A Mickey Mouse theme for a baby’s first birthday is a very popular choice! Mickey-themed party supplies and decorations are super easy to find to make a beautiful birthday party come together. You might want to add a Mickey-themed smash cake to your birthday party for all your guests to enjoy, or even bring a simple Mickey Mouse smash cake to a special photo session before your baby’s first birthday party.
If you’re a total beginner, you can make this easy Mickey Mouse smash cake at home. I’ll take you through the simple steps and before you know it, you’ll have a cute Mickey smash cake of your own! It’s so much fun to make and a lot less expensive than ordering a custom cake that fits your cake smash theme.
For more tips on throwing a Mickey themed birthday party, check out this article:
Check out this free printable baby’s 1st birthday checklist for more party ideas!
- Ingredients
- Butter
- Milk
- Powdered sugar
- Flour
- Baking powder
- Vanilla extract
- Eggs
- Sugar
- Milk chocolate candy melts
- Red sprinkles
- Red food coloring
- Materials
- Bowls
- Spoons
- Piping bags x 2
- Piping tip
- Plastic wrap
- 5 inch round cake pans x2
- Large baking sheet
- Cake spatula
- Electric hand mixer or stand mixer
- Cake board
How to make an easy Mickey Mouse smash cake
Bake cake
Preheat oven to 350 (175 celsius). Cream together 1 cup of sugar and ½ cup unsalted butter. Add in two eggs, and mix in vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour and 1 ¾ teaspoons baking powder. Add the wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix well. Add milk and stir until the cake batter is smooth. Pour the batter into a greased cake pan. Bake for 30-40 minutes until the cake springs back when lightly touched. Cool cake completely then wrap it in plastic wrap and freeze it.
Make icing
Make your vanilla buttercream frosting with 1 cup of butter and about 4 cups of icing sugar, 1 tsp of vanilla and 2 tsp of cream or milk. Blend it with a hand mixer or stand mixer until it’s fully mixed and no sugar crystals remain. If you think you’ve put in too much moisture with your milk or cream, try adding a bit more powdered sugar or put your icing in the fridge to firm up if it’s starting to melt.
Frost cake
Take ¾ of your icing out into a new bowl and mix in red food coloring. Set aside this red icing for decorating with later.
Put a layer of white frosting all over the Mickey Mouse birthday cake as a crumb coat. You can freeze your cake again if you feel like things are particularly crumbly. Then add a second, smoother layer of frosting over your Mickey smash cake as a final layer of icing.
Make chocolate ganache
I used milk chocolate candy melts to create the chocolate ganache drips on the side of my Mickey Mouse smash cake. Follow the directions on the package of your candy melts and use either a microwave-safe bowl or a double boiler to melt your chocolate.
To thin out your candy melts so they drip over the side of your birthday cake, stir in some cream until you reach the desired consistency.
Do a ‘test drip’ on the side of a bowl to see if it’s too runny or still too thick before trying it on your cake. Once your chocolate is warm and thinned out, put it in a piping bag or ziploc bag with the tip cut. Add your chocolate drips to the side of your smash cake and then flood the top of the cake with the remaining chocolate ganache.
Add sprinkles
Pick up your Mickey cake and put it inside a big baking sheet to catch any extra sprinkles that will spill at this step. Use your fingers to lightly press red sprinkles into the side of your first birthday cake, all the way around.
Add icing swirls
Add large swirls of red icing to the top of your cake. Use a piping bag and a large star tip. Space them out so there is enough room between them for your ‘Mickey ears’ in the next step.
Chocolate candy melts for ears
My chocolate candy melts looked dull and cloudy because they had chocolate dust. To make them look more like shiny Mickey Mouse ears, I used a tiny bit of vegetable oil on my fingers to rub them with.
Place two chocolate candy melts on each red swirl to make it look like a Mickey Mouse cake.
Mickey Mouse smash cake tips & safety hints
- Make the layer of chocolate ganache nice and thin so your baby can easily tear through it with their hands.
- Chocolate candy melts are nice and thin, which makes them a good option for mouse ears.
- Stay away from hard, round, candy-like Whoppers for decorations on a 1st birthday cake; they could become a choking hazard.
- Do not put a lit candle near your baby for their first birthday; they may reach for it and be burned.
- Take away the cake after you’ve got a few great photos. A bit of sugar on this special day is totally fine for most kids, but you don’t want to let them consume the entire cake.
- Have a second outfit handy and a plan for how you’d like to clean your baby after their cake-smash session.
- Do a test with your food coloring brand to ensure it washes off your skin with gentle soap and water. You don’t want to stain your baby’s skin red. I used Wilton Food Coloring and although it did turn my hands red, it washed off easily after a soak in warm water.
- Use a vanilla cake base for your cake, not chocolate. Vanilla cake usually looks prettier during a cake smash than a brown chocolate cake smeared all over your baby.
- If you decide to use a cake topper for your cake smash, be sure that it has no sharp edges or points that will end up in your baby’s mouth.
Other common smash cake questions
What’s the difference between a smash cake and a regular cake?
A smash cake is not shared with your party guests. It’s a smaller cake made just for your baby to dig into and enjoy. A smaller cake is not only less wasteful than giving a one year old an entire sheet cake, but it’s also cute because it’s small like they are!
A smash cake also needs to be safer than a regular cake. For your smash cake, there should be no lit candles and no hard round candies that could be a choking hazard.
Are smash cakes a good idea?
Smash cakes are a fun idea for a photo shoot around your baby’s first birthday. They’re also a hilarious conclusion to a party. Save it for the very end when you’re ready to let your baby dig in and get messy, then whisk them away for a bath or clean up.
If you’re concerned about the amount of sugar in a regular smash cake, you can use a healthier recipe with less sugar like this bear-shaped carrot cake recipe.
What age is best for a smash cake?
Usually, a smash cake is for a baby’s first birthday party. However, I’ve seen smash cakes used at a second birthday party as well. Two year olds are still such young, messy toddlers that it’s entirely appropriate for them to enjoy this trend.
Final thoughts on Mickey Mouse Smash Cakes
I hope you’ve enjoyed this easy Mickey Mouse smash cake tutorial! Save it to your Pinterest for later, or send it to a friend who loves Mickey Mouse. If you’re also looking for something to serve your guests at your party, you should definitely try this gluten free cookie dough ice cream recipe made by our friend Anna! Or this Philadelphia Cheesecake from Andrea that your whole family is sure to love.
Your one year old is just going to love digging into this fun, themed cake made just for them. Check out this article next for more Mickey Birthday Party Ideas.
Easy Mickey Mouse Smash Cake
Equipment
- bowls
- spoons
- 2 piping bags
- Piping tip
- Plastic wrap
- 2 round cake pans (5 inch)
- Large baking sheet
- Cake spatula
- Electric hand mixer or stand mixer
- cake board
Ingredients
- 1 cup Butter
- 4.5 cups Powdered sugar
- 1/2 cup Milk
- 1.5 cups Flour
- 1.75 tsp Baking powder
- 2 tsp Vanilla extract
- 2 Eggs
- 1 cup Sugar
- 1 cup Milk chocolate candy melts
- 4 tbs Red sprinkles
- Red food coloring
Instructions
Bake cake
- Preheat oven to 350 (175 celsius). Cream together 1 cup of sugar and ½ cup unsalted butter. Add in two eggs, and mix in vanilla. In a separate bowl, combine 1 ½ cups all-purpose flour and 1 ¾ teaspoons baking powder. Add the wet ingredients to dry ingredients and mix well. Add milk and stir until the cake batter is smooth. Pour the batter into a greased cake pan. Bake for 30-40 minutes until the cake springs back when lightly touched. Cool cake completely then wrap it in plastic wrap and freeze it.
Make icing
- Make your vanilla buttercream frosting with 1 cup of butter and about 4 cups of icing, 1 tsp of vanilla and 2 tsp of cream or milk. Blend it with a hand mixer or stand mixer until it’s fully mixed and no sugar crystals remain. If you think you’ve put in too much moisture with your milk or cream, try adding a bit more powdered sugar or put your icing in the fridge to firm up if it’s starting to melt.
Frost cake
- Take ¾ of your icing out into a new bowl and mix in red food coloring. Set aside this red icing for decorating with later.
- Put a layer of white frosting all over the Mickey Mouse birthday cake as a crumb coat. You can freeze your cake again if you feel like things are particularly crumbly. Then add a second, smoother layer of frosting over your Mickey smash cake as a final layer of icing.
Make chocolate ganache
- I used milk chocolate candy melts to create the chocolate ganache drips on the side of my Mickey Mouse smash cake. Follow the directions on the package of your candy melts and use either a microwave-safe bowl or a double boiler to melt your chocolate.
- To thin out your candy melts so they drip over the side of your birthday cake, stir in some cream until you reach the desired consistency.
- Do a ‘test drip’ on the side of a bowl to see if it’s too runny or still too thick before trying it on your cake. Once your chocolate is warm and thinned out, put it in a piping bag or ziploc bag with the tip cut. Add your chocolate drips to the side of your smash cake and then flood the top of the cake with the remaining chocolate ganache.
Add sprinkles
- Pick up your Mickey cake and put it inside a big baking sheet to catch any extra sprinkles that will spill at this step. Use your fingers to lightly press red sprinkles into the side of your first birthday cake, all the way around.
Add icing swirls
- Add large swirls of red icing to the top of your cake. Use a piping bag and a large star tip. Space them out so there is enough room between them for your ‘Mickey ears’ in the next step.
Add chocolate candy melts for ears
- My chocolate candy melts looked dull and cloudy because they had chocolate dust. To make them look more like shiny Mickey Mouse ears, I used a tiny bit of vegetable oil on my fingers to rub them with.
- Place two chocolate candy melts on each red swirl to make it look like a Mickey Mouse cake.
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