forwards to hearing from you and seeing more masterpiece vedio from you!

    • Hi Frank , this is normal. If you leave it out of the fridge for 20-30 mins the condensation will evaporate. Don’t pt fondant cakes in the freezer though.

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