Minnie Mouse Cake and Cupcakes

When I heard that there was going to be a Minnie Mouse party for my niece's 5th birthday, the gears in my head started turning. I love the challenge of finding great cakes to make and figuring out creative ways to decorate!

I started making the individual parts of this cake earlier in the week. That really helped me get ahead of the game a little bit. Otherwise, I think I would have been scrambling around at the last minute trying to pull it all together. The bows and chocolate discs for the ears took me an afternoon to make. The icing was made a few days in advance to save time washing dishes in between making the icing, cake, and cupcakes.

I still had some white fondant left after making the bows so I used that to make the polka dots.

I used the same chocolate cake recipe that I used to make the chocolate chocolate chip cookie dough cake. For the pink icing I used the 'class buttercream icing' recipe from when I took a Wilton cake decorating course.

Class Buttercream Icing (Wilton icing)

• 1 C. solid white vegetable shortening
• 1 tsp. vanilla, almond, or butter flavor (I used 1 tsp. each of vanilla and butter)
• 7-8 tsp. milk or water (I used water)
• 1 lb. powdered sugar
• 1 T. meringue powder

Cream shortening, flavoring, and water. Add dry ingredients and mix on medium speed until all ingredients have been thoroughly mixed together. Blend until creamy. (additional minute or so) makes about 2 1/2 C.
 
Black (and red) is one of those hard icing colors to achieve. I usually get gray. If I get close to a black color it starts to taste funny from the amount of food coloring. There has got to be a better way, but until I figure that out, I will take the easy way out. I bought Wilton black decorating icing to ice the dome cake and chocolate discs for the ears.

For the cupcakes, I tried out a new (well, new to me) recipe. They smelled great and seemed to go over pretty well. A handful of kids ate them and liked them, so at least I know they aren't bad!

Classic Cupcakes (The Art of Baking- Classic Cup Cakes)

1/2 C. butter, room temperature

1 C. sugar

1 1/2 C. sifted cake flour

1 egg

1/2 C. buttermilk

1/2 tsp. salt

1 tsp. baking soda

1 tsp. vanilla extract

1/2 C. hot water

Cream butter and sugar.  Add remaining ingredients individually, mixing well after each addition until smooth.  Pour into lined muffin pans.  Bake 350 degrees for 20 to 25 minutes.  Makes 12 cupcakes.

These were actually decorated by the birthday girl and her siblings. Mini Oreos make up Minnie Mouse's head and they are topped with the fondant bows I made a few days prior to the party.

 

This cake was so much fun for me to make and made me realize, once again, just how much I love making and decorating cakes!  Now I just need more people to make cakes for so I can make them more often!