Dolly Varden Fairy Cake

A couple of weeks ago I had a very important client order a cake. She was very specific about her requirements: “I like pink” she stated….”oh and fairies…. I like fairies a lot!” After a bit of a pause she imparted one last piece of information “I’m going to be four”.

So with those important details, and a request from the birthday girl’s grandmother of a “Dolly Varden” cake, I channelled my inner four year old and set to work designing. If you are unfamiliar with the Dolly Varden cake it is a cake made into the shape of a skirt with a plastic doll stuck in the top. Nowadays you don’t have to saw your child’s favourite Barbie in half, you can purchase a Dolly Varden doll to go on top. They are basically the torso of a plastic doll stuck on a skewer. I have to say, when I look at them I think they are a little bit on the scary side and I am always keen to make my cakes with everything edible. In the end, I decided to make my own handcrafted sugar doll to sit on top of the cake ‘skirt’. The sugar doll’s clothes flowed into the body of the cake to make the entire cake look like a fairy princess on the way to a grand ball. The cake itself was a dark chocolate mud cake layered and covered with dark chocolate ganache.

So, lots of pink fondant later, a bit of edible glitter and a sprinkling of ‘fairy dust’ here is the finished creation. I have to say my inner four year old was very sad to see this cake go…. 😦