How to Make an Elsa Cake and a Peek at the Rest of the Party - Pretty Real

How to Make an Elsa Cake and a Peek at the Rest of the Party

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Frozen Party Ideas

I am a novice baker. If you look back at parties I've planned, you'll see simple cakes embellished with store bought items. These are instructions based on my experience,including many helpful resources at the end of the post.  Plus if you're a beginner like me, you'll appreciate my helpful hints. These are tips others leave out because they're pros. But first, a little back story...
This Frozen cake deserves a post of its own. Not because it's so amazing (although it is pretty cute right?) but because I was obsessed with making it myself. It started when Genevieve began watching cake decorating videos on YouTube. Particularly when she started watching this "How to Make an Elsa Cake" Tutorial daily. For months, she begged me to make an Elsa Cake. And for months, I put her off.  But when we decided on a Frozen party I knew I had to try. Throughout the process I asked her numerous times if I could just buy it. But I'd be lying if I said I wasn't a little excited about the challenge.  Enter researching like a crazy person, watching nonstop tutorials until 2 am the night before, and putting Joe on standby at work to go grab cupcakes on his way home. But I did it! And you can too. Here's how.
Frozen Party Ideas

Tips to Make an Elsa Cake:
Supplies:
-2 8 inch round. The height of the pans will depend on how tall you want your cake to be.  But keep in mind the height of all your cakes stacked has to be at least as tall as the dolls legs.  I used one 2 inch and two 1 inch + my glass bowl.
-An oven safe bowl
-Icing. I used this and this. The big tub was easier to work with.
-Sprinkles. I used these and these in blue and white.
-Box cake mix
-Snow Flakes. But these would be cute too!
-Elsa Doll
-Icing bag
-Cookie Cutter
-Icing Spatula
frozen party ideas

Instructions:
1. Make your cakes following box instructions but using the bowl + rounds.
2. Put your cakes in the freezer for a half hour prior to leveling and doing your crumb coat.
3. Remove cakes, level them (cut the domes off), and cut holes in the cakes using a cookie cutter. I didn't have one so I used a lid as a guide and a knife.
3. Stack cakes, frosting between layers, and do the crumb coat.  Don't know what that is?  Read this. This is the first time I've tried this step and it made icing the cake much easier.
4. After your crumb coat, put back in the freezer for at least a half hour.
5. Remove, insert doll (skirt off, arms up, and legs wrapped in saran wrap), and ice. If you don't have a spinner, use a cake stand that you can slowly spin while frosting the cake. I've included my favorite video tutorials at the end if you need to see technique.
6. After you've frosted the cake to your satisfaction, add details.  I covered gaps and the bottom of her "dress," with piping.  I then sprinkled with the sugar crystals and gently placed the snow flakes.
7. Refrigerate until your party!

Helpful Hints:
1. Make sure you have the right size pans and that your glass bowl is oven safe.
   1a. Don't cheat and use different size rounds. I did and it made the cake much harder to frost as I     tried to fill in the dent. It also meant I needed more cakes since I used a 1 inch pan for some layers rather than a 2 inch.
2. If you make cakes often, do it the way you typically do it! Don't change things up like I did and end up with cakes that won't come out of the pan.
3. Sprinkles help make the cake look more fancy without requiring skill. These snow flakes in particular were great to hide imperfections.
4. Get more icing than you think you'll need. Get more cake than you think you'll need.  Get more of everything than you think you'll need.
5. The paper tip in this video was everything.
6. Cover up imperfections with piping. I used the tip that seemed the easiest.
7. As with all DIYs, start in the back to give yourself time to get the hang of it.
frozen party ideas
Favorite Resources  (I researched many blog posts and video tutorials but these were the most helpful 3):
Nerdy Nummies: How to Make a Frozen Princess Cake.
How to Make a Princess Cake with Betty Crocker.
How to Make a Disney Princess Cinderella Doll Cake.

Here is just a peek at the rest of Genevieve's Frozen Party (if you missed it, you can see Part I here!).

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6 comments

  1. "Get more of everything than you think you'll need." My favorite line and so true!!! See, that's why I always have WAY too much food for parties ;) You never know what can happen! Love this post and that cake is absolutely beautiful. So impressed my friend!! 😍👍🏼

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  2. Great job.. the other way you can do this is by baking the cake in an oven safe bowl, comes out with a nice round shape for you.

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    Replies
    1. Yes, I did use an oven safe bowl for this cake (detailed above). Such a great trick!

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  3. Quick question - did you buy blue icing, or colour the white icing? Thank you!

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