Tinkerbell Cake: Step by Step Directions with Supplies

Making a Tinkerbell cake for your child's birthday or for any other celebration can be easy and fun. When my daughter said that she wanted a Tinkerbell birthday party, my mind began to imagine the possibilities of what kind of cake I would make for her.

There are a lot of options to choose from. You could make a cake that shows just Tinkerbell's face or her whole body. You could make a sheet cake that depicts a scene with Tinkerbell in it. You could even keep it really simple and just make cupcakes that are decorated with Tinkerbell decorations. Since most of the Tinkerbell shows and cartoons now involve Tinkerbell in Pixie Hollow, I decided that I wanted her cake to represent this image. Here is how I did it.

I did not bake my cake from scratch. Due to time elements, I used box cake mixes. However, if you want to make your cake from scratch, you can find a great recipe here. I used two cake mixes and two different flavors per the birthday girl's request, to make this cake.

I baked both cakes in a 9x13 inch pan according to package directions. Make sure that you allow the cakes to completely cool before you attempt to do anything else with the cakes. Once the cakes are completely cooled, place a tray or a cooling rack over the top of the cake upside down. Then flip the cake pan over onto the tray so that they cake will come out of the cake pan easily and without breaking. Repeat the process with the other cake.

Next, turn your bottom layer of your cake over so that it is right side up and carefully slice the top of the cake so that it is flat. This is necessary to have your layers lie flat upon each other and not round over.

Choose which cake will represent your top two layers and cut the cake so that it is in two pieces. The pieces should be about 3/4 of the cake for one piece and 1/4 of the cake for the top layer. Then take your bottom layer for your cake and place it on the cardboard or what ever the serving tray is that you will be using. You will now be using this as your working surface so that once it is frosted and decorated, you will not need to move it again.

Frost the bottom layer of your cake so that you can place the next layer on top of the first. Place your second layer inverted on top of the first (bottom) layer. Continue by frosting this layer. Finally invert the top layer onto the second layer and completely frost the cake. This layer is called the crumb layer. You will find that it is not neat but will be filled with pieces of the cake. This will eventually be covered with the final layer of frosting. Allow the frosting to set for about an hour. This works best if you can place it in the refrigerator or freezer to set.

Start by frosting the entire cake with another thick layer of frosting. This should be your final layer of frosting. Be sure that you have smoothed the frosting out so that it looks uniform. Once the frosting is complete, you can place the waterfall where you would like it to flow. I used a blue sugar sheet and cut it out in the shape that I liked. I simply made a straight, rectangular cut for the actual falls and then cut a wavy circular shape to represent the pond. This was the first time I had ever used the sugar sheet and I found it very easy to work with.

Next you can begin creating the leaves and vines on the cake. You can do this by using a piping bag full of green frosting as well as a round tip. Create vines by piping swirling lines and circles around the top and sides of the cake. I also used this tip to pipe green dots around the water to add a nice border. Changes tips to a flat tip to make the leaves. I also touched up any spots that I thought needed to be covered because the frosting layer was not smooth or needed to be spruced up. There were a couple of spots that I was not happy with and I used the added leaves and flowers to cover those flaws.

Once you have piped all of the green parts of the cake, change colors of frosting for the flowers. You can certainly use any colors that the birthday girl likes. Adding a variety of colors makes it very appealing to the eye. You will also need to change tips to make the flowers. Make sure that you leave room to pipe a birthday message for the birthday girl somewhere on the cake.

For the finishing touches, add some of the fairies from Tinkerbell to the cake. I simply purchased some small figures, washed and dried them and added them to the cake. I added a Tinkerbell candle and the cake was complete.

I am definitely not a professional baker and have only attempted one other "complicated" birthday cake previously. I can say that it is not very hard to do and can be a lot of fun as well. Even if it does not turn out "perfect," trust me when I say that the birthday girl will love the effort that you put into making a homemade cake for her.