Skinny Bitch

Tonight I am going to celebrate the 50th birthday of the most stylish and envied woman in world. She has over 1 billion outfits, has worked in 108 different careers and has been with the same man for over 43 years (although there were some problems a few years back).

This year is Barbie’s 50th birthday, and boy, does she look good for 50! Although if I had cosmetologists, hair and makeup teams, artists, fashion designers and over 100 stylists, pattern makers and seamstresses putting me together everyday, I could probably look pretty darn hot all the time too.

Barbie Forever, an exhibition celebrating the life of Barbie at Federation Square Melbourne, costs $13.50 admission and will give you the highlights of the doll’s life, from her creation in 1959 to the empire she reigns over today.

Barbie was bought to life by Ruth Handler in 1959, officially known as Barbara Millicent Roberts. She was $3, and wore a black and white striped swimsuit and sunglasses. In 1959 alone, 300,000 Barbie dolls were sold. Barbie started a toy revolution; today having presence in an estimated 90% of homes with US girls aged 3 – 10.

Barbie has collaborated with world renowned fashion designers Patricia Field, Anna Sui and Judith Leiber (among others), MAC and Stila! cosmetics, and now even has stores totally dedicated to Barbie branded fashion. Products other than toys make up half of Barbie’s annual sales – coming at just under $3 billion.

In 2009, Barbie is the ultimate fashion icon and feminist. She has the ability to inspire little girls the world over by showing them that they can achieve whatever they aspire to. She may have perfect features and perfect clothes and a perfect life, but at the end of the day, Barbie is whoever our imagination wants her to be.

Visit Barbie and her friends at Federation Square until Sunday July 12th, http://barbie.com.au/events.html or just read about her at http://www.barbie.com/

Now, Barbie might be a skinny bitch, but I like cake too much to ever be that thin.
So here is a recipe for cupcakes – maybe you can make pink icing for them (PMS 219 is Barbie’s official colour) and serve them at your next tea party with the girls.

Basic Cupcakes
200g unsalted butter, softened
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1 cup caster sugar
3 eggs
2 1/2 cups self-raising flour, sifted
1/2 cup milk

Preheat oven to 180°C/160°C fan-forced oven. Line muffin or mini-muffin pans with paper cases.
Using an electric mixer, beat butter, vanilla and sugar in a small bowl until light and fluffy. Add eggs, 1 at a time, beating after each addition (mixture will separate at this stage). Transfer mixture to a large bowl. Stir in half the flour. Stir in half the milk. Repeat with remaining flour and milk until combined.
For 1/3 cup-capacity muffin pans use 2 level tablespoons of mixture. Bake for 15 to 17 minutes. Alternatively, for 1 tablespoon-capacity mini muffin pans use 1 tablespoon mixture. Bake for 10 to 12 minutes.
Stand cakes in pans for 2 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool.
Make icing using icing sugar with a dash of water. Add some red food colouring for pink icing!

Recipe thanks to http://www.taste.com.au/