Barbie cakes modelled after Charles James gowns

May 5th 2014 is the date of the Met Gala, this year dedicated to the Haute Couture designer Charles James, one of the best ball gown designers that ever lived. Over at Vogue they posted an amazing article about six Barbie cakes modelled after his gowns. The magazine tasked six skilled cake makers with an iconic gown to faithfully reproduce. Amirah Kassem from Flour Shop inserted Barbie into an ice cream cone cake, covered in wafer paper coated in white chocolate and painted in edible metallic blue. Penny Stankiewicz, from Sugar Couture, researched all the elements of the Clover dress for a complex construction of butter cake and passion fruit butter-cream. Michelle Doll-Olson used fondant with a chocolate truffle filling and edible pearl paint to mimic James’s emerald green silk satin gown from 1954. Melissa Torres of Cake Hero employed a combination of fondant, banana cake, milk chocolate frosting, and a luxurious metal: as she said "the dress is about the subtle play between the red and burnt orange, chocolate colours, so I dabbed tiny bits of gold on the folds to enhance the shimmer.”


Made by Penny Stankiewicz/Sugar Couture


Made by Kate Sullivan/Cake Power


Made by Amirah Kassem/Flour Shop


Made by Melissa Torres/Cake Hero


Made by Margaret Braun/Margaret Braun


Made by Michelle Doll Olsen/Michelle Doll Cakes

All cakes photographed by Grant Cornett - courtesy of Vogue.com