Posted by Ethne~
Princess KD and Princess Easy Mac are turning 3 ~ what birthday cakes do we need? Why, Princesses Tiana, Snow White and Cinderella of course! Princess and the Frog is our latest favorite Disney movie. It will probably be Rapunzel next year, but I’m getting ahead of myself.
 |
| Princess Tiana! |
THRIFTY MISSION: Super Target bakery has the awesome princess doll skirt cakes starting at around $40.00 and up. That is far more than I want to spend. Can I make princess doll birthday cakes for KD and Easy Mac for significantly less than $40.00?? Of course!
BACKGROUND: When I got married, one of my bridal shower cakes was Bride Barbie – her skirt was the cake – and it was awesome! Being the girl that Thrifty Nana raised, I saved the Barbie, outfit, and implements needed for making another such cake. I knew someday I would make another; even back then instinct told me I would have daughters.
HISTORY: Back in olden days, i.e. my childhood, Thrifty Nana made all of my birthday cakes. She took a cake-decorating class when we lived in Utah, before moving to North Dakota. Classic memories, and a side benefit was I watched and learned.
 |
| Moi - the cutest flower girl that side of the Rockies! June 4, 1981 PS - check those classic wedge sandals! |
Back to the mission, I knew the things I needed: a Princess Tiana doll the size of a Barbie - no problem-o. Super Target never fails me. I also was going to make mini princess cakes for the girls because I’ve decided that though the girls share a birthday, they should each get their own birthday cakes. KD’s mini cake was Snow White and Easy Mac’s mini cake was Cinderella. Target had those dolls, perfect size, at the check-out register.
--The Tiana doll was $5.00 and each mini princess was $3.00. So far, we’re at $11.00.
I had the implements for inserting the princess doll into the center of the skirt cake, but they are not necessary. A couple of cardboard rolls from paper towels are all you need – trim each to the height of the skirt cake and insert the doll. These were free since I already had the paper towels in the house.
--We remain at $11.00.
The cake was white Betty Crocker cake mix. It’s the best, so I don’t complicate things by baking a cake from scratch. I needed two cake mixes for the one large and two mini skirt cakes. I bought each box for $1.00 at Super Target.
--$13.00 total now.
Frosting is made from Crisco, powdered sugar, vanilla extract, a splash of milk and food coloring. I already have the vanilla, milk and food coloring around the house – the amount used for this is negligible, so no cost adjustment necessary. The can of Crisco costs $4.99 and the large bag of powdered sugar costs $1.69.
--New total $19.68.
I always walk around with my list notebook (a small journal-size book where I write down my lists and ideas and to-do’s), so I pulled a few pics of Princess Tiana and taped them in.
 |
| Taped-in Tiana |
For skirt decorating, Thrifty Nana and I mixed several batches of frosting and colored the frosting in small bowls as needed for the dress colors. Insert the princess dolls to the center and decorate the skirt per the pictures in my list notebook.
 |
| Sugar Coma here we come! |
I pulled out my craft tub and selected a few small flower embellishments to add to the skirt. And done!
I presented Princess Tiana on my gorgeous cake stand from Grandma W (Thrifty Nana’s mom), and two small glass plates for the minis and we felt like master bakers. Best part: THE GIRLS WERE THRILLED!
MISSION SUCCESS: Grand total for three princess birthday cakes: $19.68. That’s less than half of the store-bought cost.
Ultimately, though, the cost was not as much of a factor for me. What I wanted was the memory of making an amazing birthday cake for my daughters. Doing so with Thrifty Nana and my sister, Whit, and at half the cost, was a super awesome bonus!
 |
| 3 Princesses for my Princesses! |
 |
| Thrifty Nana and Easy Mac - in the vintage dress she made for me! |
Let's see how much we can eat....
 |
| Chow Town! |
 |
| New and Vintage |
 |
| It's not easy being so cute! |
To complete the ensemble, we got Cinderella glass slippers from Grandpa Paul and Grandma Connie:
 |
| Yes, they light up. |
5 comments:
Awesome idea! And they turned out sooooo cute. What did you bake the cake mixes in to get the dress shape?
Oh Ethne! This is so precious! You did an awesome job on the cakes and seeing Easy Mac in the dress you wore when little - makes me want to cry! So so cool! And Aunt Janeen and Uncle Paul never change - they look great!!! We know how you got your good looks. ;) Malena
Malena - I'm so glad you checked out the blog - become a follower! I'm glad you liked it - it was fun. :) Michelle - to get the base of the cake I baked the first cake mix into two 9" or 10" round pans (I can't remember whether it was 9 or 10). Those two stacked together like a layer cake. For the second cake mix, I baked half of the batter in a medium-size oven-safe round bowl. I baked the remaining half of the batter in two small-size oven-safe bowls. The medium size bowl cake went on top of round layer cakes, making a skirt shape. As I assembled, I cut cylinder size holes in the center for the paper towel tube. Each small bowl cake was the mini princess cake.
Soo cute! What is the name of those mini dolls at target? Lol I need 25 of them? Are they online?
The princess dolls at the check-out at Target!
Post a Comment