Wednesday, August 5, 2009

Minnie Mouse themed cake and cupcakes

Minnie Mouse Cake and Cupcakes



A friend of mine asked me to make a Minnie Mouse themed cake with matching cupcakes for her 4 year old's birthday. She had seen some cakes online and loved this idea.
This was my first time making a stacked cake




I made the cakes at my house and assembled at her house. I didn't want to transport the cake stacked and risk it falling.
The bottom tier was a chocolate fudge cake with a strawberry buttercream filling. Homemade marshmallow fondant covering it. The second tier was a vanilla cake with lemon buttercream filling and marshmallow fondant dyed pink to match Minnie mouse's dress on the napkins for the party.
The top was a Wilton sports ball pan - just half -made with chocolate fudge, buttercream and black Satin Ice fondant. I wasn't about to attempt dyeing fondant black. I had to make black royal icing to "glue" the ears to the top and my hands were purple from just that little amount. The bow is fondant mixed with some gum tex so it would harden up and stay on the head and not get droopy. I also "glued" that on with royal icing. The ears are the Satin Ice fondant mixed with gum tex.
The cupcakes are chocolate with chocolate frosting. Oreos for the ears and pink fondant bows. I had also made fondant bows for the minnie cutouts on the bottom tier.The wrappers are pink with white polka dots but because of the cupcakes being dark the wrappers kind of got lost. They were super cute

Here it is all set up. The "dots" are buttercream. The look on the birthday girl's face was worth all the work I put into this.

16 comments:

  1. We loved it! Thanks so much!!!

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  2. if you don't mind me asking, what was the ears made out of?

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  3. Alya - the ears are made of fondant that I mixed a little gum tex in so they would harden like gumpaste. I used a glass bowl I have with thinner sides as my cutter and let them dry a few days til hard. I cut slits in the top and stuck them in and then "glued" with black dyed royal icing and then held with my hands until it dried and they stayed. I cut pretty deep slits into the cake so they would stay.

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  4. would you be able to share your marshmellow fondant recipe? My little girl is turning 1 in two weeks and I am going to attempt to make your FABULOUS Minnie cake!!

    my email is shellynjaypsu@comcast.net

    Thanks,
    M

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  5. I use the recipe from cakejournal.com for marshmallow fondant. Louise has the recipe and tutorial posted in her how to's section as well as lots of other fun tutorials.

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  6. Hi its my little girls 1st birthday in 3 wks time, she is mad on nothing else but minnie mouse, i've searched all over the internet and this is the best cake ive seen its absolutley fabulous and has encouraged me to have a go at making it although ive never done this before i was wondering if i dont use marshmellow fondant what fondant is then best to use? Plus how long did it take to make this cake in all, also what did you use to stick the cakes together and did you use 2 layers of fondant? Sorry for the big long message but i want to get it right, i already have the pans waiting, many thanks

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  7. Donna

    You can buy premade ready to go fondant. Michael's carries Wilton brand, I personally think it tastes nasty. Most people don't eat the fondant though, its more for decoration and making the cake smooth, you peel it off and eat. That's why the cakes are covered in buttercream first so the fondant sticks. You can't just roll out fondant onto a cake it HAS to be frosted first. I have never heard of anyone using two layers of fondant. Just one is fine. You roll it out to 1/8-1/4" thick. I prefer a little thicker like 1/4 so it doesn't tear. There are other brands of fondant like satin ice or fondarific, you can buy online or in specialty cake deco stores. Those come in lots of colors and flavors. You can dye and flavor the fondant yourself too. I prefer making the marshmallow fondant or MMF, myself, because then I can flavor it and dye it myself and it is cheaper than buying premade fondant.

    I think it took me a few days to make the cake. It was a big cake.I baked and filled and frosted and kept the cakes in the fridge, then I made all the decos, then I covered in fondant the day before I was to deliver the cakes because once the fondant is on they can't be kept in the fridge it ruins the fondant. I stacked the cake at the party and finished it there. I didn't want to travel a stacked cake in case anything happened.

    Also with the fondant it depends on how big your cakes are for how much you need. Wilton.com has guidelines for how much fondant needed for the different sizes of cakes. Cakecentral.com is another great resource and so is youtube for how to videos.

    Good luck!

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  8. you did an great job!!

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  9. Do you know what the dimensions are on the bottom cake?

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  10. Love it! I am making a cake like think in a few weeks and you are one of the only ones that i have found with how you made the minnie head. I has a question for you when you say slits, can you explain a little more thank you soo much you have already helped a bunch!

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  11. Devina - I first made the ears and dried them for several days so when I went to attach to the cake they wouldn't break. I frosted and then covered the minnie head in the black fondant and with a knife I cut silts on the top of the head slightly to the left and right of the very top center and in the middle of the cake. So if you were looking down on top of the cake dome and put an imaginary dot at the "north pole" so to speak, go an inch or two out from that and cut slits about a half inch deep or so and about two inches long. That way the ears fit into the slits and are supported better than way than just being "glued" to the top of the head. You can also dry the ears with toothpicks in them so they have a couple on one edge and when you stick the ears in the cake they are even more supported. I glued with black dyed royal icing. I was so afraid they were going to crack or fall off. So I might have gone overboard with how secure I made them but I am so happy with how they came out. Hopefully this makes sense. If not I can try to draw a diagram and post that.

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  12. hey i wanted to know how did you make the ears & bows fot the cupcakes..

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  13. Hi, i love your cake and will be attempting to make it for my twins 1st birthday, what are the dimensions of the cakes?please send any information to arreanamarie@gmail.com.thank you!

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  14. Hi, i love your cake and will be attempting to make it for my twins 1st birthday.What are the dimensions of the cakes?please send any information to arreanamarie@gmail.com

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  15. The ears on the cupcakes are oreos I carefully twisted apart and scraped the filling out of. The bows are fondant I just cut with a knife to make the bow shape and then rolled a little round ball and placed in the middle, squashed it flat and then dried until hard. Hope this helps

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