Cool Homemade Ballerina Jewelry Box Cake

I made this Ballerina Jewelry Box Cake for my twin daughters’ seventh birthdays. I used two square cake pans–10X10 and 8X8. I baked both layers a week ahead and froze them. Frozen cake is much easier to assemble, cut/trim and frost.

I crumb-frosted both layers with white buttercream and assembled them. To make the two small inset drawers, I used a small knife to cut rectangle-shapes and scooped out the cake. I lined the drawers with pink wafer cookies and then piped buttercream along the sides. I rolled out pink and green fondant with a patterned fondant roller and covered both of the cake layers with fondant pieces cut to size. Using a small paintbrush, I lightly brushed the fondant with Wilton’s silver sparkle dust. (This step makes ALL the difference in how the cake looks…it really glimmers in the light!) I then used buttercream icing and the star tip to trim the cake and cover the fondant “seams.”

All the “jewelry” is edible…the large pearls (for the necklaces and the drawer “knobs”) are white gumballs, the lavender bracelets are chocolate-covered sunflower seeds,and the multi-colored bracelets are SweetTart balls. I also mixed in some store-bought candy jewelry (rings, bracelet) and a small ballerina figurine for the centerpiece.

The cake sits on a white cakeboard, and I trimmed around the edges of the cake with lace ruffle. (You could also tuck the ruffle under your cake before you decorate.)

For the lid, I cut a light plastic cake board to size and covered it with fondant. The heartshaped “mirror” is tinfoil that I attached by frosting the back of the foil lightly and then decorating with the star tip. To attach the lid, I inserted four small long white plastic stakes (could also use dowels) in the bottom end of the lid and then gently pressed the upright lid into the cake.

For our party, I also decorated cupcakes–each had a ballerina on top of white buttercream swirls with small edible pearl accents that matched the cake.