Follow these simple steps to create a DIY Princess Cake for a Sofia the First Birthday Party.
Is you little girl begging for a Princess Cake for her birthday party?
Does she love Sofia the First?
Then this is the DIY birthday cake tutorial for you!
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How to Make a DIY Princess Cake
- Sofia the First Doll
- or this substitute Bathing Beauty Belle Barbie
- 3 boxes of your favorite cake mix
- 9″ cake pan
- 9″ round ceramic bowl
- Lavender Icing
- Wilton Drop Flower Tip for cake icing
Easy Princess Cake: Instructions
Step 1: Bake the Cakes
Yes, that said “cakes” because you will need four 9″ round cakes plus a half round cake to create Princess Sofia’s dress.
The four cake layers can be made from a store bought box cake but this White Almond Wedding Cake Recipe is phenomenal. It transforms a simple white cake box mix into the best cake you will ever put in your mouth.
I promise!
Follow directions on the package to bake the cakes. I filled the cake pans almost to be top to make sure the bottom of the princess cake dress would be tall enough for the doll.
Step 2: Bake the Half Round Cake
Grab a 9″ ceramic bowl to bake the half round caked.
The first time I baked the top layer of the Sofia the First princess cake it looked like a lopsided half deflated beach ball. It was so awful I hacked it up and gave it to the children for snack.
Make sure you fill up the ceramic bowl almost to the top. Place it batter filled bowl into a metal pan to prevent an overflowing cake oven disaster.
Bake until done (check it with a long wooden skewer). The half round cake maybe be slightly domed on the top. Carefully trim the excess with a serrated knife.
Flip the half round cake upside down to use as the dress top.
Step 3: Assemble the Princess Cake Layers
Since I wanted the finished cake to sit atop a smaller crystal cake plate I trimmed the round layers into a smaller circle. See my pretty blue paper template?
You will need four layers of yumminess to create a cake tall enough to cover the doll’s legs. After the cake rounds have cooled, cut the domes off the tops so the cake layers will lay evenly.
Create a hole in the princess cake for Swimsuit Belle or Sofia the First Doll with a small round cookie cutter. Punch out a circle in all four round layers.
In hindsight, the round cookie cutter was way too large of an opening. Using a serrated knife to trim a smaller hole would have been much better.
Stack the cake layers carefully and add frosting between them as you go.
Step 4: Add the Top of the Dress
Gently place the half round cake layer on top of the four round layers. Trim the edges as needed to join the top piece to the round layers.
Carefully cut a hole for the plastic wrapped doll to slide into. Use a serrated knife to make the smallest hole you can to fit the doll into.
Step 5: Add a Crumb Coat of Icing
Once the cake’s layers are joined give the entire thing a crumb coat of icing. A crumb coat is a thin covering of icing that is applied prior to the final coat. It helps to trap all the crumbs that you don’t want in your finished icing.
Speaking of icing… do not try to whip up your own version of buttercream by adding tons of powdered sugar to a pre-made tub of icing. That was a Pinterest idea that didn’t work.
{Click here} to discover my frosting secret! I promise it’s super easy!
Step 6: Place Doll Inside the Princess Cake
As the cake was baking I prepped the Princess Barbie doll by wrapping her hair and body in plastic wrap. This will protect her from all that sugary icing.
Allow the crumb coat to dry on the DIY Princess Cake then place the princess inside her soon-to-be fabulous ball gown.
You may notice that the Princess popping out my Tootsie’s cake is not Sofia the First. Last summer when I was planning the party there were no Sofia the First Dolls out yet.
So I had to settle on Tootsie’s second favorite: Bathing Beauty Belle Barbie. She had almost the same hair color as Sofia and only cost $8.
Party on a budget, remember?
Step 7: Decorate Sofia’s Princess Cake Dress
The icing design on the cake’s dress is simple large swirls with medium flowers to fill in the blank spots. It was simple to decorate with a Wilton Drop Flower Tip for cake icing.
The top of the dress is simply a lot of small flowers to cover the bodice and strips of the swimsuit.
Tootsie absolutely loved this DIY Princess cake! She proudly showed it off to all the birthday party guests.
Hopefully the tips I shared with you throughout this tutorial will encourage you to make your own Princess Cake.
Need a video tutorial? Here you go –> “How to Make a Princess Doll Birthday Cake ~ You Really Can Do This!”.
Here’s all the Sofia the First birthday party on a budget projects:
- Simple Princess Party Favors
- How to Make Princess Play Dough
- How to Make Pompom Garlands
- Sofia the First Birthday Party Wreath
- DIY Princess Cake for a Sofia the First Party
- Sofia the First Birthday Party on a Budget
More Princess Birthday Party Ideas!
- Princess Party Hats (An Ice Cream Treat) from MomDot
- Disney Princess Tutu Favor Bags from Laura’s Crafty Life
- Princess Pink and Gold 3rd Birthday Party from Pizzazzerie
Visit Ashley @ 3 Little Greenwoods’s profile on Pinterest.
I link up with these fun parties!
Full Disclosure: This post contains affiliate links and/or is a sponsored post. I may receive compensation in the form of monetary compensation or product compensation in exchange for my review. I take pride in reviewing only products that fit my brand and will be beneficial to my readers. And while this post is sponsored or contains affiliate links, all the opinions are my own. Why do I do this? It will help me keep this DIY’ing Mama crafting for another day! For more on my disclosure policy click here.
Love this idea! I always wanted a barbie cake when I was little. I wish I would have done this for my daughter when she was little.
Oh I bet your sweet girl would still love this cake for her birthday!
{bug hugs}
Ashley
oh so very pretty the cake is and your princess is a beauty
come see me at http://shopannies.blogspot.com
Thanks so much for loving my Princess Cake!
Oh my goodness I love it! You did an amazing job on the cake!
Thank you so much for your sweet comment about Tootsie’s Sofia the First Princess Cake! She is still talking about it and loved seeing pictures of it on the blog.
I loved your “Secondhand Scores” post! I am on the hunt for a kitchen hutch and need to look up some auctions!
The cake is lovely. I would like to share a photo of it on Facebook (it reminds me of cakes at birthday parties I went to when I was little – the doll cakes were really popular for little girls’ parties back in the 60s), and put it on my pinterest board, but I don’t want to do that without checking with you first. Would you rather I didn’t? Thanks. ( I am msh60 on Pinterest, and on my facebook name is my first and last name (you can see it as part of my email address)
Hey Lynne!
So happy Tootsie’s birthday cake brought back sweet memories for you! I would love for you to pin in on your Pinterest Board and I don’t mind you posting a picture of the cake on your Facebook page along with the link to the blog post. Please just a picture of the cake, not my daughter.
It would be wonderful for you to follow along. I’ve got more fun parties and projects in the works!
Sorry, forgot to add I found you via the Share Your Creativity link party at Its Overflowing
That cake looks gorgeous! My little girl has her birthday in a couple of months and something like this may be a contender. Love the purple roses on the dress. X
Oh thank you so much for your sweet comment about the Princess Birthday Cake! That icing almost did me in but it was pretty in the end! I hope you will follow along!
Thanks so much for the tips! I think this will be our Baby Love’s 7th bday party cake, and I’ve been thinking about how to do it. Yours turned out great, and Tootsie is darling!! ~Zuni
PS – Baby Love’s 6th birthday party was Shabby Chic Cowgirl…stop over to take a peek when you can! 🙂
I’m so happy you liked Tootsie’s Princess Birthday Cake! I’m hopping over to check out your Shabby Chic Cowgirl party!
Your daughter is just darling! What a wonderful party. I just love all of your details! Kari
So excited that you love all our Sofia the First Birthday Party ideas! Thank you for the sweet comment!
I love the way this turned out. I too have issues sometimes with tutorials that “food companies” put out. I really like the ideas that you had to fix the problems you ran into, like using wax paper to fill in the hole. Anyways, love the cake and it looks like your beautiful daughter loved it too. 🙂
Stopping by from the Inspiration Party.
Hey Angela! Thanks so much for leaving some comment love about my Princess Cake. Yeah – those Smiley Chefs make you think everything is so easy, don’t they? 😉
SO cute! Looks like she enjoyed it too!
Thanks for joining the Link Up this week! 🙂