My Very First Cakes

The first decorative cake I made was for my son's first birthday, a monkey, for our little cuddle monkey!  I had bought a shaped pan and followed the instructions on how to decorate it.  It was complex, but not severely enough that an inexperienced person couldn't do it themselves!  I also made a 3-dimensional small sized monkey for him to be able to smash into on his big day!  (Didn't want all of our guests to have to eat a cake that was drooled on and smashed to pieces)

I will have to say that the monkey cake turned out so fabulously that I did it again the next year for his second birthday!  As for the 3-dimensional cake...not so much!  Baking the cake was fine, just baked in a 3-d bear pan....fondant was fine; I used that to shape the bear into a monkey with extended limbs instead of just little paws right next to the body.  I found out that you cannot use icing that is very warm to ice a cake...especially when you are trying to star the cake all the way around!  By the time I was finished my fiance said, "I'm sorry hon, but it looks like you sat his cake in front of a fire!"

I was so disappointed and I didn't want to go to bed the evening before his party because I was so worked up about it.  When I woke the next morning, I decided I was going to remake the 3-dimensional monkey before the time of his party (early afternoon).  It was a close call, but I made it work!!!!!!!!!  I was so proud and happy to show up to his party with two of the most awesome cakes just for my little man!

There was a little variation for the monkey cake at his second birthday party because I didn't want it to be 100% identical.  I got many compliments both years...the first year a few of our guests thought I had bought the cake and when I corrected them, had to go and check with my fiance because they didn't believe me!!!  I found that hilarious and it was a compliment all in itself!