Frosting Fail

Pea asked for a doll cake for her birthday. JUST LIKE LAST YEARS.

That was a nightmare in itself. I haven't piped cake frosting in....eons. I had problems with the buttercream frosting (I felt like I was spackling the cake instead of frosting it.)

So needless to say, I was less than enthused about the idea of attempting this again.

So. Four cake layers - two box mixes, four different sizes of cake pan.
One pound of butter. Three pounds of powdered sugar.
Five yards of cling wrap.

One messy kitchen.

Thank goodness our house came with this:


(I'm gonna make The Hubs buy one for our house back home, whenever we go back. Seven burners, two ovens, a broiler and a slow cooker compartment. Big. Fun.)

So this time, I'm organized. (Kind of. Ok, so I forgot to order the second box of Funfetti cake mix. Half Funfetti, half Devil's Food is a better combination anyway.) I bake the cakes the day before. Wrap them up tight while they are still warm, pop them in the freezer for the next day.

I delayed frosting today as long as I could, because, well, like the daughter getting the cake, I'm a bit of a perfectionist. The good thing is, as much of a perfectionist my daughter can be about some things, I know she's going to be happy with the cake no matter how crappy it looks.
But, since what I think is all that matters, I'm dreading this.

But I have a plan. I'm going to cover it in buttercream, and then use rolled fondant to cover it, making it looke more like a dress, with swags and ruffles.

In theory, this was a brilliant idea.

In reality, I spent more time scraping the stuff off of my rolling pin and countertop than I did decorating the cake. (And before you comment, I had loads of sugar to dust the counter & rolling pin with. I'm not a moron. Just a complete failure in the frosting department.

Desperate, I went back to piping.
Then added some scraps of fondant.
Wedged the doll in a little further.

Nibbled on the scraps of cake I trimmed from it, and ate way more buttercream frosting than anyone should be allowed to indulge in.

Pea came home from school, approved the basic design, but said that it needed more decorations, and proceeded to spend 20 minutes sticking little metallic sugar balls onto it.

From a distance, squinting, it looks quite lovely.

It tastes DAMN good.

Next year, though, if she askes for another doll cake, I'm ordering from Waitrose.

Maybe.