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.