The girls are getting plenty spoiled by Grammy in Ohio, not just PaPa Don. At left, you can see how the three of them got into some sugar. Grammy is a fantastic cook and baker.
One of our favorite things to do with Grammy is bake a doll cake. You maybe have seen these in the local grocery store. They're easy to make and so fun for little girls. It's also a great birthday party idea.
All you need is the right pan for the cake to serve as the Barbie dolls skirt. I Googled "barbie doll cake pan" and tons of inexpensive options came up for the pan and the Barbie doll to insert. (The pan allows the cake to cook while leaving a cylindrical hole in the center of what becomes the dolls skirt.) Once the cake is baked and cooled, you can insert the Barbie's legs into the cake so it looks like she's wearing the cake as a skirt.
Now mind you, the Barbie has no top on at all so it's best to keep men like PaPa Don out of the kitchen or you'll hear cat calls. (Perhaps that's just our PaPa Don! Did I mention he's a Marine?)
Next, you need to have your icing ready. Grammy usually helps us make the icing (from scratch of course) while the cake is baking and cooling. With a flat icing knife, the kids can carefully put the icing on the doll's skirt to make it look like cloth. As you can see in the photo, Grammy has icing tips and bags so that we can then decorate the skirt to look like it has lace or ruffles. You'll need the icing bag and tip to also design a shirt/top for the Barbie. We prefer matching colored icing but that's up to you.
As a final touch, we use the icing bag and tip to fashion the Barbie with a ring on her hand and maybe a bracelet on the other arm. In order to practice our delicate touch, Grammy helps us put icing on our own hands and wrists. That's the best part because you can lick the icing off and do it again until you get the icing jewelry just perfect! :-)
I think in the above photo, it looks like Little K is staring at her cousin as if to say "That icing is absolutely delicious! You get it, right?"
Even if you're not much of a chef, this is a fun thing to do with kids in Houston or elsewhere. It's perfect for rainy days, too hot afternoons or just because. When the kids are bored and don't know what to do, "let them eat cake!"
