Name: Mickey Mouse Cupcakes
Prep time: 35 min
Cook time: 19 min
Total time: 114 min
Ingredients: 1 stick unsalted butter (room temperature (1/2 cup)); ¾ cup granulated sugar; 2 large egg whites; ½ cup sour cream; ¼ cup milk (skim, 1% or 2%); 1 tsp vanilla extract; 1 ¼ cup all purpose flour; 1 tsp baking powder; ¼ tsp salt; 3 sticks unsalted butter (room temperature (1 & 1/2 cups)); 1 tsp vanilla extract; 2-3 cups powdered sugar; Dash milk or heavy cream if frosting becomes too thick; Regular oreos; Mini oreos; Red, yellow, white and black jimmie sprinkles; Red and yellow food coloring

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These sweet Mickey Mouse cupcakes are an adorable treat for a birthday party or any special occasion, and they couldn’t be easier to make. A moist vanilla cake and brightly colored buttercream is topped with Oreos arranged in the shape of Mickey Mouse!

Mickey Mouse cupcakes on white cake stand, surrounded by sprinkles

The Cutest Mickey Mouse Cupcakes — And the Easiest Too!

Getting decorated cupcakes for a birthday party can cost a pretty penny, but unless you’re a professional baker, you might not have the confidence to decorate your own. These Mickey Mouse cupcakes prove you don’t have to have a lot of cake decorating experience to make perfect cupcakes for a party!

Once you bake the cupcakes and whip up the frosting, you’ll use regular Oreos and mini Oreos to make Mickey’s head and those iconic mouse ears. It’s as simple as that, and the results are cute as can be.

Consider this recipe more of a template than anything else. I use a moist vanilla cupcake base, but you can use any cake flavor you want. The same goes for the frosting; I like to use a vanilla buttercream, but cream cheese frosting will work, too. Just use a flavor that will work with the flavor of Oreos and avoid chocolate because the Oreos will blend in too much. A light or bright shade of frosting helps those ears really “pop”!

These cupcakes make a sweet treat for a kids birthday party, but they’re easy enough to make just because. If you have a Mickey Mouse fan in your life, they will absolutely love these cupcakes, and so will you! If you’re looking for another mickey mouse idea, make mickey mouse hot chocolate bombs!

Mickey Mouse cupcakes on cake stand with sprinkles scattered around them

What You’ll Need

Scroll down to the recipe card below this post for ingredient quantities and full instructions.

For the vanilla cupcakes:

Unsalted butter – Let this come to room temperature.
Granulated sugar
Egg whites
Sour cream
Milk – Use skim, 1%, or 2%.
Vanilla extract
All-purpose flour
Baking powder
Salt

For the vanilla frosting:

Unsalted butter – This butter will need to be room temperature, too. It’s much easier to whip into a creamy frosting that way!
Vanilla extract
Powdered sugar – Also known as confectioners’ sugar.
Milk or heavy cream – You only need this if the frosting is thicker than you’d like.
Regular Oreos
Mini Oreos
Red, yellow, white and black jimmie sprinkles – You can find individual bags of various colored jimmie sprinkles at Michael’s or Walmart.
Red and yellow food coloring – I used red and yellow gel food coloring from AmeriColor.

Does Sour Cream Affect the Taste of Cake?

The sour cream in this recipe adds moisture, but it’s not enough to affect the flavor of the cupcakes. Using sour cream in cupcakes gives them a fine, tender crumb because it allows you to add more moisture to the batter without thinning it out with water or milk.

Step by step photos showing process of decorating Mickey Mouse cupcakes with Oreos

How to Make Mickey Mouse Cupcakes

If you don’t have a solid block of time to bake these in one go, you can easily break it into a few different steps and make the cupcakes over the course of a day or two.

Make the Cupcakes:

Prepare. Preheat your oven to 350ºF and line a muffin pan with muffin liners.

Mix the wet ingredients. Combine the butter and sugar in a mixing bowl; beat with an electric mixer for a minute or two, or until the mixture is fluffy. Beat in the egg whites, sour cream, milk, and vanilla extract.

Finish the batter. In another mixing bowl, sift together the flour, baking powder, and salt. Add the flour mixture to the wet ingredients a few spoonfuls at a time, mixing until just incorporated.

Bake. Fill the muffin liners halfway full and bake for 17 to 19 minutes, or until a toothpick inserted into the center of a cupcake only has a few moist crumbs clinging to it.

Make the Vanilla Frosting:

Beat the butter and vanilla. Beat the butter and vanilla extract in a large mixing bowl until the mixture is fluffy, about 1 to 2 minutes.

Add the sugar. Slowly add the powdered sugar, beating on low to incorporate it into the butter mixture. Taste and add more sugar as needed; if the frosting becomes too thick, add a dash of milk or heavy cream. Whip for 3 to 4 minutes.

Color the frosting. To color the frosting more than one color, divide the frosting evenly into separate bowls. Add food coloring to each and beat until the color is uniformly distributed in the frosting.

Assemble:

Prep the cookies. Twist a regular Oreo apart and scrape out the filling. Use a sharp knife to cut the cookies in half, forming semi-circles. Twist a mini Oreo apart and scrape that filling out, too. You’ll need 12 of the half-circles and 24 mini Oreo ears if you’re making 12 cupcakes.

Frost the cupcakes. Place a dollop of frosting on each cupcake and use an offset spatula to spread it into a dome. Combine the sprinkles in a dish and rotate the edge of each cupcake in the sprinkles.

Add Mickey. Place a half Oreo piece in the center of each cupcake. Then, using a small amount of frosting, stick the mini Oreos onto the backs of the large Oreos. Position the ears as needed to create your Mickey Mouse.

Tips for Success

Here are some hints and tips to make sure your Mickey Mouse cupcakes turn out perfect!

Measure the dry ingredients properly. Use the spoon-and-sweep method to make sure you’re not using too much flour. Then, sift the dry ingredients together for extra fluffy cupcakes.
Don’t over-fill the cupcake liners. To keep them from baking over the edges, don’t fill them any higher than halfway.
Adjusting the frosting. If you want your frosting lighter and fluffier, you can add 1/4 cup of heavy whipping cream when adding the last portion of powdered sugar.
Let the cupcakes cool completely. If they’re even slightly warm when you decorate them, the buttercream will soften and your Mickey Mouse is likely to slide down or fall over.

Make Ahead Ideas

If you want to get a head start on this recipe for a party, I recommend making the cupcakes, frosting them, and assembling the Oreo Mickeys without putting them on the cupcakes. If the Oreos sit in the buttercream for an extended period of time, they’ll begin to soften up. Simply store them separately, then pop them into the frosting before serving.

You can also make the cupcakes and freeze them for up to 3 months without the frosting. Let them thaw at room temperature, then make the frosting and assemble.

How to Store

These cupcakes are best eaten the day they’re made, but if you do have leftovers, they can be stored in an airtight container in the refrigerator for 2 to 3 days. If you want to freeze leftovers, I recommend removing the Oreos for easier storage.

Mickey Mouse cupcakes with Oreos and sprinkles

Minnie Mouse Cupcakes

Easily turn these Mickey Mouse cupcakes into Minnie Mouse cupcakes! You can change the colors and sprinkles to incorporate pinks & purples. You can also reserve a small amount of frosting and pipe a bow onto the oreos.