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Mickey Mouse Birthday Cake
One of my most-requested birthday cake designs - here's how I made a fun Mickey Mouse Birthday Cake! Makes enough to serve a large crowd!
Equipment
- 1 6 inch cardboard cake circle (I prefer Wilton's center-punched circles to make stacking the tiers easier!)
- Baker's floured cooking spray (optional, but I prefer this to parchment rounds)
- Ruler (to stack tiers evenly)
- small piping bag + star tip (to decorate between tiers)
- 1 6-inch craft foam half-sphere (for Mickey Mouse topper; available at craft stores or online)
- 1 sheet black paper or adhesive-backed craft foam (+ 2 toothpicks & tape to make Mickey ears; I used craft foam so it wouldn't warp in the fridge)
- 1 Biscuit or circle cutter set (or jar lid and few sizes of bottle caps; to cut Mickey ears and decorations)
- Cakesicle molds (optional - I just found these the easiest way to shape Mickey's feet)
Ingredients
Vanilla Cake Layers (see above for Oreo Confetti modification)
- 4 ⅞ cups all-purpose flour
- 4 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 3 ¾ teaspoons baking powder
- 1 ½ teaspoon salt
- 1 ½ cup unsalted butter (or 3 sticks, room temperature)
- 9 eggs
- 2 ¼ cups buttermilk (room temperature)
- 1 ½ Tablespoons clear vanilla extract
Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting
- 12 ounces cream cheese (1 ½ packages; softened)
- 1 ½ cups butter (3 sticks; softened)
- 9 cups powdered sugar
- 3 Tablespoons clear vanilla extract
- ¼ teaspoon salt (if using unsalted butter)
- 4-6 Tablespoons heavy whipping cream
- 4-5 large drops Red gel food color (save and add later)
Decorations & Mickey Mouse topper
- 4 ounces Black fondant (for circles and cake base)
- 4 ounces Yellow fondant ( for circles / Mickey feet)
- 2 ounces White fondant (for buttons – you only need a little bit of this, so you could cut slices from a marshmallow for the buttons if you wanted to leave off the number and lettering!)
- Black edible color spray (to color foam half-sphere)
Instructions
Vanilla Cake Layers
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare three 8 inch round pans and two 6 inch pans with baker's floured spray (or grease and line with parchment rounds).
- Mix together all dry ingredients (flour, sugar, baking powder, and salt) in a stand mixer with a paddle until fully combined. Mix chunks of room-temperature butter slowly into the dry mix, on a low speed. Continue to mix until no large chunks of butter remain, and the mixture becomes crumbly.
- Pour in eggs and mix on low until just incorporated. Mix in the buttermilk in two installments, on a low speed. Add in vanilla, and mix at a low speed until fully incorporated. Scrape down the sides of the bowl with a spatula, then beat on medium speed for about 30 seconds.
- Divide batter evenly between the prepared cake pans (I used a kitchen scale for this part - I had about 675g in my large pans and 450 in my smaller ones.) The kitchen scale guarantees your layers will bake to be the same height.
- Bake for 34-37 minutes, (or until a skewer comes out clean). Allow cake layers to cool for 10-15 minutes on a wire cooling rack before removing from pans. Cool completely before frosting. Set in the fridge or freezer to accelerate the cooling process if desired.
- Once the layers have fully cooled, the caramelized bits can be trimmed from the sides / top of the cake using a serrated knife if desired. Be sure the layers are completely cooled or chilled before trimming. If you try to trim the layers while they’re still warm, they will crumble apart. (This is a great time to make your frosting!)
Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting
- Beat together softened cream cheese and butter; slowly add in powdered sugar alternating with whipping cream until frosting reaches desired consistency. Add vanilla and salt and beat until well combined.
- Remove 2 cups and add red gel color – you can always color a bit more if you need it later!
Assembly
- Once your cakes are cool, level them (if needed). Place a smear of frosting on your large cake circle (to keep the cake from sliding while you decorate it) and center your large first cake layer in the center of the circle.
- Spread the layer with (white) frosting, and add the next layer on top. Repeat the process with your remaining cake layers.
- Next, repeat the same process with your smaller cardboard circle and cake layers. Of note – if your circles aren’t pre-center-punched, be sure to grab a dowel or straw and make your own hole in the exact center of the circle! This will allow you to center the tier on the base tier later on.
- Now you're ready to crumb-coat . If you're unfamiliar with crumb-coating, it's just what it sounds like – spreading a thin layer of frosting over the entire outside of the cake tiers to keep crumbs out of your final layers.
- Once your crumb coats have set (this takes about 5-10 minutes in the fridge), add your final layers of frosting and smooth (red for the base tier, white for the top). I like to use an offset spatula and bench scraper for this part. For my larger tier, I was able to smooth the frosting fairly well free-handed, but I struggled getting the sides smooth on my smaller one. Trimming my smaller cake layers slightly smaller than my cake circle and using the cardboard as a guide worked well!
- Place both tiers into the fridge to set the frosting – I think this makes stacking easier.
Okaaaay. The stacking process!
- (I watched a few tutorials before I made my first tiered cake, and ‘How to Make a Tiered Cake’ by Chelsweets was my favorite!) Basically, doweling a tiered cake is done to ensure that the top tier doesn’t crush the lower tier, as well as keeping it centered. I used four shorter cut-to-height plastic straws for my base tier dowels, and one taller one cut at an angle in the center to hold my top tier in place.
- Grab your ruler for this next part! Push shorter straws into the base tier just over one inch from the cake edge, placing them evenly at quarter intervals around the cake. Place your last, tallest straw or dowel into the exact center of the cake, making sure to keep it straight up as you press down. Now you’re ready – center the hole in the bottom of your top tier cake circle over the tallest dowel and let the top tier gently down onto the base tier. The dowel will poke into the center of the top tier to hold it in place.
- Pat yourself on the back; you did it! I found that my cardboard cake circle showed more than I was happy with, so I piped some extra frosting onto the base of the top tier to hide it.
Mickey Mouse topper
- Cover the craft foam half-sphere in black spray color.
- With frosting and a piping bag (or fondant and number / letter cutters), pipe any desired decorations onto the topper - I used the birthday girl's name!
- With a circle cutter or jar lid, cut 4 identical craft foam circles. Place a toothpick halfway onto each of 2 circles, and with the backing adherent (or glue if using regular craft foam), press 2 circles together form each of Mickeys ears. I added the ears once the sphere was on the cake – you can add them whenever!
Now the fun part – decorating the cake!
- Whether using fondant or marshmallows, press small ‘buttonholes’ into the circles with a butter knife, and press them onto the side of the base tier.
- Form Mickey feet from yellow fondant. (I found it easiest to shape the fondant with an ice cream bar mold, and set the fondant in the freezer so it wouldn’t deform in the de-molding process.) With a small knife, cut a thin slice horizontally down the top 2/3 of the ‘shoes’ to make the 'heels.' Press the shoes into the sides of the cake, to either side of the buttons.
- Roll out your black and remaining yellow fondant with a rolling pin and a bit of cornstarch if needed – cut several black and yellow circles to decorate the top tier. Roll out a long black strip – I measured 12” long ½” wide strips with a ruler – and used 2 of them to go around the base of the cake, cutting them to fit around the shoes.
- Add your black and yellow dots and letters/numbers if desired – and you’re done!
Video
Notes
(Please note nutrition information is an estimate and may not be exactly accurate.)
Nutrition
Serving: 1servingCalories: 755kcalCarbohydrates: 98gProtein: 8gFat: 37g
Tried this recipe?Let us know how it was!
Decoration modifications
Supplies
Mickey Mouse Topper
- 6” craft foam half-sphere – I’ve bought these at Michael’s, but they’re also available online!
- Black edible color spray (I found the color faded once it seeped into the foam; I ended up using a bit of ModPodge to make the color hold)
- Black adhesive-backed craft foam (I found some with an adherent back; you’ll need a bit of glue if using regular craft foam) + 2 toothpicks/skewers and a circle cutter or a jar lid
- 1 sheet each red and yellow adhesive-backed craft foam sheets – you could also buy a multi-pack like this one!
Craft wire + wire cutters
Additional Decorating supplies
- 2 ounces Black fondant (for circles for Mickey heads on the cake base)
- 4 ounces Yellow fondant (for decorations and band around top tier)
- 1 ounce White fondant (for buttons) – you only need a little bit of this, so you could cut slices from a marshmallow for the buttons if you wanted to.
- 1/4 cup Large red, black, and yellow sugar pearl sprinkles
Instructions
- Follow cake + frosting instructions above in the recipe card - but only color about 1 cup of frosting red to decorate the top cake tier.
- Follow instructions above to stack cake tiers.
- With a circle cutter or jar lid, cut 4 identical craft foam circles. Place a toothpick halfway onto each of 2 circles, and with the backing adherent (or glue if using paper or regular craft foam), press 2 circles together form each of Mickeys ears. I added the ears once the sphere was on the cake – you can add them whenever!
- Roll out fondant (all colors) to about 1/8" with a rolling pin and a bit of cornstarch if needed.
- Cut a large yellow fondant strip (I used a ruler as a guide), and variety of smaller and larger red, yellow, and black fondant circles. Cut the centers out of some of the red and yellow circles. I used two sizes of black to make Mickey ears, and some filled and some hollow red and yellow circles. Press them into the frosting around your base tier!
- Whether using fondant or marshmallows, press small ‘buttonholes’ into the circles with a butter knife, and press them onto the side of the top tier.
- Add black, red, and yellow sugar pearls around the base of the cake – you can also add a few to the side of the cake if you’d like!
- Place your cake topper on top of the cake, and add any numbers / names / stars to decorate that you’d like!
Annnd you’re done! Congratulations!
Did you make this Mickey Mouse Birthday Cake?
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