Thursday, October 23, 2008

Mickey and Minnie Mouse Cupcakes

My bestie Lacy asked me to make cupcakes for her darling little Izzy's 2-year old birthday party. I was really excited to do Mickey and Minnie Mouse cupcakes until I started researching other cupcakes online. I couldn't find ANYTHING that I remotely liked therefore I had to get really creative to achieve my own expectations to sophisticate Mickey and Minnie the way I envisioned. My sis Brook and I found some do-it-yourself silicone plastique online and with a donated Mickey Mouse key chain {thanks Marci!}, and some helpful volunteers {thanks Todd & Tom!}, we created our own custom chocolate molds. Voilà!The end result was awesome! I pulled in pretty much my entire family {troopers!} to help collaborate on these cupcakes, and because there was chocolate cake involved, they came salivating. It was an all-inclusive Richman family cupcake fest at my mom's house. Plus, we almost succeeded at obliterating her kitchen in the process. One of these times we will succeed and then she'll get a brand new kitchen. We're always looking out for you mom.I won't mention the two failed batches of meringue buttercream frosting. Or the extra trips to the store for more ingredients. Or the Cafe Rio pork salad binge in the middle of it all. {sigh} That's all part of the fun, right? Sort of. Failure is what makes us better at our craft. Double failure is a solid below the belt sucker punch to morale at which point you should give up completely and go back to what you know: buttercream sans egg whites. Egg whites can be as temperamental and unpredictable as your hot flashing mother-in-law, meaning that if the temperature is not exactly perfect all hell will break loose in a matter of seconds and people will wish they were never born. Rather, let's discuss the rich chocolaty cake, the cute red fondant bows for Minnie, the creamy vanilla frosting, and the irresistible sprinkles to top them off. My intent was to have Mickey and Minnie recognizable for Izzy so that she would love them and want to eat all 2 dozen at once, while at the same time making them interesting and sophisticated enough for adults to want one too. Of course, the ultimate goal is to make them taste better than any cupcake you've ever had before. I try to use only the best ingredients and I think it makes a big difference.
I loved how they turned out, especially the Minnie's. They are simple and sophisticated (for a Disney character) and they taste great (except the fondant). Although I envy anyone who can do this for a living and keep their sanity. I bow to you, cupcake goddesses. Then again, I know I'm my own worst critique and admittedly I set the bar WAY too high. Still, I promised BD I wouldn't quit my day job.

26 comments:

Anonymous said...

My name is Pedro. I work with the Bradlee. Please send one cup cake to work for me.

Thank you

Two Wheeler said...

And they were indeed SO YUMMY!!

Mindi said...

again, making us look bad.......yikes.

my birthday is in february, just in case you were wondering.

Lacy said...

I still feel bad. But they were amazing!! The adults were fighting the kids for the cupcakes because they were so delicious!! Izzy couldn't stop staring at them and asking for them. So 2 things you wanted came true 1-Adults wanted them and 2- Izzy recognizing them.
Thanks again G- you out-did yourself and we are so grateful for that because mmmmmmm delicious.

gina bina said...

Lacy, um don't be dumb. I'm pretty sure the egg white meltdown had nothing to do with you. Ha! Live and learn my friend. I'm all about semi-publicly embracing my faults. But one more failed attempt at buttercream and I'm going private! JK, Thanks for letting me do the cupcakes for Izzy!

Kim and Layne said...

You are AMAZING!

mrs. farlanderz said...

how cute are these? you amaze me.

{lizzythebotanist} said...

good job! very well (and tastefully) done! i bet they tasted like poop, though...dare to prove me wrong?

Tuttles said...

Those are amazing! Mason would think those are the shiz! You're awesome Gina!

Rachel said...

I think those are the cutest things I've EVER seen! Just a heads up-----Kenadie's b-day is in March.....

bulkleybunch said...

forget bakerella, you should start your own thang!! i can't even make pancakes! :( very impressed!

C*K*J said...

You never cease to amaze me! I want to have your mad baking skills when I grow up!
We missed you tonight. It was really good!

Jennifer said...

2 questions:
1. How did you make the Mickey heads?

2. What kind of camera do you have? your pictures are always amazing.

gina bina said...

Jennifer,
1. We used the do-it-yourself silicone plastique (www.makeyourownmolds.com) to make the molds, then poured melted chocolate into them, let the chocolate set up, repeat.
2. We have a Canon 20D, and BD is usually the one behind the shutter.

j e s s i e said...

HELLO!!!
How do you do it all?
I think I'm wishing I were you at the moment! =)

Shauna said...

Do you travel with your lil baking business? I wish you were closer to make Boston some fun cake or cupcakes! You're truly the baking bomb!

Wildings said...

Those are the cutest things ever, once again amazed! Ya, remember how I was going to have you make some for Hadley's birthday!?1? Too bad we were gone for like the month before. Next year for sure, so put me on the calender!

The P*dunc's said...

I must clean of my keyboard now. There is drool all over it.

Gina's Cupcake Shoppe...

Lisa P. said...

Gina, when you described these to me they sounded cute, but these are beyond amazing. That butter crème frosting is gorgeous. The Mickey molds are flawless. You truly have a gift, thank you for sharing it with us through your photos.

Lisa P. said...

Gina, when you described these to me they sounded cute, but these are beyond amazing. That butter crème frosting is gorgeous. The Mickey molds are flawless. You truly have a gift, thank you for sharing it with us through your photos.

Lacy said...

The adults had cake. I didn't want to have to make a million of them! But the adults said that I should have given the cake to the kids and let them have the cupcakes because they were so good!!
Have you heard of a bakery place called Dippety?

Persnickety Prints said...

OK, Gina, I love seeing the whole 18 hour process step by step!!! Dont even tell me how many calories just the frosting has! These were sooo good. Brook shares :) I seriously ate 5!!!!! EVIL! I ate the ears too:) Keep em coming! We love em!!!

Natlee Lloyd said...

Those deserve to be in a Martha Stewart Cook Book. No wait then she would take credit for them. I'm calling the Utah Valley Mag!

CHUNTZ said...

Yummy...you are always making such great treats!

cathy said...

You guys are so talented and cute!

tjneumann said...

EEEEEE! (Lots of happy squeals from my head). Sooooooo cute! You are amazing, and I'm hungry now.