A Cake for Icing Smiles

Remembering a cake I made last June to donate through Icing Smiles. Icing Smiles is an organization that provides cakes to critically ill children. I had signed up a long time prior and was thrilled when an opportunity came up that fit my abilities. A long story ensued.

There are two types of cakes one can make through Icing Smiles: a Dream Cake and a Fun Cake. A Dream Cake is usually more elaborate, two-tiered, etc. I accepted an opportunity for a Fun Cake since I'm not a professional baker nor am I that experienced.

The child was a little boy named Abdiel who lives in nearby Holyoke and was turning 5 years old. The directives I received were for a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse-themed cake and that it needed to be for 40 people. I only got this information after accepting the request and it gave me pause. I'd never made a cake that big, and it was for more servings than a Fun Cake is supposed to have. But I didn't want to back out. And at least their requested flavor was simply vanilla!  

To provide the required number of servings, initially I thought of making a square cake. I practiced using this recipe from Sugar Geek Show.  Unfortunately, that trial cake just did not look good. It was collapsed in the middle and burned around the edges.  I'd sure use this recipe again for a smaller cake, though, because it was absolutely delicious.

I decided to find a different recipe and make a 10-inch round. According to every cake chart I saw, a  3-layer 10-inch round cake should feed 40. This recipe was one of the few I found.  But, I didn't know that a 10-inch round bakes so differently in the oven than a 9-inch round. It's disappointing to realize in retrospect that none of this was mentioned in the recipe, which should have included baking tips for this larger pan instead of treating it like a 9-inch round.  Elsewhere, after noticing there were problems, I saw advice such as placing a few flower nails in the center of the cake to help drive heat there. But by then it was too late for me, because it was the day before, and my layers were underbaked.  I had specifically NOT wanted to be baking the day before delivery, but my baking schedule was turned upside down when I switched to the round cake pan. I ordered it from Amazon and it did not arrive when it was supposed to. It arrived two days before the cake was supposed to be delivered.  So between this delivery snafu, and the poorly-written recipe, I spent the entire day before the cake should be delivered doing the actual baking. At the end of the day I increased the amount of cake to four layers just to make sure there would be enough.  So it took even longer to bake all my layers, since I only had the one pan and baked one layer at a time and washed the pan in between bakes. 

With all this, I was unable to start making the buttercream until evening. Had I realized just how much buttercream a 4-layer 10-inch round would require I would have made it well before and frozen it.  But I didn't know, and long story short I was up until 4 am frosting this cake!  I kept having to make batch after batch of buttercream and running out. My family was kind of upset to see me in such a bind, and that I had the lights on and the machine running at all hours. It was one of the worst days this year and in recent history in terms of lack of support just when I needed it most, as an amateur who meant well but got in way over her head.

The original request was for a Mickey Mouse Clubhouse theme. But, just a couple of weeks out, the mom sent me a picture of what she was hoping for.  She wanted a Mickey Mouse Safari decoration of a Mickey head wearing a safari hat placed over a cake decorated in leopard spots, bamboo accents and leaves. A completely different look from the Clubhouse theme from the request! OK, I thought to myself, I can do this. I would attempt to reproduce the photo she sent me.

I decided to make the Mickey Mouse head out of rice krispies and fondant. I soon realized I needed to simplify the design and omitted the hat. Using this recipe from the Chelsweets blog, I made the rice krispy and marshmallow mixture and pressed it into a bowl. Thankfully I keep a lot of fondant in the house! I covered the rice krispie head in buttercream and covered that in black fondant. I had the head up on a glass, and immediately the fondant started stretching and cracking at the bottom.  I called King Arthur Flour's helpline for bakers and they explained that you don't want the fondant to hang or it will crack as it stretches. So I put it flush onto parchment paper and cut around it and it was all right.  

I'd made the mouse ears well ahead, but as the time approached I realized they were not going to fit onto the head. The shape of the curved cutout at the bottom was too pronounced, with edges that were too sharp. There was no way that, now that they were dry, they were going to sink deep enough into the

fondant of the head to be flush. So at the last minute I made a few more pairs, and hoped they would dry in time. I'd made the original mouse ears by cutting a circle shape out of fondant and then cutting out a small curve at the bottom. They were thick enough for me to insert a lollipop stick. For the next couple sets of ears, I cut out thinner rounds and a less pronounced cutout at the bottom, and I worked the edges with my fingers to stretch them out, picturing how they needed to be to meet the fondant. I placed a lollipop stick in the center and glued two sides together, like an Oreo cookie. These didn't look as nice because they had a seam, but at least they would fit the head better.

Using a printed  picture of Mickey Mouses face, I made the features out of fondant.  I wished I had an oval cutter for the eyes, but they came out OK just cutting them with a knife. I was pleased with how the face came out in the end.

Working on the Mickey Mouse head.

The head comes to life with the facial features.

The rest of the decorations included some green fondant palmera leaves scattered on top of the cake, brown "leopard" spots along the sides of the cake, an orange fondant number 5 for the five-year old, and the words Happy Birthday Abdiel made out of green fondant and stuck to a fondant leaf "chain". I ended up being pleased with the leopard spots and the number 5, but less so with the Happy Birthday chain and the fondant palmera leaves.  I just thought the look of the "chain of words" looked store-bought. And I regretted letting the palmera leaves dry, because the frosting had hardened in the refrigerator, and the dry leaves on the hard frosting made them sit loosely on top of the cake. This did not bode well for cutting.

Fondant decorations drying. Sadly, the heads with the "5" didn't fit on the cake!

After debating whether to do so, I decided to insert a few plastic straws in the cake to support the Mickey Mouse head. It was heavy enough that I feared it might sink into the cake otherwise.  I finished frosting, decorating and photographing the cake just before it was time to deliver it. The delivery was a harrowing ride, although I worried for nothing because the cake did not slide around during the trip down to Holyoke. Another worry was assuaged when the temperature turned out to be dry and pleasant. I'd worried that hot temperatures would melt the buttercream and affect the decorations during the outdoor party.

A look at the finished cake.

The back of the cake.

When we arrived at the child's home it was a humble house and he, his brother and Mom came out to take delivery of the cake. The brother, an older boy of about 14, commented that it was a cool cake and the Mom exclaimed "I love it!". The little boy had a feeding tube hole in his throat, and he immediately tried to play with the Mickey Mouse head. Seeing their reaction made me so very happy and made all the stress worth it!  But, I still feel insecure about the whole experience because the Mom promised to email me pictures and she didn't, nor did she write afterwards with any comments about how the cake tasted. I think if it had been what she expected she would have done so, and that not hearing from her means she was let down in some way. Maybe difficulty cutting it?  Maybe not good?  I'll never know.

In retrospect I wish I had printed out some instructions for the Mom letting her know how to store the cake, letting her know about the straws in the cake and that the head was not really edible, as well as a  cake cutting guide. I emailed her this information when I got home from the delivery, but it was the afternoon of the party and I don't know if she saw it.

I learned several things the hard way making this cake, from baking in a large round, to fondant work, to communicating with the recipient of the cake. I probably spent about $300 of our own money on this donation. Aside from the ingredients I bought a large square pan, a large round pan, square and round cake boards to go with the pans, a cake box for delivery, plastic straws for support, silicone molds for the palmera leaves, and letter and number cutters.  Would I do this again? Yes! If I receive another "call to action" from Icing Smiles I will definitely respond. I'll just make sure it's for a "Fun Cake" at the same level of difficulty. Looking back, it's a wonderful memory of something I accomplished and gave.