Of Mice and Treats

4 November 2010
I've been busy with Wee Mice of late. I first made them back in May, which is scarily about six months ago. I'd been wanting to make Wee Mice for a while, and that was the time they decided to appear! These wee cuties are pretty small - the stargazing ones are about 2.5cm (1") tall, and the sugarmouse ones are about the same size in length. They come in all sorts of colours (white, gray, fawn, brown, dark brown), but what I have been enjoying most of all has been making up wee treats for them!


I started out with a slice of Swiss cheese. It seemed like the traditional way to go, and the mice seemed happy enough. I cut each wedge separately out of pale yellow clay using a triangular cutter, and then poked random holes in them using different sized poking implements. This was all well and good and worked very well for quite a while.

But then, the mice started making special requests. First, there was a request for more cheese choices. So I made up a round of brie for the more discerning mouse.

Would you like red onion relish with that, sir?

But the mice weren't happy with just one choice of cheese. Could they try another kind as well?

 Ba-ba-ba, ba...you know how it goes

So out came the Edam. To get the red wax rind, I rolled a ball of yellow clay, and then cut out a large circle of thin red clay. I placed the yellow ball in the centre of the red disc, and then shaped the red clay around the ball, cutting off the excess corners to make sure the outer layer was all the same thickness.

The mice were content for a while. After all, they now had a choice of three cheeses. But a few of the more rotund mice had sweet tooths, and wondered if I could possibly offer them something as well. So I made up a chocolate Swiss roll.

Mmmm, yum!

I made this using a simple jelly roll cane using two sheets of clay, one brown and one white, laid on top of each other and then rolled into a cane. Once I had reduced the cane down to the required width (being mouse-sized Swiss roll diameter), I varnished the unbaked clay and then rolled it firmly in salt. Salt has the appearance of sugar, but doesn't melt when baked.

Well, the mice were very happy with their selection of four treats, but then I started to come up with some other ideas. First of all, I made some charantais melon for the more health-conscious mouse...

...followed by New York baked cheesecake, because after all that healthy eating, the mice would probably want a bit of a treat.

The cheesecake was very popular

I made the chocolate sprinkles by finely grating brown clay using a tiny grater (probably used for garlic or nutmeg in another life). Tip: chill the clay before grating it to stop it sticking together.

Meanwhile, I'd been toying with the idea of Battenburg cake after several chats with Helen, a lovely lady who has become a serial adopter of Snails. At first, I wanted to make a Battenburg Snail (well, you would, wouldn't you?), but then I realised that this particular cake would be much better suited as a mouse treat.

But things didn't stop there! This time inspired by Steff of DreamsUntold, who wanted to give a wee mouse to her mum in Germany, I decided to make up a Black Forest Gateau. This was the most challenging treat to date, but so much fun to do!

The mice eat better than we do!

The trickiest part of this cake was to create the little dollops of cream, which all look as though they've been piped. And the outside of the cake was made by rolling the entire cake in grated brown clay. I only varnished the dark cherries on top, which made them look very juicy.

And thus rests the quest for mouse treats, although there are plenty ideas in the pipeline. And suggestions are always welcome for what the mice would like next!

 But there is a footnote to this merry tale (or should that be tail?) For Halloween, certain special mice wore witches' hats and had their very own wee pumpkins.

And of course, now that we're coming up to Christmas, Wee Christmas Mice have got in on the act with their Santa hats and Christmas Puddings!

You can adopt your own Wee Mouse and have your pick of a treat for £6 plus P&P at my Folksy shop (you can also order them on Etsy), and the Wee Christmas Mice will be going on sale very soon.

Happy Squeaking!

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