Princess Cake

I made this cake when my 3 year old asked me if I can make a Princess Cake for her birthday. I read through blogs, you tube videos, and finally used the Betty Crocker's recipe on high level for the design of the cake. I made 3 eggless vanilla cake using recipe from Divine Taste. Icing is butter cream icing following Wilton recipe. I do bake cakes regularly however icing on the cake is only for special occasions.

Cake design and template adapted from here (Betty Crocker)

Egg less Vanilla cake recipe adapted from here (Divine Taste) 

Butter cream icing recipe adapted from here (Wilton)

Princess Cake

I was apprehensive how the final cake will turn out.  Planning ahead of time, shopping all the ingredients for baking and decoration, doing all the home work of reading recipe again and again helped me bake and decorate the cake.  I started making the cake 2 days before to make sure I have enough time to redo if make any mistakes. First I made the base cake and set in fridge tightly wrapped in cling wrap. Next I made the butter cream icing and colored it to the desired pink color. Somehow I feel, I need to see the color of icing in white light, or day light to make sure I got the desired color icing.

I usually do all the baking  after putting kids to sleep (when I get the undivided attention), I use the refrigerator white light to make sure I got the right color icing, silly may be:) but it worked for me.
The smile on my daughters face after seeing the cake was more than what words could define. I felt happy and content too seeing her smile and that we did not have to rush to buy the cake from store:)

Design of the cake
I made 4 cakes with below sizes;
One , 1/2-quart ovenproof bowl (8 inches across top)--I used the Pyrex Bowl that is oven safe
Three, 8-inch round cake

Cake Recipe
Pre heat oven to 305 F. Prepare the grease pans. Bake  cake at 305 F for 50-60 minutes. I baked 2 cakes at a time (since I have 2 pans), and one cake separately. Then I baked the dome shape cake in glass bowl separately. All these cakes were baked in 2 days. Make sure not to over beat the ingredients as it could result in hard cake. The texture of the cake was perfect to decorate.

Cake Ingredients
11/2 cup All Purpose Flour
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp baking soda/ sodium bicarbonate
1 tin/400gm sweetened condensed milk
1 stick butter or 1/2 cup butter melted (I generally keep the butter outside to bring to temperature 4-5 hours before starting to bake)
3/4 cup water/milk (I use half milk and half water)
4 Tablespoon Yogurt
2 tsp vanilla extract

Buttercream Icing Recipe (Wilton)
1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter or margarine softened
1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
4 cups sifted confectioners' sugar (approximately 1 lb.)
2 tablespoons milk

For best results, keep icing bowl in refrigerator when not in use. Refrigerated in an airtight container, and rewhip before using.