Welcome to How To Cook That I am Ann Reardon
Today we are making a Dora the explorer cake I gave this cake away on instagram well done
to the people who guessed what it was from the zoomed in photo of the colours.
Vaminos, lets go
Firstly we need a double quantity of the light and fluffy sponge cake, the recipe video for
this cake is on the website howtocookthat.net, I'll put a link to the Dora cake recipe in
the description below this video And that has the sponge cake and frosting recipe and
details of how much fondant you'll need and all of those things.
And when I say to double the recipe people often ask me in the comments do you make two
batches all at once or do you make two seperate batches? If your mixing bowls are big enough
and you've got enough room in the oven. Then you can double the recipe and make it all
at once like I am doing here. Otherwise you can do two seperate ones it really doesn't
matter.
Pour half the mixture into two baking tins and the rest into a pyrex oven proof bowl.
Bake them in a slow oven, expect the bowl one to take longer than the tins because oviuosly
it has more cake mixture in it.
Let your cakes cool completely and make your frosting of choice, I am using one quantity
of buttercream and one of white chocolate ganache and mixing them together, again those
recipe videos are on the website.
Once your cakes are completely cooled, your frosting is prepared and you have chosen your
dora doll then we can start decorating.
Cut one of the round cakes into two layers you can do that using a knife or a cake leveler.
Take a cake board or flat plate and spread a smear of frosting on the base, this will
stop the cake from sliding. Then add your first layer of cake and a thin layer of frosting.
Followed by the other half of the cake on top. Now if you are catering for a larger
group you can repeat that with the other round cake on top here and make the dress taller.
I am just using the one round cake in mine. Take the bowl cake and make two even cuts
into it so you have three layers. I had another person this week say to me "I
subscribed to How To Cook That but they are not getting notified when there is a new video.
If you click on this little setting button next to the subscribe button then click on
'send me updates' then youtube will email you when there is a new video on this channel.
And if anyone can figure out how to do that same thing on a mobile can you let us know
in the comments below and you can add all your cake requests to.
Stack them on top of your cake with frosting in between each layer.
Now if you are happy with that shape you can cover the whole thing in frosting ready for
your fondant.
Personally I prefer it if the dress is not so rounded and bowl shaped at the top so I
like to trim down the top two layers to make them flatter.
Which looks more dress shaped.
Take the clothes off the dora doll and cover the legs, especially the hip area and all
those joints in plastic wrap to protect them from getting frosting into them.
Now we want to cut a hole in the centre of the cake, if you look at the Dora from the
feet you can see that we need to cut a rectangle shape. So take out some cake, and then hold
the knife up to the doll so you can see how deep the knife needs to go into the cake for
her feet to fit.
Push the knife down into the cake to that depth and use a spoon to scoop out what you've
cut. Check that the doll fits in nicely and then take it out again.
Colour you fondant, I've made 6 colours to match the Dora logo with the exception of
the yellow which I have just added in.
Choose which one you want at the top for the body part of the dress and the order of the
frill colours.
Take the colour that you have chosen to be at the bottom and roll it into a long thick
snake and then use your rolling pin to flatten that out.
Take your pizza cutter and cut both edges to make them nice and straight.
Now when we wrap it around the cake we want it to sit out a bit like a frill so we need
to make one side bigger, you can do that by rolling something round on it, I am using
the rolling pin handle here, you can press along with your finger. Just have a look around
the kitchen and see what you've got that is nice and smooth that you can press on the
fondant to make it frill up a bit.
Then lift that up and wrap it around your cake right lining it up with the bottom edge,
the top edge doesn't matter because we won't see that, it's the bottom bit that we are
going to see.
Repeat that with the blue, and then green and the yellow. If you want bigger frills
then you can add some folds into the fondant as you wrap it around the cake just like I
am doing here. Once it is in place use something smooth just to lift it up and arrange the
fondant how you want it. Repeat that with your orange as well.
To make Doras dress part, roll out your pink fondant. Cut three of the sides in a straight
edge and lay that over the Dora doll.
Trim a line straight down where her arms are and then straight across at the level you've
cut down too, Trim the rest of the fondant to the same level and then just wrap it around
the back of the doll and then join it up at the back.
Roll out some purple and use your pizza cutter to cut a thin strip. Place that over her shoulder
like a strap under her arm and across the back of the dress. trim the excess off there.
Then continue that long piece around under her other arm and up over her shoulder. Trim
off any excess at the back again.
Cut another short strip of purple and place it across the top front of the dress to finish
it off.
Add Dora into the middle of the cake making sure she is nice and straight.
Then roll out the remaining pink fondant.
Use a large circle cutter to cut out a circle, if you don't have a circle cutter you can
cut around a large cup or small bowl and cut around that with a knife. Use your rolling
pin to roll the edges thinner and then use your fingers to stretch it out a little. Place
it back down on the paper and cut a straight line from the centre to the edge and then
cut a small oval out of that middle section for where her body is going to be.
With the un-cut side at the front wrap this around the body of the doll.
If you don't have enough to make it the whole way around just roll and extra rectangle of
fondant and place it on, folding it under at each end at the join so it looks like a
fold in the fabric. And you can do that anywhere on the doll where you didn't have enough to
go all the way around the back.
Now roll a thin snake of purple and place it around Dora where the skirt meets the body.
If you want to you can make a little bow and add that at the back.
And your Dora is ready for a party. Fantastico
Click below to share the video and if you haven't already click subscribe,
Click here for last weeks youtube dessert video,
Here to go to the channel and see more of my videos
and this one will take you to the how to cook that website.
And i'll put all those links below if you are on your mobile.
Muchos Gracias Amigos Have a great week and I'll see you on Friday.
[music: The Boat Song by Set Sail, used with permission]