Minnie Mouth Smash Cake
Is there anything cuter than smash cakes? Here's how I made an adorable little pink and gold Minnie Mouse Smash Cake!
Servings: 1 smash cake
Calories: 688kcal
Equipment
- 1 8 inch cardboard cake circle (a 6-inch cake circle will work; I've just found moving cakes easier on a larger circle)
- Cake leveler (or serrated knife & ruler)
- Cake turntable (optional, but makes decorating much faster and easier!)
- small offset spatula (to spread frosting)
- cake scraper or pastry cutter (to smooth frosting)
- large piping bag + star tip (linked is a set that contains the bag & tip I used)
Ingredients
Cake layers
- 1 box Vanilla cake mix (I prefer Duncan Hines French Vanilla)
- ½ cup unsalted butter (1 stick, melted and cooled)
- 1 cup buttermilk room (room temperature)
- 3 eggs
- 1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
Cream Cheese Buttercream Frosting
- 4 ounces cream cheese (softened)
- 4 ounces butter (softened)
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 2 Tbsp milk
- 1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract
Decorations
- 8 ounces baby pink fondant (for decorating; you can purchase fondant or make your own!)
- 1-2 Small circle cutters (or bottle caps; I used two sizes, but you could use just one size)
- Oval cutter (if adding a name to the cake)
- Gold gel icing (optional; to pipe a name on the cake – make sure you allow enough time for this to set/dry! It won’t dry hard, but it will get tacky enough to not run after about an hour.)
- Pink sugar pearl sprinkles
- Gold sugar pearl sprinkles
- 2 Cardboard craft circles (for gold Minnie ears – or you could use a cake topper like this one)
- Edible gold spray (for gold Minnie ears; I used Wilton spray)
- Ruler or tape measure
Instructions
Cake layers
- Preheat oven to 350°F. Prepare two 6 inch round pans with baker's floured cooking spray, or grease and line with parchment rounds.
- Combine melted butter, buttermilk, eggs, and vanilla in a large bowl and mix until combined. Add in cake mix and stir until moistened (about 30 seconds), then beat on medium speed for about 2 minutes.
- Using a kitchen scale, divide batter evenly between the two 6” pans – I had about 450g in each pan. (Using the kitchen scale guarantees your layers will bake to be the same height.)
- Bake for 30-35 minutes, (or until a toothpick 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. (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 milk until frosting reaches desired consistency. Add vanilla and salt if needed and beat until well combined.
Assembly
- Once your cakes are cool, level them - this can be done with a cake leveler or a large serrated knife and a ruler.
- Place a smear of frosting on your cake circle (to keep the cake from sliding while you decorate it) and center your first cake layer in the center of the circle. Spread the layer with frosting. Add your second cake layer on top – I like to flip the top layer upside down to make smoothing the top edge easier.
- 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 layer. Once your crumb coat has set (this takes about 10 minutes in the fridge), add your final layer of frosting and smooth (I like to use an offset spatula and bench scraper for my final frosting layers).
Decorating
- Roll out fondant to about 1/8" thickness and use a tape measure or ruler to cut a strip to run around the base of the cake (or two smaller strips; use a bit of water to hold the edges together).
- (Optional) With an oval cutter (or I’ve plastic-wrapped an oval fridge magnet and used that as a guide before), cut a pink oval if you’d like to pipe a name onto the side of the cake.
- To make the Minnie 'bow', cut two 1-inch x 6-inch strips and one ½ inch x1 inch strip of pink fondant. Double the longer strips and crimp the centers together into a bow, and wrap the smaller strip over the crimped centers.
- Roll out your remaining fondant, and use your circle cutter(s) to punch out several circles to make the polka dots! Cover a few of the polka dots and Minnie ears with gold spray.
- Adhere your decorations to your cake with a bit of frosting. (For transport stability I used toothpicks to hold the ears in place.)
- Take a step back and admire your adorable cake!
Video
Notes
(Please note nutrition information is an estimate and may not be exactly accurate.)
Nutrition
Serving: 1slice | Calories: 688kcal | Carbohydrates: 95g | Protein: 6g | Fat: 33g