The Little Mermaid is all the rave right now! If you have a child who happens to LOVE the little mermaid as much as I did as a child, chances are they just might request a Little Mermaid themed birthday party, and what better way to celebrate than with a cake featuring the new Little Mermaid doll!? So, pull out your cake scrapers and get ready to be the parent of the year with this one-of-a-kind cake for your child’s Little Mermaid Birthday theme!
*Note: I pre-ordered my doll and due to popularity this particular one may not be available unless you purchase The little Mermaid 3-Doll Special Edition Kit. Also, you can find a list of the tools you will need at the bottom of the page.
Step 1) You are going to want to start with Baking and crumb coating a six-to-eight-inch cake. I did a six inch. I usually bake and freeze my cake layers and then crumb coat up to two days before I decorate the cake. Here you can see where I have already crumb coated and added a thin coat of icing to a six inch cake and started to put the final coat of icing on decorating day.
Step 2) You will either want to make or purchase some white fondant and begin coloring it. I used Ameri color gel food coloring to color my fondant, and the colors used were, super red, violet, and blue. You can do this in advance to save time. Just be sure to tightly wrap your fondant in saran wrap and store in a plastic zip lock bag to preserve.
Step 3) You will want to purchase some under the sea molds and mold the fondant into cute little sea shapes like seashells, sea horses, and seaweed. You will want to decide which colors you want to use for the decorations you will place at the base of the cake. I chose to use pink fondant with white and then paint the white fondant decorations with gold luster dust. Once you have your fondant ready, firmly press the fondant into the mold, making sure every inch of the mold cavity is filled with fondant. Once filled use a small knife or spatula to cut off any excess fondant. You will then gently pull back the mold from the fondant to release the decoration. *Notice: In one of the shots below you will notice a cheap blue fondant mold I purchased from Walmart, but this mold was super hard and difficult to work with so I opted not to use it.
Step 4) If you opted to paint your decorations like I did with gold or whatever color luster dust you choose, grab a paint brush, and either some vodka or some color solution and add a few drops to about 1/8th (less or more depending on the amount you will need) of the luster powder in a small container or a paint pallet. Once mixed dip your brush into the mixture and gently paint your decorations. You can also paint on the solution and then brush the powder on. Set aside to dry. (skip this step if you chose to go with already colored fondant)
Step 5) Make the rice paper sails. You will Need some spring roll wraps also called rice paper. Take some parchment paper large enough to hold the rice paper and crinkle it up, set aside Take the rice paper and place it on a wet resistant surface. You will then take a rubber brush and brush both sides of the rice paper with warm water making sure to saturate each side. The paper will become sticky and almost completely clear (you can just dip the entire thing in warm water and saturate like you were making spring rolls, but I find this way easier when making sails plus the drying time may be a little faster). Take some liquid or gel food coloring (I used gel) and mix it with a little water. You will then brush whatever design or pattern you like onto the rice paper on one side and gently place on to the parchment paper you prepared earlier. Shaping it how you would like it to dry. Set these aside for 24 hours OR if you need them in a pinch, set your oven to the lowest setting and place in the oven for one hour. Once done crack the oven door and bring to room temperature before carefully removing., ***Note This step can come before the fondant decorations, but this is the order I made everything. It is totally up to you. Also, you can cut the rice paper in half for a different shape, that’s what I ended up doing.
Step 6) Time to make the Tail! Grab your already prepared or store-bought fondant and shape it like a cone, rolling it onto a clean surface. You will then cut a slit at the fatter end of the “tail” where the mermaids’ hips would be. Flatten the sides to wrap around the doll. Take a large mermaid fin mold like the one here and mold another small piece of fondant into it. Gently remove the tail from the mold and with a small amount of edible glue begin attaching the fin to the tail, using a small tool to blend the meeting fondant together. Let dry for about ten minutes and grab your U-shaped fondant tool. Start making a scale pattern on the tail by gently pressing into the fondant and repeating until complete. You will want to make sure the tail is not too big as I had to end up cutting mine in half!
Step 7) color the tail. You will need some luster dust and either color solution or vodka, mix a small amount of the dust with the solution or vodka as I explain above. You can choose to paint the tail one color, or multiple. I chose multiple colors and went with light green, blue, pink, and purple. I did prefer to use mermaid green, but it arrived later than when I needed it, so if you go with this color be sure to order at least a week in advance! If you want to paint the tail similar to how I did, you will want to start by painting the top of the tail down to the middle (leaving the sides white) with green or mermaid colored luster dust, take the blue luster dust mixture and paint the sides of the tail. Paint a small amount of pink at the bottom middle. Finish off by painting the very bottom of the fin purple and fill in the rest of the colors as you desire, you can use the doll for inspiration, Set it aside.
8) Decorate your cake. Grab the frosting you are using to ice your cake and color it. I colored my frosting purple. Ice your cake and smooth with a bench scraper until you achieve a smooth finish. You will then grab your airbrush machine, like the one I have here and add a few drops of blue to the nozzle. Gently spray about 6 inches from the cake making little circles with your hand, and or swaying back and forth in different areas depending on how you want your cake to look. Wrap the dolls legs in saran wrap. Cut a small square out of the middle of cake where you will insert the doll, make sure it isn’t quite in the middle but far back enough so the tail can sit on top of the cake. Place and shape the tail around the inserted doll, gently pressing the fin on the side of the cake where it will sit. Take some green colored fondant and roll it out into little strips and twist to make the seaweed. Begin placing the decorations on the cake wherever you see fit. I had to end up retouching the paint on the tail and re-shaping the tail around her hips since I had to cut it in half so avoid this if you can.
Step 9) Enjoy your masterpiece! Just be sure to place it in the fridge until you are ready to display the cake. It will stay perfect for about 3 hours depending on how hot or humid the weather is once it’s out the fridge, the hotter it is, the faster the cake will melt and fall over due to the weight of the tail.
*** Serving suggesting
You can make these cute cupcakes to add to the wow factor. I got this idea from cakes by Lynz but I used fondant. Let me know if you are interested in a tutorial on how I did this.
SO! That’s it! You are done! If you try this cake comment and let me know how it turned out. What are some of the challenges you faced? Would you make this again? Post comments and photos of the Little Mermaid cakes you’ve created below! I’m so excited to see your creations!
Tools You Will Need
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I look forward to sharing more with you in this space….
Blessings!!!
Thank You! I look forward to sharing more with you as well :), thank you for visiting!