How to Make Frosting for a Miniature Dollhouse Cake

Pipe royal icing with a star tip to create fitting roof designs.

Miniature dollhouse cakes have a premise best described as simple – recreating a small dollhouse with edible ingredients – but their production is anything but. They range in complexity from one-room cottages to elaborate three-story designs, filled with accouterments that vary as much in ornateness as the designs of the houses themselves. Like most confections, they rely on royal icing and buttercream frosting for their embellishments. Royal icing, which sets firm and adheres to fondant readily, comprises items such as flowers. Buttercream usually makes up curtains, the lawn and carpet. Approximately 3 cups each buttercream and royal icing suffices for a four-room miniature dollhouse cake. Does this Spark an idea?

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Royal Icing:
3 tablespoons meringue powder
4 cups of confectioner’s sugar
6 tablespoons tepid water
Stand mixer or mixing bowl and hand mixer
Food-storage container
Paper towels
Buttercream Frosting:
1/2 cup unsalted butter
1/2 cup vegetable shortening
4 cups confectioner’s sugar
Spatula
2 tablespoons whole milk
Damp towel
Food pigment

Instructions

- 1
  
  Combine 3 tablespoons of meringue powder, 4 cups of confectioner’s sugar and 6 tablespoons of tepid water in a mixing bowl until stiff peaks form. If using a stand mixer, whisk on low for 8 minutes. If using a hand mixer, whisk on high for 12 minutes.
- 2
  
  Transfer the royal icing to a food-storage container and cover. Store in the refrigerator until ready to use. This yields 3 cups of royal icing.
- 3
  
  Wash the stand or hand mixer and mixing bowl to prepare for the buttercream preparation and set out 1/2 cup of butter to reach room temperature.
- 4
  
  Mix together 1/2 cup of vegetable shortening and 1/2 cup of softened butter on low, using either the hand or stand mixer, until creamy and fully incorporated.
- 5
  
  Pour 4 cups of confectioner’s sugar, 1 cup at a time, in the bowl with the creamed shortening and butter making sure each batch fully incorporates before adding the next. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula after adding each cup of sugar.
- 6
  
  Pour 2 tablespoons of whole milk and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract in the bowl and mix on medium until light and fluffy. Cover the buttercream icing with a damp towel until ready to use. You will have 3 cups of buttercream icing.
- 7
  
  Remove the royal icing from the refrigerator and allow it to reach room temperature. Separate how much icing you will need for the size of your dollhouse. If you intend on having several flowers, separate 1 cup of royal icing and add 2 drops of the desired color of food pigment. Royal icing sets harder than buttercream, and is best suited for ornamentation.
- 8
  
  Remove the towel from the buttercream icing when you are ready to paint the dollhouse, the doors, roof, yard and windows. Separate the quantity appropriate for your size dollhouse and, like royal icing, add enough pigment to reach the desired color. Use approximately 2 drops per cup of icing, but you might have to adjust depending on the manufacturer.