Think Out Of Your Cake Box!

I am really not the cake decorator to whip out last minute requests. However, a dear cousin was in a real jam and asked me to bake a Mickey Mouse birthday cake for her son on Christmas eve. I couldn't make a 3D cake due to the short notice. I had a vintage Bashful Mickey Mouse pan but I dreaded using the star tip - visions of buttercream caked piping bags and carpel tunnel danced in my head. And besides, decorating the entire cake with the star tip was a bit too predictable. No, no star tip. But how could I design a unique cake within the limitations of the character pan?
Since the cake was needed on Christmas Day, I decided to turn bashful Mickey into a Santa Mickey with a bagful of toys. After crumb coating the cake, I covered the cake in fondant and used a dresden tool to highlight Mickey's head, ears, eyes, mouth, arms, legs, and shoes. Paper patterns for the shoes, pants, jacket, and ears were made directly on the metal pan. Then I rolled out the fondant and cut to fit. Mickey's jacket button and jingle bells were painted in edible gold.
Santa Mickey's bag of toys was made from red fondarific. Fondant candy canes, a teddy bear, and doll also made from fondant are peeking out of the bag. I placed large marshmallows inside the bag to give the illusion of more toys inside the bag. If I had the time, I would have added real candy canes and chocolates.

Dina
Organizer