White Lights on Wednesday: Guest Post: My Little Punky Pie ~ Minnie Mouse Cake

You won't believe who is guest posting today. It's Stephanie from My Not So Little Guy and My Little Punky Pie. I miss her so much. I wish Steph didn't live across the country. This girl can sing something fierce and made going to work a little easier everyday. She's a very warm-hearted and loving person who I am happy to call my friend. Loving her post today. You'll see why. Flattery aside. ;)

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Hi y'all! I'm Stephanie!

Wife, mama, daughter, sister, friend, teacher, laundry procrastinator, wanna-be-more-craftier-than I am-er...you know, all around busy woman. I'm a blessed to be called mom by a tween boy and a just-turned-two toddler girl. You can find our tales over at My Not So Little Guy & My Little Punky Pie.

I'm also lucky enough to know Julie in real life! Back before we each had two kids, she was still in college...basically just when we were younger. ;)

I was teaching kindergarten and waiting tables {as my second job} where I was fortunate enough to meet her as she was working her way through school. Her dad and my mom share their birthday on Christmas Eve, so we'd both make sure we had that night off from the restaurant where we were slinging drinks and food, but you could find us there most other times. :) We had a lot of fun at that place despite the typical annoyances of waiting tables.

I couldn't find a pic of Jules & I, but I love her in this picture...and the other two as well.

I'm pretty sure it was their birthdays we were celebrating!

{Haven't seen this picture in YEARS. Too fun!! Yes, we are on the birthday saddle.}

It's been fun for me to see Julie grow from afar since I no longer live in Arizona...watching her become a mama and for all intents and purposes, a wife. I never knew she loved to bake back then, but she's loved Guinness for as long as I've known her haha! She makes me laugh, smile and feel connected to home through her blog. I wish we lived closer again!

Ok, ok, sap fest over for now. It's all the truth though. If you get the opportunity to meet this chick in person...do it! She's a gem!

I mostly blog about my kids, our family life and their activities. It started out as a sporadic journal years ago and then pretty consistent when I was pregnant with my daughter, Lily in 2009. So, I figure I'd do a little of what I do and a little of what Jules does and post about part of Lily's 2nd birthday party!

My sweet Lily turned two on July 24. I'm still in denial that she's two, but I digress.

We eventually decided that we were simply doing a family birthday party this year and keeping it small. I love the event planning and the creating. I have, however, learned over the years to not stress quite so much and to be able to let some things go that I can't get to, run out of time for or simply just need to scale back. That being said, the focus for me this year was the cake.

I'm by no means a baker. I don't even love baking, but I decided when I had kids that when they were older they were always going to be able to say, "My mom always made my birthday cake."

Over the years, I have made Big Bird, a 3D Winnie the Pooh, a baseball cap, Blues Clues, a light saber, Nemo, numbers, Spiderman...you get the idea. My son is 12, so I've had a lot of practice. Stepping into the girl stuff, not so much perfected...yet. I also made fondant for the first time for Lily's 1st birthday last year.

Minnie Mouse was the theme. I decided on pink and black, but not character prints--just the silhoutte of Minnie's head.

I decided on a chocolate cake recipe that I love that uses a devil's food cake mix, chocolate pudding, sour cream and chocolate chips. It's delicious, always a hit and I know it turns out. ;) I baked a 10 inch round cake and then the rest in a stainless steel bowl for Minnie's head.

Trying to figure out how to do the ears was tough. Then I remembered being at Disneyland eating Rice Krispie treat Mickey heads and thought, "Voila! I can just make circles, cover with fondant and put them on the dome!" which, of course, sounds great in theory. {it did work though yay!}

I used wooden dowels through the rice krispy treats to push the ears into the cake. At first they were too heavy and just kinda fell a bit, so I decided to put them in the freezer with the dowels in them. The bow went in the freezer too to hold its shape.

Here's a picture of the round cake and the dome decorated with fondant. Easiest marshmallow fondant recipe EV-ER! The tip I loved the best was coloring the fondant as it was being mixed...life.saver. I am telling you!

Last year, I added food coloring as I was kneading and ohmahgawdmyarmshurtsobadthenextdayIcouldnotbarelyliftthem