Just finished up a great weekend, one where I worked all week on a Minnie Mouse cake, using the 1995 Wilton cake pan. We really couldn’t decide on the design, so it was up to me! I figured either of the designs that we had been thinking about would  make a great cake. I ended up deciding on making a full Minnie using a vintage Mickey Mouse pan that my mom recently gave me. She was clearing out all her pans and gave me a bunch of awesome pans. I hope to make a few of them!

The birthday girl loves Mickey Mouse Clubhouse version of Mickey, so that’s what I went with. And, I kind of love her, too!

On Monday, which is usually my baking day, I baked up my favorite King Arthur Yellow Butter Cake with some mini chocolate chips inside, too. This took about 40 minutes.  As soon as it came out of the oven, I patted it down with a clean towel to settle the dome down:

After it had cooled for a bit, I used my leveler (background) to slice it in half. I had to be extra gentle because I used King Arthur cake flour, so it was very soft.

The next thing I had to do was make my bow. After the pan had been cleaned, I used it for sizing guidance.

I made two bows. The Minnie Mouse style bow (above) and a more realistic bow. After texting both to my friend, she chose the Minnie-style bow.

  

I did end up making some small realistic bows for her shoes. While I was at it, I made the birthday message.

Something I realized when I made my Sesame Place cakes is that pink icing fades in the sunlight. My Abby Cadabby and Zoe both faded badly, as well as the pink fondant I covered my second cake with. So, I was sure to place these in a cupboard so it wouldn’t fade.

Then, I decided to make her face out of fondant. I held up the picture it came with to the light and made a template with paper. Then I used the correct side to cut her face. Then I used small cutters and some free-hand X-Acto cutting to make her features. When it was all set, I used some petal dust to give her some definition and blush on her cheeks. I was so happy with how this turned out that I couldn’t wait to show my friend how it looked!

I started my cake on Thursday night with filling and crumb coating. I first placed it on the board:

Then I used a #21 tip to line the cake with vanilla icing to make a dam. I filled the cake with almost an entire batch of my favorite half-Hersheys and half-Dutch Processed cocoa buttercream.
  

Next I used the same bag and tip I used for the dam to fill in the white background spaces. I then smoothed it out with my angled spatula.

And then I crumb-coated the rest of the areas.

After spending what felt like forever, I iced the sides with my pink buttercream and got it as smooth as I could manage. The thing I hate about these pans is all the irregular curves. They certainly are a challenge!

The next day, I started to build up Minnie Mouse. I started with the black fondant.  

Then I put on her hands. I later took off her right hand because I would have to layer it on top of her dress.

Then I made the back part of her shoe and layered the black over that so that it would look like it was behind her foot. Then I cut out the top of her dress and wrapped it around her torso.

Then I made her bloomers (the white ruffles on her legs).

It took me several tries to get her dress just right. I ended up taking out that horizontal slab of fondant. Instead, I made an underskirt, kept the vertical fondant ropes for definition, layed her dress down and cut it to size. I tucked in the sides and then laid down her right hand.

Then I cut out her white collar, added a little button, and added her dark pink band. After that, I made the rest of her shoe and added the little bows. Then, it was all about adding the polka dots on the dress and the sides, making a Crisco-creme for the border (#16 tip)  and adding the birthday message. Then she was boxed and back in the fridge for pick up!

  
  
The birthday girl came along for the pick up and she loved it! I also loaned her a Minnie Mouse dress that I sewed for my daughter a few years ago for her party that evening. She tried it on and it fit! We were so happy. 🙂 That was a total surprise, partially because I just forgot to mention it!

Here she is at her party with her cake! You can see in the top right picture how awesome the cake looks with filling in it. I recommend to anyone making a Wilton pan cake to try and torte it and fill it. It makes it taller and it is nice to have filling on the inside, especially if you are going to be using a lot of fondant.

And they devoured the cake, though my friend did manage to put a couple of pieces aside to enjoy later with coffee. Yum! I LOVE having cake for breakfast the days after having a party. Not great for the diet, but soothing for the soul!

Now I have about four weeks until my next cake order. I’ll start baking in about three weeks. In the meantime, I will be sewing, relaxing, and playing with my kids.