Scarlett O' Hara Cake

I was also commissioned to make my mother-in-law's birthday cake last weekend.  And since she's a huge fan of Gone with the Wind, I decided to do something based on that theme.  I had a few very big ideas, but since the party was going to be pretty small,  I decided to do something on a smaller scale.  After a few Google image searches, I was inspired to make a doll cake and turn her into Miss Scarlett.

I had to buy the Wilton Wonder Mold pan for this, but I figure I will use it again for other things.  I then found a doll which looked as much like Scarlett as was possible.  Apparently they don't make doll picks with dark hair and green eyes.  And I wasn't about to invest in a full sized Scarlett doll.

Dressing her torso was a bit of a challenge, as I don't sew and wasn't sure how to even begin putting on her "fondant clothing."   I wrapped her in fondant, and then cut away the excess.  For the ruffly collar, I simply took a circle cutter and cut a few circles. Then I made a hole in the center and gently stretched it with my finger and then over her head.  I rippled it where needed.  I did three layers like this, stretching them to make them look layered.

For the skirt, after icing the cake, I rolled out strips of white fondant, then placed them onto the cake one strip at a time.  I also creased them as needed with the side of my hand and folded under any ragged looking edges. I found that it gave the cake a very nice look.

Once all of the fondant skirt was on, I then took my tiniest paintbrush and with a mixture of vodka and Leaf green gel color, I hand painted all the little botanical elements on her dress.  I have to say that it wasn't as bad as I thought it would be.  The brush was quite small and so it was fairly easy to do intricate designs.

Finally, I attached the hat and I did use the same green ribbon around her waist.  I know that I could have done fondant here, but I was all out of green.

Here she is: