I was tickled when my Sister called and asked me to make my sweet Nieces 4th birthday cake! I love this sweet girl and love making cakes for my family, makes it more special when I know and love the recipient. Anyway, I was even MORE excited when she sent me the picture of what she wanted!
They were just at Disneyland so they got to see this fun Jack O Lantern Mickey Mouse and my sweet niece fell in love! Yay~! I have so much fun comng up with a design plan for carved cakes! Add a Disney theme and I’m in heaven.
I started with the ball pan, and two round sides. Then I wanted a bit of extra height so I added a 1 inch tall piece of a round 6 inch cake. I stuck them together with Ganache, which is tasty and a great “glue” for cake decorating. I cut off part of one of the half circles and placed it on a 4 inch cake circle, and that was our base.
Then I carved vertical lines all around the cake from the center of the top down to the bottom. They don’t have to be perfectly spaced, but I tried to make them mostly even Since the Mickey head is.
Then Add the ganache frosting and make sure to get all the deep cracks and keep it smooth. A small tapered frostig spatula works great for these deep crevices.
Once the Ganache starts to set mark out where you want the Mickey Face to be. I eyeballed it from a picture of the actual jack o lantern, but if you have access to a printer you can always print it out and use it as a guide. By using a toothpick to mark out the face it’s easy to rub it out and start over if you make a mistake.
Then cut about an 1/2 inch deep, covering the new raw edges with more ganache (tapered spatula again). Then roll out some bright yellow fondant and ease it into the face! Making sure to cover the sides too. This is how we’re getting our glowing jack o lantern look.
Then I covered the cake with Orange fondant smoothing it all around and down into the cracks. Then, using a small, very sharp, knife, I carefully cut out the face shapes again. I wanted it took have an orange outside and yellow inside so it looked more like a rind. Pretty darn easy so far, huh? Now for the extra details.
we made a small batch of rice crispy treats. Then we shaped them into balls, and then created lines and made them into pumpkin shapes. Try to keep them as even as possible.
I frosted them with the ganache to smooth out the rough rice crispy edges. Then I covered them with the same orange fondant and smoothed it around and into the cracks.
To stick the ears onto the cake I used long bamboo skewers. I first held the ears in place then gabbed the skewers into the ears, through the head and into the cardboard base to really hold it. 2 skewers in each just for safety.
Then with Green Fondant add Add a stubby stem with leaves and some curls (fondant dried around a dowel). This will cover up the holes the skewers made too. I also dimpled the top of the stem so it looked more like a rough stem end of a pumpkin!
Now add a large stem, more curls and a huge leaf on top! I rolled up a paper towel and stuck it between the pumpkin and leaf and let it dry a few hours then took out the paper towel!! I am so happy with how this cake turned out, so totally in love with it.
What would be your favorite Disney cake?
