A Doll Cake For Meetu

On the 11th Nov my helper Sweety was asking for a day off when I got to know it was her daughter, Meetu's birthday on 12th Nov. I asked her if she was going to come to our area on the day. She lives 4-5 kms from my home. I offered to bake a cake for Meetu if she could come pick it up.

So I just had a day for buying the material and ingredients from my neighborhood shops. I baked the cake on a day prior to decorating it. It allows the cake to cool completely and also to allow icing and decoration in a relaxed mood.

To begin making this cake you will need a few special materials

For the decoration

1. A pudding mould, this is used to bake the cake which for the skirt for the Doll.
2. A real doll. The size of the doll should match the size of the mould, such that the mould should form the skirt of the doll.
3. Sugar Sprinkles: I used colorful stars, moon crescents and small beads.


Ingredients 

For the sponge

1.5 cups all purpose flour / maida

½ tin sweet condensed milk

¼ cup oil

1.5 teaspoons baking powder

0.5 teaspoon baking soda

¼ teaspoon salt

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

½ cup sugar

1 cup milk

In a large bowl first whip of the wet ingredients, condensed milk, oil, vanilla extract, milk and sugar. The sugar should be dissolved completely.

Now in a sieve add the all purpose flour, baking powder and baking soda and salt. Sieve thru into the whipped up wet ingredients. Fold the flour into it. The batter should fall in folds.

Grease a pudding mold with oil and dust with flour. Remove the excess flour. Pour the batter into the mould. Preheat oven to 180 degrees for 10 mins. Place the mould filled with cake batter and bake for 20 -25 mins till golden brown and knife inserted comes out clean.

Let the cake cool completely in the tin and then remove on to the rack. Keep it aside for a day or atleast till completely cooled down so that the icing holds well onto it and does not melt.

For the icing

1 pack Whipped cream

Prepare as directed on the pack. I used Blue Bird brand whipped cream. I kept it white as I do not use artificial colors. If you are using colors match it up with the dress of the doll.

Note: This is the first time I used Whipped cream. I hate artificial foods and so this trial of Whipped cream also did not match up to my taste. It was light and frothy but just so artificial. I am not used to it and do not want to recommend it. I would rather use fresh cream/ Mascarpone/ hung curd/ sour cream for icing or frosting.

Steps for the decoration

On a cardboard covered with foil create a base with the cake. Turn the cake upside down with wide side as the base. With a long spoon scoop out the center, big enough for the doll to stand in it.

Now, upturn the skirt of the doll's frock so that you are not messing it when decorating the cake. Smear the cake with the whipped cream. Use the decorating knife to give the whipped cream, a pleated look. How you do this is with the tip of the knife stroke the whipped cream in upward movements, it will looked ridged.

Next place the sugar sprinkle stars and crescents on the pleats in the center, leaving the ridges to stand out. Do this in the front side. On the backside and at the base sprinkle the tiny multicolored beads to form a nice trimming. Don't worry if it is not very neat, actually a little awry looks good and natural.

Turn down the skirt of the cloth frock as it should be. There your Doll Cake it ready!

Just one more thing personalize it with a little flag with the birthday girl's name on it, after all it is a special cake. You can even pipe the wishes with cream on the sides. I did not do it as this cake was to be carried by Sweety to her home 5 kms away from mine and she was going to take a bus. That was another challenge so I packed off the cake in an upside down plastic bin. Doesn't she look like Anarkali shrouded in a veil, waiting to be revealed to Meetu!

I wished Meetu a happy 4th birthday!

The next day Sweety told me that her girl was thrilled and immediately grabbed the doll even before it was cut! She had hosted a party of 35 people and ordered another cake at a Shop as any careful host would do. I felt happy when she came back the next morning and told me that her party loved the Doll cake and the taste and that mine was better!

 Yay! Felt so satisfied. Next time I feel confident to make a princess cake.