Peanut butter and jelly, salt and pepper, bagels and cream cheese, shoes and socks……birthdays and cake. Some things are just meant to come in pairs, and I take birthdays seriously when it comes to dessert. It’s not very often that I attend a birthday party without bringing dessert, because what’s a birthday without something sweet to celebrate?
Although I do like baking, I don’t ever plan on going into the cake business. I tend to stick to box mixes and ready-made frosting. I happen to think this is one of the best inventions…if you go this route, you’re unlikely to have a baking disaster at the eleventh hour.
When my friend Allison mentioned she saw the cutest cake molds at Michael’s, and that her special request for her birthday was a monkey, I skeptically accepted the challenge. I had only once before tried to make a custom-shaped birthday cake…a shoe….and I’ll leave that story for another time because, needless to say, it was just a mess. *Note to reader: don’t ever attempt to make vanilla frosting red by pouring in red food coloring. The coloring usually contains oil or liquid that will result in runny frosting…bad news.
This time, instead of cutting the cake free-form, I bought the monkey mold (complete with model pictures of how to decorate it), the boxed cake mix, and the frosting. This method was bound to be pretty safe. I used large zip-loc bags and Wilton cake decorating tips (I used the Open Star Decorating Tip to get the desired furry effect) to brave the detailed decorations. It was a success!
Rebeccammended baking tools for birthday entertaining: Try using a cake mold at an arts & crafts store for a fun, easy, and creative birthday cake! They come in many fun shapes and sizes so pick a shape that fits the birthday boy or girl and get baking!
7 thoughts on “Serious Monkey Business”
Blake Sunshine September 21, 2009 at 9:38 am
That’s so cute! I can’t believe you made it.
Jodi September 22, 2009 at 7:30 am
That cake is ADORABLE! Great job, Rebecca!
Allison September 22, 2009 at 2:54 pm
Love my cake Rotis!! Thank you. The naked monkey is so cute!
Ally September 23, 2009 at 12:30 pm
My birthday is January 10th…
haha love you beckaloo that cake is SO cute
susanynico October 5, 2009 at 4:57 pm
I’m impressed:-) Do you make special deliveries to Mexico?!?
Back to the Basics « The*Rebeccammendations October 13, 2009 at 8:40 am
[…] others can be about showing them a good time, whether at home with a themed-dinner party, providing creative desserts, or being the host as you show your guests the highlights of the city you live in. It’s about […]
Back to the Basics :: My Blog October 18, 2009 at 11:47 pm
[…] be about showing them a good time, whether at home with a themed-dinner party or serving homemade creative desserts, or being the host as you show your guests the highlights of the city you live in. It’s about […]