Cake Boss!

My nephew recently asked me if we would mind if he and his wife hosted my great-niece's 2nd birthday party at our house.  I was so excited!  After raising two boys, I finally get to be involved in a pink, sparkly, fluffy little GIRL Minnie Mouse party!!  I'm not sure he actually finished his question before I said YES!!  I offered to do the cake and spent the next few days watching Cake Boss. 

Here is my humble first try at using fondant icing (a type of icing that you can roll out and drape over the cake so it forms a smooth finish - you can buy it pre-made at a craft store), and creating a Rice Krispie treat sculpture! 

First step is to make the Rice Krispie treats.  Second step is to spray a non-stick cooking spray on your hands (front and back because you are reaching into the pan and the Rice Krispies will annoyingly stick to the back of your hand if they aren't covered).  Start molding the pieces of the sculpture.

The head.

Adding the ears.

Her dress

Big shoes.

Can you see Minnie yet?

Here's a little lesson I learned.  Keep the pieces separated until they set.  I attatched her head to the body and the Krispie treats sort of settled a little, the result being her head was lower than I wanted.

Next, melt a bag of Candy Melts (also found at craft stores) and cover the sculpture with it.  It took a while because it had to set before I could turn her over, but I put her in the fridge to speed up the process.

Using a hand held grater, "file" down the candy melts to make a smooth finish.  I saw this online and it does make the fondant lay much smoother on the sculpture.

Filing a smoth finish after the candy melt covering had hardened.

Now to cover her in fondant.   I purchased both black and white fondant, then tinted some of the white with red food dye to make the pink dress and shoes.  To make the skin tone of her face, I used two drops red food dye, 2 drops yellow food dye and 1 drop green.

Making the skin tone fondant.

For the cake itself, I rolled out some white fondant and separately, some black.  Then I used a pizza cutter to make stripes from the black and I rolled them onto the white to make a zebra stripe.  If you search this on Youtube as I did, there are some great tutorials.  Make sure you keep the fondant covered in wax paper so it doesn't dry out while you are making your design.

A rectangle cake, a round cake and a cupcake for the top.

Two oreo cookies for the ears and a bow (the only non-edible item on the cake because I ran out of the fondant)

For the outside of the house, I purchased a pack of black plastic plates at the party store for $6 - I used my handy stencil maker to burn a hole in each, then connected them with string and added a bow - voila, Minnie Mouse ears hiding in the bushes coming up my path!

Have I mentioned how much I love my stencil maker?

I lined the path with Minnie ears.

Lastly, was the mantle.  Loose batting covering some twinkle lights and a bag of Pink pom-poms made a sweet glowing decoration.  A big bow in the middle finished it off.  I did receive alot of complements on my hot pink disney candles.  I didn't have the heart to tell anyone I had just wrapped my old candles in pink card stock and added three circles for Minnie and some stickers.  There are battery operated tealights that are perfect for this - just cut the card stock slightly longer than the candle and drop one in the top - warm glow and no problem with fires! 

It was a fantastic party!  The birthday girl had a great time and I think everyone enjoyed themselves!  After the party, we all ate the Minnie sculpture - there's something very cool about making a temporary, edible decoration.  I will be doing more of these, I'm sure!  Have a great week everyone!