This Emma Wiggle Cake Will Not Destroy You like Duck Cake Did

I don’t want to say I spoil my young nieces, but when they ask me to make them birthday cake I go all out. After the absolute disaster of Duck Cake — hectic cake-carving, dozens of skewers to try and hold it together, a split open head, you can read all about it — my next mission had to be more low-key but still big on the WOW factor. So Emma Wiggle Cake it was.

This was all for my youngest niece Phoebe’s second birthday. She missed out on her first birthday party last year because of lockdown, so this time around we were all there to celebrate. And Phoebe loves yellow and Emma from The Wiggles. So much so that she just calls the colour yellow “Emma”.

How to make a kid’s dream come true with Emma Wiggle Cake

What you’ll need:

• 1 packet of butter cake mix (I just used the 75-cent Woolies variety)
• 1 tub of Better Crocker vanilla frosting
• Yellow food colouring
• Yellow lollies (I used a packet of bananas and picked out just the yellow lollies from a packet of jelly beans and a packet of Woolies’ no-name party mix)
• Liquorice twists
• Emma Wiggle doll (you can get these from Target or Big W and there are three styles to choose from; I used the ballerina)

Directions:

1. Mix the packet cake as per instructions and preheat your oven to the required temp, then pour the batter into a greased bunt tin.
   Hot tip: bake the cake the night before and store it in the fridge, it’ll make it easier to decorate.
   
2. Put the frosting in a bowl, add a couple of drops of yellow food colouring (go easy — remember you can always add more if it’s not yellow enough) and mix really well so it’s an even colour.
3. Place the cake on a serving plate or board and pop the Emma Wiggle doll in the middle (I wrapped the doll’s lower half in plastic wrap so the cake and icing didn’t ruin her clothes). Put some of the leftover lollies (I used the discolour bananas from the party mix) around the doll’s legs to keep her stable and fill in the hole so it meets the top of the cake.
4. Ice the cake so it’s covered entirely and then place the lollies on top in whatever pattern works for your confectionary collection. I put a round of pineapples at the bottom of the skirt to hide some imperfections in the cake. Then, working up, I had a round of jellybeans, followed by a round of bananas, then a row of liquorice twists cut in half lengthways, and finally topped off with more bananas.

I think she came up a treat! Plus, not only was there no cake carving at all, there was a bonus dolly at the end of it all which my niece was very happy about.