Barbie Princess Cake

Why have a boring birthday cake when you can have a princess cake?

Yield: Approx. 25 servings

Ingredients

• 3 boxed cake mixes, fully prepared
• Any cake mix will work -- I used devil's food cake
• Frosting
• 32 tbsp butter
• 22 cups powdered sugar
• 2 1/2 tbsp vanilla
• Food coloring, as desired
• 18-22 tbsp milk
• 1 barbie doll, clothes removed and preferably with the hair up.

Directions

1. Prepare the cake mixes as indicated on the box.  For two mixes, bake in 4x 9" round pans.  For the third mix, bake in an oven-safe round mixing bowl.
2. Cool the cake mixes and level them off.
3. For the frosting, cream the butter, powdered sugar, vanilla, and food color.  Add milk until smooth.  If you don't have a mixer large enough to do this in one batch, split into several batches.
4. Cut a small hole in the center of each cake layer.  This will accomodate the doll later.
5. Build the cake starting with the round layers.  Frost between each layer and build it into a small tower.  Next, invert the rounded cake and place on top.
6. Put a thin layer of frosting over the entire cake.  This is a crumb coat, so it doesn't have to look good yet -- it just has to cover the whole cake and hold it all together.  Also, place a generous amount of frosting inside the center hole.
7. Place the cake in the freezer for 15-20 minutes to help the frosting set.
8. Spread a generous layer of frosting over the entire cake.  The crumb coat should hold in the cake, so this layer will look nicer.
9. Wrap the barbie doll in plastic wrap up to the chest and then insert in the middle of the cake.  Use extra frosting to hold in place if necessary.
10. Finalize decoration.  I recommend piping some frosting onto the top half of barbie to complete the "dress" and putting candies over the body of the cake.
• Tip: The cake settled a little bit overnight and separated from the top of the "dress," giving barbie a midriff.  Keep some extra frosting in case you need to touch it up immediately before serving.