This 1st birthday Mickey Mouse birthday cake (a smash cake) was made for a close friend. I am a wife and mom of 5 teenagers and 2 dogs. My everyday life is hectic enough. But, add into that the business of doing specialty cakes and my days are full, crazy and joyful… in the hair pulling, count to 10 – maybe 20, glass or two bottles of occasional red wine kind of way.
I enjoy what I do, but cannot stand to make cakes for the public. I am REALLY not a people person. You do have to be in order to make these things for the public, so I gladly keep busy doing cakes for my closest friends and family, which seems to never end.
One of my closest friends happens to be a professional photographer, and we barter. I do cakes for her clients, and in return she does professional photo shoots of my family and friends. We live in a small area, so bartering is the best. It has worked out really well. I get to enjoy the cake smash sessions she captures of the wee ones loving it up.
So, today I decided to submit the first theme smash cake I made for her. I wanted to submit this one because although it looks like it could be a rather simple cake to put together, it was an excruciating fun experiment. Honestly, I never thought would turn out so well.
I have never taken classes for what I do. I do not make money on any of the cakes I make. Therefore, I really don’t have a lot of the tools or experience most decorators and bakers do for their cakes… What I do is improvise.
Mickey Mouse Birthday Cake Instructions
- This Mickey Mouse birthday cake was baked in my handy dandy homemade tin foil ‘bowl’. It fell apart in the oven the first go around because I am a little dense at times in thinking ahead.
- After spending many hours cleaning up that mess and restarting the whole project, I decided to purchase a small aluminum bowl. I bought it from the dollar store, and swore to never attempt to bake in tin foil cake pans again.
- Even though I had been using marshmallow fondant to make kids’ cakes for as long as my kids were in diapers, I had never heard of gum paste. But, of course, that never stopped me.
- I improvised on everything, including the ears on this cake, which I covered in a thin layer of marshmallow fondant over Wagon Wheel cookies. I put skewers through them and stuck them in the cake, and it worked like a charm.
- Piping has never been, nor ever will be my favorite thing to do. I just can’t get the hang of it. I truly despise doing it, and therefore, I literally make everything out of marshmallow fondant (or now gum paste since my discovery of it …maybe a mixture of both) including the lettering.
- The lettering for this Mickey Mouse birthday cake was done about 10 times over. It was my first replica of a theme design. I can’t tell you how much money went into the swear jar at my home. And how many times it WASN’T me screaming ‘HEY! WATCH YOUR MOUTH’. I kept at it, and didn’t stop until I thought the lettering was perfect.
It was rewarding when I got to see pictures of the little guy picking away at his Mickey Mouse birthday cake. Mom made me a card to say thanks. I have it framed on my wall to remind me that the harder I work at perfection and not giving up, the more rewarding the results.
Mrs Bobbi Jo Boyce
Take a look at all the Mickey Mouse cakes…