Belle mini-doll cake and lemon cake with raspberry filling

I made this mini Belle (from Beauty and the Beast) cake and the bottom lemon cake to celebrate my daughter's 2nd birthday (Wow! That happened in the blink of an eye!!).

I was pretty disappointed with how Belle looked though. Unfortunately, I didn't have the right piping tip for the skirt and had to make do with what I had. The bottom cake gave me some trouble too. I was rushing to get it done and made the mistake of trying to assemble the layers before the cakes had fully cooled. When I went to stack and ice the top layer, raspberry filling started oozing out everywhere! Luckily, I was able to salvage the cake with some creative icing but it also ended up a little lopsided in the process...oh well, lesson learned.

These were actually two completely separate cakes and I am listing the directions and recipe for each below. The Belle cake was just made from a boxed yellow cake baked in a sheet pan. The bottom cake was a homemade, Martha Stewart lemon cake with raspberry filling. Both of the cakes were iced with a traditional buttercream frosting.

Even though, I wasn't crazy how this cake looked it still got plenty of "oohs" and "ahhs" from the birthday girl. She recently discovered Disney princesses and loves Belle, "Ella", "Snow Y" and "A-L".




Belle cake

For directions on how to make this cake, please click HERE.

Lemon cake with raspberry filling


Lemon Cake
1 cup (2 sticks) unsalted butter, room temperature, plus more for pans
2 1/2 cups all-purpose flour (spooned and leveled), plus more for pans
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1 teaspoon salt
1 tablespoon lemon zest
1 1/2 cups sugar
2 large eggs plus 3 large egg yolks
2 tablespoons fresh lemon juice
1 cup low-fat buttermilk

Preheat oven to 350 degrees. Butter and flour two 8-by-2-inch cake pans, tapping out excess flour. In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt, and lemon zest.
In a large bowl, using an electric mixer, beat butter and 1 1/2 cups sugar until light and fluffy. With mixer on low, beat in eggs and yolks, one at a time. Beat in 2 tablespoons lemon juice. Alternately beat in flour mixture and buttermilk beginning and ending with flour mixture; mix just until combined.
Divide batter between pans; smooth tops. Bake until cakes pull away from sides of pans, 32 to 35 minutes. Let cool in pans 10 minutes. Run a knife around edges of pans and invert cakes onto a wire rack. Let cool completely.

Source: Martha Stweart

Raspberry Filling
Makes: about 2 cups of filling.

1 pkg (16 ounces) frozen raspberries packed in sugar thawed
1/3 cup granulated sugar
3 tablespoons cornstarch
1 teaspoon lemon juice

Drain raspberries, reserving liquid. Add enough water to liquid to equal 1 1/4 cups. In large saucepan, combine liquid, sugar, cornstarch and lemon juice; mix well. Heat and stir until mixture boils and thickens. Cool completely. Stir thawed raspberries into cooled mixture. Fill cake.

Source: Wilton's

My little girl and the "real" Belle.