Birthday Cakes

This weekend, I made two cakes for a Mickey Mouse-themed birthday party for two, two-year old boys. I've never made two cakes in one weekend, so it was somewhat daunting of a task, but fortunately, the cakes were identical.

I made my cake supply store runs and prebaked, so when I set about to decorate the cakes Saturday morning, for a Sunday afternoon party, I was ready.

My greatest challenge with these cakes was using a crusting buttercream. ALL of my previous cakes have been covered in fondant, which easily masks most mistakes. However, buttercream is most unforgiving. All mistakes are right out there. And I know I'm my own worst critic, but it's difficult not to be hard on yourself when those errors, minor in someone elses eyes, are glaring to you.

I will consider these cakes a success. I learned a lot making these cakes and the improvements I'd need to make for next time.

8" round and 5" ears. I went through A LOT of Wilton "No Taste Red" to get the red buttercream. WARNING: It'll stain your teeth and probably your shirt (as observed on two-year old faces and clothing).

The face and ears are iced in an ivory. This buttercream was much thicker and more difficult to work with than the red. Not sure why, but it made it that much harder to get smooth.

I made a stencil to create the ears, but my greatest challenge was getting them from my sil-pat mat onto the cakes themselves. Thus, they had wrinkles in them I wasn't able to smooth out. AND, my buttercream was so crusty under the ears, I wasn't able to get those flat or smooth either.

One of the finished cakes w/out the finishing touches.






The end results. Their moms were SOOooOO pleased. Lumpy ears and all.