I had to have a cake big enough for at least twenty people, and also be chocolate and vanilla. I made a round dark chocolate fudge cake with orange juice in it for the top layer, and on the bottom layer I used a yellow butter cake with orange juice in it as well. I had never tried this butter cake recipe before but it turned out to be a great idea because I am told it was delicious. That recipe will definitely go in the books to be used in up coming cakes. I am glad i tried it out. You could smell the chocolate and orange cake mixing together while the round was cooling I almost ate it right then!
While both layers of cake were cooling I made some vanilla buttercream icing. Mmmm. Of course I remembered to make double the recipe so that my mom could use some this week (I tend to get in trouble if I only make enough for my cakes). I then colored some fondant and rolled it out. To cut out circles I used two different shaped cutters; one for the small polka dots in pink and purple and another for the black fondant to make Minnie's ears. After the cakes completely cooled I iced both of them. For some reason the icing would not become as perfectly smooth as I had hoped, I think it needed to set in the fridge a little longer, but it turned out to still look cute once I put the polka dots on top. I spent the next 15 minutes arranging all of the polka dots and made sure to roll out the black fondant fairly thick before cutting out Minnie's ears. I put the two black fondant ears in the fridge to harden up a little so I could put tooth picks in them (to hold them upright on the cake). I cut out a bigger circle in black fondant for Minnie's face. Next I used pieces of the pink and purple fondant to construct my first fondant bow! I placed the large circle in the middle of the cake, added the ears to the top, and put some tooth picks in the bow to lean against the ears. Finally I colored some icing to write "Best Wishes Judy" on Minnie's face. It was a fun cake to make. Let me know what you think :)
