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A young child is smiling at a birthday party, wearing a blonde wig and a tiara. Behind the child is a birthday cake shaped like a princess and some balloons. Cupcakes are arranged on the table nearby.

Disney Princess Cake

This Disney Princess Cake is every little princess's dream come true! Transform Elsa, Rapunzel, or any other Disney princess into a magical birthday cake!
Print Recipe Pin Recipe
Prep Time 10 minutes
Cook Time 1 hour
Decorating 20 minutes
Total Time 1 hour 30 minutes
Servings: 10
Course: Dessert
Cuisine: American
Ingredients Equipment Method Notes

Ingredients
  

  • 2 cake mixes made according to package directions
  • 1 Disney Princess Barbie doll
  • 6 cups vanilla or buttercream frosting

Equipment

  • 8 inch Baking Pan
  • Mixing Bowls
  • Hand Mixer

Method
 

  1. Step 1: In a large bowl, make up cake batter for both cake mixes. *Optional – for a more dense and moist cake substitute half of the water for the same amount of sour cream.
    Grease and flour an 8" pan and a ceramic medium oven-safe bowl or a medium-sized and small glass oven-safe bowl (see notes above). Spray pans with cooking spray (or grease with butter) and dust lightly with flour. Turn upside-down and tap the bowl to get rid of excess flour.
    A dark gray ceramic teapot is placed upside down over a metal cake pan on a white countertop. The teapot has a handle on the side, and the cake pan's rim is partially visible beneath it. The background features a geometric tiled wall.
  2. Step 2: Fill with batter until they are a little over ¾ full. Use remaining batter for cup cakes.
    Bake at 325 for about an hour or until the center feels set (checking after 30 minutes). If you are using a cake pan for one of the layers, check after 20 minutes.
    Three round loaves of bread are cooling on a wire rack. The loaf on the left is slightly darker and appears to have a thicker crust, while the other two loaves are lighter in color with visible horizontal lines on their surfaces. The background shows a white tile wall.
  3. Step 3: About 10 minutes after you remove the cake from the oven, turn out of bowl onto wax paper. This prevents the cake from sweating and sticking to the bowl.
    Stick the cakes in the freezer for a few hours or overnight until they are really firm.
    Layer the small cake onto the large cake and trim any over hang.
    A partially assembled two-tier cake on a doily. The bottom layer is frosted with white icing, while the top layer is a domed, unfrosted cake. A cooling rack with a knife is in the background on a counter with a geometric patterned backsplash.
  4. Step 4: Stick your Barbie princess in the center of the cake and frost over her upper half to make it look like a dress.
    A two-tiered cake is topped with a doughnut-like pastry. An unexpected decoration, a small blue toy figure, is partially embedded in the top layer, adding a humorous touch. The background features a white, leaf-patterned wallpaper.
  5. Step 5: Layer with a thin layer of frosting to create a "crumb coat".
    A small cake covered in white frosting, topped with a blue, plastic surfer figure. The background features a textured, white herringbone pattern on the wall.
  6. Step 6: Make frosting (see link above) and decorate.
    A close-up of a cake covered in blue and purple ruffled buttercream icing. A piping bag with a star tip, partially visible on the right, is being used to add more icing to the cake. The background appears to be a kitchen counter with white tiles.

Notes

  • Nutrition represents a standard white cake mix with buttercream frosting. Nutritional values of other flavors may vary.
  • If you would rather make the dress with fondant, you can use our fondant recipe instead.
  • Use extra batter to make cupcakes and place them around the base of the cake, this looks especially pretty if you have the princess cake up on a raised cake plate.