Mickey and Minnie Cupcakes

Long time no blog, huh? Last week was really emotional for me (it would have been my 20th week of pregnancy) and I think just all the emotions and stress caught up with me because I got a really nasty cold and flu thing that is finally breaking after 4 days of being inside like a hermit.

Side note: You know you are appreciated when your husband keeps asking more and more if you are starting to feel better. That's man code for "Are you ready to take back all the crappy stuff you do around here so I don't have to do it anymore?" He has done such a great job with cooking, cleaning, and taking care of our daughter. I may fib a little on my recovery just to still be able to stay in bed until noon!

But, I am feeling much better and it's a good thing cause I have a birthday party to throw in 3 days!

I made the cupcakes for my daughter's vintage Mickey and Minnie birthday. I did all cupcakes for her birthday last year and it really worked out great. I prefer it to one large cake.

I found these really cute wrappers at Michaels and thought they would be perfect. I also made little flowers out of white posterboard and painted the centers yellow for the Minnie cupcakes.

I used a butter cake mix (I didn't want anything darker because I wanted the cupcake liners to stay as bright as possible after baking) and I swirled chocolate frosting on top with the largest star tip I could find. I love swirling frosting like this...but it takes a lot of frosting.

Finally, I found large packs of round thin mints at the dollar store and they worked perfectly for the "ears". I am also going to put two little white circle stickers on the fronts of the Mickey ones for the "buttons" and the rest of the Minnie ones will get their flowers as well.

I looked and looked (and looked some more) for ideas online and I loved the way black frosting looked...but the more I thought about it...they just didn't look appealing to eat. I know these are going to taste great and not artificial and at the end of the day...they have to taste great, right?

I also got my daughter's mini cake done today...but more on that later.

One thing I learned about myself today? I hate decorating food. I mean I really hate it. I can cook or bake anything and make it taste amazing...but having it look amazing is another story. These cupcakes are about as talented as I get. One big reason I hate decorating? It's messy...and I don't like to get messy. I think I washed icing off my hands about five times for every five cupcakes I decorated.

Oh...and once all the messy decorating is done...I have messy dishes and that's something I really don't like.

Halfway through making my daughter's cake each year I wonder, "why didn't I just buy one?"...but I get a lot more satisfaction out of making it. My mom always made our cakes growing up and I remember thinking she was so cool:) My daughter saw the cupcakes and she thinks I'm pretty cool now too...so it's worth it:) Plus it's a lot more economical since I got 20 cupcakes and one small cake made for just $6.

I can't wait to share the rest with you...but it's time for a Cold PM pill and bed:)

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