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Doll cakes are not something new to the cake decorating world. These cakes have been around since my childhood days and probably way before that too. I am sure these will continue to be a popular design among girls in years to come too.

Poster for a doll cake in pink buttercream gown — Easy Homemade Pink Doll Cake Design - Doll Cake with Name

I have never had a doll cake as a child but I definitely take pride in having made a number of these cakes for other little girls. It is such a pleasure to see the proud and happy faces of girls who receive these cakes with the names on as their birthday cakes!

Here is one such doll birthday cake design with name. The cake was sort of a very last minute request. I baked and decorated it in one night, after returning home from my day job! The doll cake i.e the skirt is entirely in buttercream and the only fondant on the cake is the birthday name (cut out in yellow fondant) and the 2 small pink fondant flowers on the dolls head.

How to Make a Doll Cake in Buttercream

Supplies:

Cake baked in a bowl-shaped cake pan. There are specialty cake pans for these cakes which you can purchase from your local cake decorating supplies shops. Or if you want a more cost-effective option, you can always use an ovenproof bowl from your kitchen to bake the cake in. I used a stainless steel bowl I had at home. And used this technique to calculate my butter pound cake recipe for this doll cake)
Doll pick - this is basically a doll with just half of the body from head to waist and a pick after that to secure the doll to cake. These doll picks come in many different hairstyles and hair colors, and also different face cut. You can also substitute this pick with a real doll - a Barbie doll perhaps. It works as a great gift idea too as the birthday girl will get to own a Barbie doll afterwards!)
Buttercream in dark and light pink, white, green and red
A tiny amount of pink and yellow fondant for flowers in the doll's hair and the birthday message.
Disposable piping bags
Cake decorating brush
Wilton alphabet cutters for the birthday message on the doll cake and flower cutters for the flowers in the hair.
Star tip #16, petal tip #104, round tip #1 or #2 - the star tip and the petal tip are for the doll's dress and flower bouquet. The small round tip is for the necklace, earrings, and bracelet
Silver sugar dragees for the deco on the dress

Doll cake in pink buttercream gown, with the doll holding a bouquet of buttercream flowers — DIY Doll Cake for Birthday - Perfect Idea for Girls' Birthdays

Preparing the cake board for the doll birthday cake

Once the cake was baked and completely cooled, I placed it on a cake board decorated with a doily. There is a layer of cellophane paper between the cake and the doily. I placed it there so that the paper doily does not soak up any grease from the cake. It also helps to protect the doily from buttercream that may drop onto the cake board while the cake is being decorated.
To completely protect the doily, when cutting the cellophane paper to cover your cake board, make sure to cut it slightly larger than the cake board itself. The excess will be trimmed off once the cake has been completed. Hence it is perfectly OK to cut the cellophane paper to a larger size.

Preparing the cake

Next, I crumb coated the whole cake with a thin layer of light pink buttercream. And inserted the doll pick right in the center of the cake.
Then, I marked the lines for the frills; the top layer, the middle layer and the bottom layers of the dress. Once that was done, using a small star tip ( I used Wilton tip #16) I piped curved zigzags that ran horizontally across the doll's skirt with light pink buttercream icing. I did this in sections, according to the lines that were marked for the frills earlier i.e. the top section and middle section. The bottom section was left entirely for frills.

The bodice and sleeves

I also covered the doll's bodice and dress sleeves with tiny zigzags in the same light pink buttercream.

The dress

As for the frills on the dress, I used a medium petals nozzle (Wilton tip #104) and dark pink buttercream. The frills were piped along the lines I marked earlier. Hold the tip slanting slightly upwards when piping the frills. This is to avoid scraping off the earlier light pink zigzag icing underneath.
For the bottom part of the doll's dress where there are 3 layers of frills, start from the bottom in horizontally curved lines. Upon completion of the final layer, using star tip #16, I piped tiny stars along the border of the frills in dark pink icing.

The buttercream hand bouquet, necklace and ring

Next, I piped the hand bouquet with some green and red and white icing, using a small star nozzle. This is followed by a tiny string of necklace and a ring for the doll with some white icing.
For added decoration on the doll cake, I attached silver dragees at the doll's waist. I also added the dragees on the frills of the dress as well as 2 pink flowers cut out from fondant for the hair.

The name on the cake

Next, I trimmed off the excess cellophane paper on the cake board with a small knife, as close to the cake as possible.
I finished off the cake decoration with the letters for the birthday name. These were cut out from yellow fondant using Wilton Alphabet cutters and attached to the cake board with a light brush of water.

The top part of a doll cake dressed in pink buttercream — Buttercream doll birthday cake design

Like this doll cake design? Here are my other posts you might want to check out:

Recipe (Printable)

Here is the full printable version of my doll birthday cake recipe and decorating guide.

📖Recipe

Doll Cake Design with Name

Here's a simple and easy pink doll cake design in buttercream. This DIY birthday cake with name makes a perfect cake for a girl's birthday!

5 from 1 vote

Print Pin Rate

Course: Dessert

Cuisine: American

Keyword: Doll Cake

Prep Time: 30

Cook Time: 55

Decorating time: 1 30

Total Time: 2 55

Yield: 1 8.5 inches by 5.5 inches dome shaped cake

Author: Priya Maha

Equipment

Doll pick (or a full body doll)
Wilton alphabet cutters
Flower cutters for the flowers in the hair.
Piping tips - Petal tip, star tip and round tip
Disposable piping bags
Cake decorating brush

Metric - US Customary

For best results, use the metrics measurements. US customary measurements have not been tested and are only meant for guide.

Ingredients

Cake

420 g self-raising flour
420 g castor sugar
420 g butter at room temperature
7 eggs at room temperature
105 ml milk
1 teaspoon baking powder
⅔ teaspoon salt
1 teaspoon vanilla essence

Frosting and Decoration

Buttercream
Fondant in pink and yellow
Food coloring in pink white, red and green
Silver sugar dragees for the deco on the dress

Metric - US Customary

Instructions

Baking the cake

Preheat oven to 170 °Celsius.
Grease and flour a bowl shaped cake tin (doll cake mold). Set aside.
In a medium sized bowl, beat butter and sugar till soft and creamy for about 2 minutes. Add eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition.
In a separate bowl, sift flour, baking powder, and salt. Fold in the sifted ingredients into the creamed mixture alternately with milk, starting and ending with flour.
Finally, add in vanilla essence and combine well. Pour batter into the well greased and floured doll cake mold and bake for 55 to 60 minutes until the top of the cake springs back when lightly pressed. The cake is done when a skewer inserted in the center of the cake comes out without any wet batter.
Remove the cake from oven and let it cool completely before icing and decorating.

Preparing the cake board for the buttercream doll cake

Place a paper doily on a round cake board and glue it to the cake board. Make sure the cake board is at least 3 inches larger than the diameter of the doll cake. The paper doily should be the same diameter of the cake board and not larger.
Next, place a layer of clear cellophane sheet on the doily. Cut the cellophane sheet to be slightly larger than the cake board. This sheet will help avoid the grease from the cake from seeping onto the paper doily (and leave unsightly grease marks) as well as protect the doily from any drops of buttercream as you are decorating the cake.
The excess of the cellophane sheet will be trimmed off once the cake has been completed. Hence it is perfectly fine to cut the cellophane paper to a larger size.

Preparing the cake

Crumb coat the whole cake with a thin layer of light pink buttercream. Insert the doll pick right in the center of the cake. If you are using a full sized doll or a Barbie doll, you will need to cut a hole in the center of the cake to be able to insert the doll into the cake. Cut the hole deep enough to insert the doll until slightly below its waist.
Next, mark the lines for the frills; the top layer, the middle layer and the bottom layers of the dress. The top layer is just a straight line all around the skirt, just below the waist. The second and third layers are wavy lines all around the skirt. Once that is done, using a small star tip ( I used Wilton tip #16) pipe curved zigzags that run horizontally across the doll’s skirt with light pink buttercream icing. Do this in sections, following to the lines that were marked for the frills earlier i.e. the top section and middle section. The bottom section is to be filled entirely with frills, so leave that section blank for now.

The bodice and the sleeves of the doll cake topper

Cover the doll’s bodice and dress sleeves with tiny zigzags in the same light pink buttercream.

The skirt of the doll's dress

As for the frills on the dress, use a medium petal nozzle (Wilton tip #104) and a deeper shade of pink buttercream. Pipe the frills along the lines you marked earlier. Hold the tip slanting slightly upwards when piping the frills. This is to avoid scraping off the light pink zigzag icing underneath.
For the bottom part of the dress, pipe 3 layers of frills, starting from the bottom in horizontally curved lines. Once the final layer is completed, using star tip #16, pipe tiny stars along the border of the frills in dark pink icing.

The buttercream hand bouquet, necklace and ring

Next, pipe the hand bouquet with some green and red and white icing, using a small star nozzle. Start with the green base, and then randomly pipe and red and white stars on top. After that, using round tip #1 or #2, pipe a tiny string of necklace and a ring for the doll with some white icing.
For added decoration, attach silver dragees on the doll's dress, at the waist, on the frills as well as on the 2 pink flowers cut out from fondant for the hair.

The birthday name

Finish off the cake decoration with the birthday name. Roll some yellow fondant thin and cut the letters out with Wilton alphabet cutters.
Before placing the birthday name on the cake board, trim off the excess cellophane paper on the cake board with a small knife, as close to the cake as possible so that it is not visible.
Arrange the birthday name onto the cake board and to secure the letters on the cake board, brush the back of each letter with a damp brush before arranging them on the cake board.

Notes

The amount of cake batter you need for your cake will depend on the size of your cake mold. The recipe measurement provided above is only as a guide based on the cake pan I used to make my doll cake.

Nutrition

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And that pretty much my birthday doll cake design for your.

Happy decorating 🙂

Doll Cake Design for Birthday - How to Make