Mickey Party

If cupcakes aren't the best party dessert for a little's birthday, I don't know what is. I have an enormously large family, so that means I will always get a call when someone's birthday is coming up! Needless to say, I will always have work! Being the family baker has its perks! I got a call about two beautiful little girls who were turning one and needed some Mickey Mouse-themed cupcakes. They wanted vanilla cupcakes, and I basically had full creative freedom. I like to ask for some form of inspiration to make sure I go in the direction the customer is thinking. I got a picture of the decorations they were planning to use, and I got to work.

I needed to make 24 vanilla cupcakes. Mickey Mouse is so fun and bright, and I wanted to make these as fun as I could! I had beautiful colors to work with, and could not be more excited to decorate these cupcakes. I came up with a basic plan to use 4 colors, but wanted something a little more playful than just buttercream on these cupcakes. You know what that means: time to walk around the store until I get a stroke of inspiration! I had plenty of time on my hands, so I decided to go to a couple of different stores to see what I could find. In all honesty, I didn't find as much Mickey stuff as I thought I would have. After moseying around Walmart for a while, I decided to find a gift for the girls and head to the next store. I found the cutest little Minnie Mouse outfit. Since these girls are very close in age, I got them both the same summertime fit so they could match. I don't know about you, but babies in matching outfits are just the cutest thing in the world! I was shocked at myself for not having a solid idea for these cupcakes. I decided to go home and draw up some sketches before purchasing anything else for this bake.

I drew up a few different things, but nothing had stood out like I was hoping. A couple of days passed, and it was time to start baking. I got all the cupcakes baked, set aside to cool, and am still thinking of what I could do to make these cakes extra special for this birthday. These cupcakes came out gorgeous, with beautiful domes coming over the papers. Now, this recipe is fairly easy. It has a couple of extra steps, but it always makes the most delicious, soft white cake you've ever had. This recipe has never failed me, aside from the time I used too much butter by accident. You remember the story? The same day I got the new oven and burnt a couple of batches of cupcakes? It's worth the read.

Anyways, I got my iPad back out to start playing around with more ideas. I started with the colors I was going to use. The decoration picture I was sent had red, yellow, and teal balloons. Those were definitely my base colors, but I didn't want plain cupcakes. I wanted something fun, and I didn't want to use any cupcake toppers. I racked my brain and just started sketching Mickey Mouse things. That's when I finally had an idea! Everyone knows the famous Mickey Mouse ears! I wanted to incorporate that somehow. I decided to add a fourth base color, white, so that the color could display the Mickey ears. I just had to figure out how to do it. I thought about piping it onto the cupcakes, but I wasn't the best at getting a solid black color, and that was going to add a lot of extra detail work for me. I was running out of time, so I needed a different approach. After thinking about it and deciding to scroll through Pinterest for some inspiration, I found it! I could use Oreos to make the perfect Mickey ears!

I ran to the store and grabbed a pack of Oreos, and I found the mini Oreos and decided to grab those as well. I got back home and started making buttercream. I made a double batch to make sure I had plenty to decorate with. We all know kids love frosting. I divided it into four bowls and got to mixing my colors. I guess three bowls, since I was also using white; that went straight into a piping bag. I mixed the red, yellow, and teal, and got to piping! I used two different tips and got them all piped before I started placing the cookies. The white and yellow I used to pipe big roses. I used the red to pipe your typical cupcake swirl. I wasn't sure how I wanted to pipe the teal yet, so I moved on for the time being. I grabbed one regular-sized cookie and two minis, using them to make the famous Mickey ears on the white cupcakes. I wanted to leave the yellow ones as they were, in case someone didn't want cookies on their cupcake. I always try to offer a variety of choices when it comes to cupcakes. As for the red, I had a great idea. I was going to use the mini cookies to look like ears, and pipe two little yellow buttons on the front, to resemble Mickey's red shorts. They all looked so cute! As for the teal, I wanted something different, so I decided to use a couple of different tips to give this one some texture. After the fourth cupcake, I was starting to run out of the color, and I didn't have any more white to use to mix more of the teal. I ended up having to use some of the yellow to finish off the teal cupcakes. I'm going to be honest, they were not my favorite cupcake. I really considered scraping the icing off and piping them again, but I had to leave for the party sooner than I thought. I got reassurance that they looked as cute as the rest. I can't help that I am my hardest critic. The cupcakes got their picture made, boxed up, and ready to go. I cleaned up the kitchen a bit, letting my piping tips soak while I was gone, and got ready to go.

I am so hard on myself about decorating sweets, but it is safe to say that these particular cupcakes were very well-loved. Every kid at the party had icing smeared all over their faces, and every crumb was picked off the plates. The parents were so pleased with them that I got two more orders for birthdays coming up in March! I am very excited to, again, exceed their expectations and make something over the top and delicious for their family! Seeing people genuinely enjoy my cakes always takes such a big weight off my shoulders and fills my heart with the sweetest joy. There is always doubt creeping over my shoulder, asking if I'm making the right moves or doing the very best I can in pursuing my dreams of becoming a real homebaker. It's moments, as I witnessed at the party, that tell me all I need to know. I swipe that doubt and worry out of my head and keep going strong.

I am truly blessed to have the support that I do to continue living my dreams. Words cannot describe how thankful I am to continue to get work and make other people's ideas come to life with not just beautiful, but delicious sweets. This is my biggest goal: to spread happiness with my cakes, and seeing the faces of happy customers is what makes it all so fulfilling. I couldn't be more thankful for being a part of such an amazing moment and living the journey I've always dreamed about.

As always, exclusive videos and pictures of this bake are linked in the social media pages below. I'm doing my best to keep up and post daily, so make sure to check those out! I post a variety of pictures and videos of every bake, along with other daily content. I am still debating a TikTok account and maybe even working to start a YouTube channel. I'm undecided, but that may be a future decision. Thank you so much for being here! Your support means the world! Enjoy the story and check out the Recipe Book for this recipe, and many others! Take care of yourself, stay warm in this cold weather, and happy baking! <3