Roar! Safari Baby Shower ... Monkey & Banana Cupcake Toppers

This past weekend one of my dear friends had a baby shower to welcome in her 2nd baby boy that is coming very soon.  She picked a safari theme and I was asked to help with treats.  As usual I went a little nutty going over the board buying things and wanting to make everything I found.  With some urging from Rick I stepped back out of the host roll I was not and back to the helper role I was asked to be (yup I'm working on my over doing it .. lol).  Returned $100 worth of items and stuck to a few basics for the party.  First on my list was the cupcakes, I made 2 dozen with two different toppers.  The toppers I could make before hand so the day of the party I could just go and not worry about making them the day of.

I first started with the monkey's since they would take a little bit of time to make.  I found a few versions of pictures that I like and kind of made my own from it.  I used inspiration from Rose Bakes and Stagetectures.

I started with making my favorite Rolled Buttercream Fondant (I've posted my recipe so many times I'm just going to give you the link to not make this post crazy long).  I hit up Micheal's for Wilton icing food coloring in Brown and Ivory.  I used a circle cutter and two oval cutters.

What you Need:

Rolled Buttercream Fondant

Wilton Icing Color Brown

Wilton Icing Color Ivory

Circle Cutter

Ivory Cutters

Paint Brush with water

Powder Sugar (for rolling)

Make the fondant, break into 2 balls one larger ball (brown) and one smaller one (ivory).  Roll out the fondant using powder sugar so it won't stick.  I only made 12 monkey's so my monkey's were really thick, you can roll your's thinner if you would like.  The brown I rolled out and cut out 12 circles.  With my left over brown I rolled it out and used my smallest oval cutter to make the ears (24 total).  I then rolled out the ivory cut out 12 ovals (for the mouths).  Once the mouths were cut out I used my fondant cutter VERY lightly to make a straight line for the lips.  I was going to use food writers to color on the eyes but instead I used the pointy end of my paint brush to make two eyes.  To attach my mouth and ears I used my paint brush and a little warm water.  I let the Monkey's sit out to harden up a little bit before attaching to my frosted cupcakes.  See the picture below for a step by step.

After the Monkey's I made my go to best Buttercream Frosting (again to keep this post from being so long I'm including my recipe via the link).  I also made my go to Moist White Cake Recipe.

After the Monkey's were done I made the banana's for the other 12 cupcakes, this was the easiest part.  I bought a banana silicone mold off Amazon.

What you Need:

Banana Silicone Mold

Yellow Wilton Candy Melts

I loaded up each banana cavity with 6 melts and placed it into the microwave for 1 min 30 sec. You may need to do a extra 30 seconds if needed.  When you take them out bang the tray a few times to get the air bubbles out.  I placed mine in the freezer, about 10 minutes later I carefully popped them out.  I placed them on top of the cupcake and then into the fridge to make sure they didn't melt.

The cupcakes were a little time consuming but so cute and worth it!

Stay Tune for a few more Safari themed items

Thanks for Stopping by!

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE. 

Fireworks and Boom ... Firecracker Cakelette & Flag Pretzels

On to the second day of fireworks, well at least for recipes here!  I have found some super cute things I couldn't pass up making.  You know me I just can't help myself with a theme and a party I just go all out.  I'm trying to keep this one from my usual overboard status so I promise just 2 more things to come ... lol I'm trying!

First off I found these Fourth of July Firecracker Cakelettes on She Knows.  How hard could this be ... lol. I know I always am trying new things.  I started with a White Cake Mix (I created a post of just this recipe so I don't clog up this post - click link for the recipe). 

What you Need:

Cake Mix (Split into 3 bowls - Mix one red, one blue and one leave white)

Wilton Icing Colors (I used Royal Blue & Red Red No taste)

Circle Cutters

Knife

Frosting (I used my sturdy buttercream) / Piping Bag

Pop Rocks

Licorice String

Bake cakes as directed, allow them to cool and remove from pans.  Using a round cookie cutter, cut circles from each of the baked cakes (I think the one I used was a 2-inch).  Using a serrated knife, carefully trim off the browned, baked bottoms of each cake circle.  Using a jumbo straw or plastic tube (one-half or three-quarters-inch in diameter), remove the centers of the cake circles. Be sure to save the red and blue centers to use as plugs for later. Put a portion of the red cake plugs back into the bottoms of the red cake circles. Pipe a line of frosting around the centers of the red and white cake circles. Stack the white cakes on top of the red cakes and the blue cakes on top of the white cakes. Add Pop Rocks down the hollow centers of the stacked cakes. Put a portion of the blue cake plugs back into the tops, covering the center filled with Pop Rocks.  Cut licorice rope pieces approximately 1-1/2 inches long and insert them into the centers of the blue cakes.  (put pop rocks in no more then 4 hours before they will be ate.

Next on my list is some fun and Easy Flag Pretzels I found on Passion for Savings.  I actually had everything here on hand.

Ingredients

• 1 Bag Pretzel Rods
• 24 oz. Almond Bark
• 2 Tbsp. Shortening
• Food Coloring
• White Sprinkles

Instructions

Melt the Almond Bark with 2 Tbsp. Shortening
Dip the Pretzel Rods in White Almond Bark
Divide remaining Almond Bark in half and add Red and Blue Food Coloring (I used Blue Melts & Red Gel instead easier)
Dip ⅓ of the White Chocolate Pretzels back in Blue Chocolate
Add White Sprinkles before drying
Drizzle Red Chocolate over the remaining white section to create stripes (I used Wilton Red Gel instead of Chocolate).

These are so simple to make and you can put it in clear bags and tie with a ribbon and had them out if you want. 

Simple and Easy to make and can really make your 4th party a real hit!

My little helper loved them, hope you do to!

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE.