Make your own Barbie Birthday Cake

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My daughter was turning 5 this month.  She never had a "real" birthday party.  You know like the HUGE 1st birthday parties most kids receive.  Our lives were in turmoil from the moment I found out we were pregnant.  Relocations (twice), my illness and a complete and total loss of income for our household for a few months all weighed on our ability to celebrate her life.  This year was the year I was going to finally give her the "big" party she deserved.  

She and I are both Gluten Free.  And I did not want to make it obvious at her party that she needed a "special" cake ~ translation "odd".  My crazy mind I know.  So I set out to figure out how to make her a very special cake.  You know the cake that was in front of her made the cake the guests were going to eat look lesser in comparison.

First I had to tackle making a good cake.  I used Betty Crocker Gluten Free Yellow cake mix.  Now I happen to think this cake mix is awful!  Awful was not going to do for my special girls birthday.  But if my failure to make good Gluten Free bread was any indicator, I was in big trouble.  But then I found a recipe that enhanced the boxed mix and made it more palatable.  The blog is called "A Gluten Free Guide" and here is the link to the recipe. I first baked a regular cake to try it out.  You know what, it IS GOOD! Moist, not crumbly, the Jello pudding definitely adds a nice texture.  Sorta smooths over the grittiness I noticed upon first trying BC cake mixes.  I have included the recipe below for your convenience (and mine).  I plan on making this recipe for the devils food mix too using chocolate pudding and maybe sour cream instead of OJ.  

Second, how in the world do you do it anyway?  I found this link with great step by step instruction.

Finally, following the directions I viewed, I baked THREE (3) 8" round cakes and 1 rounded bottom pyrex bowl about 2/3's full of batter.  Now note the instructions on the video say TWO (2) 8" round cakes.  Only 2 cakes for today's super tall barbies and princesses is not enough hight. You will find yourself in a state of panic with not enough cake.  You will need 3 round cakes.

Once cakes are baked and cooled, take a small juice glass and cut a circle out of the middle of all cakes. 

Stack your cakes in this order (round, round, round, circle ~ smaller circumference up) and Crumb coat your cake with frosting. Chill.

Wrap Barbie's legs in Plastic wrap up to her waste (in our case Aurora from Disney Princess line).

Insert Barbie into the cake.

Apply final Frosting and smooth out with cut out strips of paper.  

I used the canned frosting with the piping tips to decorate the waste and bottom of the dress with the star tip.

Enhanced Betty Crocker Gluten Free Cake Mix Recipe

1 Box of yellow Cake Mix

1  3.8 ounce box of Jello Pudding (vanilla)

1/3 cup Sugar

4 eggs

1/2 cup Oil

3/4 cup Orange Juice

1 T Vanilla Extract

Combine ingredients. 

Pour in equal amounts into greased 8" cake pans.

Bake at 350 degrees for 41 to 46 minutes.

I had to make two boxes for this Barbie Cake.