Minnie Mouse Birthday Cake

My daughter is a big fan of Mickey Mouse Clubhouse, so I decided to make a Minnie Mouse cake for her 2nd birthday. After looking at several cakes on the Internet, I came across this cake by Ban Bakes, and wanted to do something similar.
Notice the sweet little finger pokes on top? They were from the birthday girl, who sneaked up on the table while my back was turned. It was her cake, so I couldn't get too mad at her. ;)
The base is two 10-inch round layers of strawberry cake with butter cream icing, covered in pink fondant with white fondant polka dots. The head is also strawberry cake baked in a little glass mixing bowl on top of a 6-inch round cake and covered in black fondant. The ears and bow were sculpted from gum paste.

Memo to me: Learn how to better color gum paste black! After attempting several methods of dying and painting the ears (unsuccessfully), I ended up spray painting them out of total desperation 30 minutes before the party. I know, it's not edible, how embarrassing! (Don't worry, we didn't serve the top layer of cake!) Gettting the ears to stay in position was also a nightmarish feat of engineering accomplished by my husband, Mom, and Dad. Thanks guys! Next time I'll get longer skewers; little toothpicks didn't do the job very well.


I wanted to pipe, "Happy Birthday, Hannah" in black, but I ran out of time and powdered sugar. I think the birthday girl liked it anyway.Happy Birthday, Little Lady!