There's a Monkey in the House

Earlier this year I casually mentioned to my friend that I had a great idea for a birthday cake for her little girl. I think this was like May or June and the birthday wasn't until December. I told her about this cake I had looked at online that was a simple stacked cake with a monkey head on top. As it turned out she had just ordered the invitations for her party (even though it was at least 6 months early) and what do you know - they had a monkey on them. Perfect we thought! 

A few months later I found another picture on line, this time of an entire monkey. Oh - this is even better I told her. It will be SO great. And I knew her daughter would love it and I'm a sucker for these little kids in my life. They can talk me into anything. OK, so she's only 2 and does more grunting and pointing than talking. But it's the blue eyes and the chubby cheeks... they hypnotize me into doing crazy things. Like the time I made ruby slippers out of gum paste for my niece. Anyway, I decided it would be a grand idea to make this giant monkey. Little did I know...

Actually, it wasn't a complete nightmare. It did, however, take me an entire night to make. At least it didn't look like someone stepped on it like the time I made her son a soccer ball cake. The monkey had a moment of craziness when I tried making the arms out of rice krispie treats. Oh dear. That would have landed me on Cake Wrecks for sure!

So, while she's only turning 2 and will most likely not remember the time that crazy cake lady made her a monkey cake, at least I can say it happened. And I survived :)