Sweet Treat Tuesday-Mickey Mouse Birthday Cake-Icing and Fondant Recipes

My baby, just turned two last week! My how the time flies! We celebrated this past Saturday with a Mickey Mouse themed birthday party. I started planning for the party quite a few weeks ago, mainly deciding what kind of cake I wanted to make and what the invitations should look like. Well, I found the perfect cake, or a picture of it at least, and I decided that I was going to try and replicate it. You should all know that I am more of a "her food tastes good" kind of girl and not "her presentation of food is outstanding" kind of girl. Seriously. I usually buy some kind of store bought cake and add something to it. Last year for Wil's party, I did do a 3D duck cake, but I just smoothed out the yellow icing on it because using icing tips was killing my hands! It turned out OK, but not outstanding. So, back to the Mickey cake. This cake was a double decker cake, meaning it had 4 layers, and was iced with buttercream icing, smoothed. It looked like fondant, but wasn't. It had accents on the sides that were fondant that looked like the scene from Mickey Mouse Clubhouse. I decided it didn't look that hard, and I would do it. I will tell you, it really wasn't that hard, and , fondant makes everything look better and really isn't that hard to work with! It really is like play dough, just like everyone else says! So here it is, my finished product. It is a chocolate cake on top, strawberry cake on bottom, iced with Wilton's buttercream icing recipe, with marshmallow fondant accents. It was delicious, and beautiful! The kids absolutely loved it! When my 2 year old saw the cake, he said, "Hi Mickey!" It was priceless. I encourage you to try your hand at making your own birthday cakes. I promise it wasn't that hard! And the fondant was so easy! I'll post the cake recipes in the following weeks but today I'll post both icing and fondant recipes. Enjoy!

Wilton's Buttercream Frosting

from Wilton .com

Ingredients:

1/2 cup solid vegetable shortening
1/2 cup (1 stick) butter, softened
1 teaspoon clear vanilla extract (I used regular.)
4 cups sifted confectioners (powdered) sugar (approximately 1 lb.)
2 tablespoons milk

Makes: About 3 cups of icing.

Directions:
(Medium Consistency)
In large bowl, cream shortening and butter with electric mixer. Add vanilla. Gradually add sugar, one cup at a time, beating well on medium speed. Scrape sides and bottom of bowl often. When all sugar has been mixed in, icing will appear dry. Add milk and beat at medium speed until light and fluffy. Keep bowl covered with a damp cloth until ready to use.

For best results, keep icing bowl in refrigerator when not in use. Refrigerated in an airtight container, this icing can be stored 2 weeks. Rewhip before using.

For thin (spreading) consistency icing, add 2 tablespoons light corn syrup, water or milk. If you're adding food coloring, liquid or gel, you may not need this additional liquid. I used it in addition to a lot of coloring to achieve the red icing color, and my icing was a little thinner than what I wanted.

Marshmallow Fondant
from Annie's Eats

Ingredients:

Vegetable shortening, for greasing bowls

16 oz. bag plain marshmallows, regular sized (I used a combo of mini and jumbo)

2 TBSP water

1-2 tsp. clear flavoring (I used regular vanilla extract)

2 lbs. confectioners’ sugar, divided

Pinch of salt

Directions:

Using the shortening, grease a large microwave-safe bowl, the bowl of the stand mixer, a spoon/spatula (or two), and the dough hook.

Add the marshmallows and water to the prepared microwave-safe bowl and microwave for 60 seconds. Stir with the greased spatula/spoon. If not all the marshmallows have melted, microwave for 30 more seconds. Stir in the flavoring.

Set aside 1 cup of the confectioners’ sugar and add the rest to the bowl of the stand mixer, along with the salt. Create a well in the center. Pour the marshmallow mixture into the well and turn the mixer on to the lowest setting. When the mixer sounds strained, turn the speed up one setting. Turn off the mixer once all the sugar has been incorporated. If the fondant is sticky, add the reserved sugar 1/4 cup at a time until it is no longer sticky.

Turn the fondant out onto a piece of plastic wrap. Rub a bit of shortening on the outside of the ball. Wrap tightly with the plastic wrap, place it in a Ziploc bag and let rest for at least 2-3 hours. Keep the unused portions covered when not in use. If the fondant becomes stiff, microwave for 20 seconds at a time until it becomes pliable.

To add color, pinch off as much as you think you'll need, place gel coloring (it works better than liquid for this) in the middle, and fold it over and begin kneading it. I did do this in the mixer one time, but it wasn't worth doing it for each color. Once the color is achieved that you want, you're ready to go. Roll it out or shape it into what you want. To get fondant to stick to fondant, put a little water in between the pieces. Fondant sticks easily to buttercream frosting so you don't need anything but the icing to get it to stick. Have fun! By the way, this recipe makes a TON, I still have half of it in the fridge! If the fondant is getting sticky and hard to work with, just coat your hands in shortening and rub it on the fondant, it makes it more pliable.