Today was a Huge day…just ask Annie.It is her 3rd Birthday and she believes it should be a National Holiday, NO, an International Holiday. She does not think much of herself …right :).

Annie is the Princess of the house. She rules her Kingdom ( the house) and has trained not only John and I to jump to her command, but also Holly ( 13 yr old Schnauzer ) and Pebbles ( 2 yr old Pom).

She is Sweet and Sassy all rolled up together. If one ever wonders where Annie is, all that is needed is to locate me. Annie is usually right by my side or for sure, has me in her sight. She spends many hours with me in the Kitchen. She is always hoping that “maybe today I will be a taste tester”. Sadly for her, the good stuff does not fall off the countertop. It is usually a taste of flour that she gets.

So, since it is the little Princess’ Birthday, a birthday cake is in order. What could be more fitting than a Princess cake for the Princess.

Follow along to see how I made Annie’s Birthday Cake. This cake could easily be adapted for a little human Princess.

Making Annie’s Birthday Cake

I knew that Annie needed an ” Over the top” cake for her Birthday, but I also knew that I did not want a ton of cake in the house. What in the world would we do with with so much???

Thinking about the previous doggie cakes that I have made, what I allow and do not allow my little 4 legged babies to eat, I decided the bottom two layers would be styrofoam and a small 6 inch cake would be the top layer.

The Foundation

Knowing that I wanted the cake on the rather larger in size, I selected to use a 10 x 3 round base, followed by a 8 x 3 middle section and then topped with a 6 x 3 cake.

Fondant

I first needed to decide what colors I wanted to use with the cake and color the fondant accordingly.

I started off with adding gel food coloring using a tooth pick to a chunk of white fondant. I worked the color in with kneading the fondant, rolling the fondant out, folding it onto itself and re-rolling.

This step can be omitted if you purchase colored fondant. The advantage to coloring the fondant yourself is getting just the right color for your project.

Applying the Fondant to the base layer of the cake

Since I was covering styrofoam and not a cake, I elected not to cover the entire top of the styrofoam base. Rolling out the fondant I divided the the fondant strips into thirds and covered the sides in three sections. The top was overlapped by about 2 inches so the styrofoam would not show when the middle layer was applied to the base.

A lighter and softer pink color was wanted for the middle layer of the cake. Adding additional white fondant to the leftover base fondant was used to achieve the color. The middle layer was covered with the lighter color fondant as done with the base layer of the cake.

The Top Layer of the Cake

I have the practice of making up a few cakes of various colors and flavors and freezing them for that “just in case” need. In the freezer I had two layers of my awesome Vanilla cake that was colored pink. How perfect!! I wish I could say I planned Annie’s cake months in advance.

I measured a 6 inch round circle onto an 8 inch cake board and then cut down the two cake layers to 6 inches. Cutting the frozen cake down to a 6 inch round

Putting the Cake Together – Decorating

Stencil Application:

The cake layers were put together with Buttercream Frosting placed between the two layers.The overall cake was crumb coated and placed in the refrigerator to set up the buttercream.

While the cake was in the refrigerator, the bottom styrofoam was placed on a turn table and a design was placed onto the fondant using a stencil and butter cream frosting.

The stencil was held firmly up against the fondant in the middle of the “cake” layer. A generous amount of buttercream frosting was applied over the stencil design. Using a flat edge sculpting tool the excess buttercream frosting was removed (any flat edge scraper would work to remove the excess frosting).The stencil was then gently removed.

Airbrush Painting:

The middle layer of the cake was placed on top of the base layer. This layer had fondant applied earlier.

Using a cookie mold, the impression of dog paws and dog bones were randomly placed on the fondant. Using an airbrush, the imagines of the dog paws and dog bones were painted in.

Puffed Pillow look:

Using a stencil, the impression of triangles ( puffed pillows) were marked into the fondant. At the intersection of the lines, candy pearls were placed.

Topping the Cake off:

Since every Princess has a crown with Bling, this cake too had to be adorn with a beautiful crown and plenty of sparkle.

Annie’s Birthday Party

Annie was tickled pink with her Birthday cake. She went in quickly before the cake could be cut for a little taste.

The cake was sliced and humans at the party got to have a slice. Annie did not mind that she just got a lick of the middle layer fondant and not the top layer.

Annie said just like high heels, a crown full of jewels grows tiring. She was ready to remove her crown.

Notes- A Few Lessons Learned:

• This was my first cake to make using a styrofoam cake dummy. Though very convenient , working with it is different than working with a dense structure like a cake
• This was also my second time to cover a cake with fondant. I have used buttercream for all my cakes and fondant just for decorating and creating sculptures for cakes. Personally, I am not a big fan of the flavor of fondant, so I have not used it to cover cakes often. Fondant can be flavored. I just have not done it.
• Lesson learned- If applying fondant to a cake that is several layers, I would recommend applying the fondant to a layer at a time and decorate it before applying the fondant to the next layer. Fondant drys rather quickly and if needing to sculpt into the fondant it becomes difficult when it starts to dry out.
• Since the styrofoam dummy cake is ridge and does not give like a sponge cake, the fondant can not be rolled out to thin because it is apt to tear.

This was a Super fun cake to make. I hope this inspires you to make a Princess cake for your little princess ( 2 or 4 legged)

Drop me a line. Share pictures of your Princess cake

XO

Beve