- November 25, 2024
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I moved to Palm Coast when I was 3. Almost immediately, I acquired an adopted older sister in my next-door neighbor, who only had an older brother but was desperate for younger girls to play with.
The two of us, my younger sister and a couple girls down the street quickly dubbed ourselves the Belvedere Gang, hosting Cabbage Patch tea parties, fashion shows in our driveway and even renting out our extensive collection of "Baby Sitter’s Club" and "Goosebumps" books to the neighborhood kids, from our homemade library (we made library cards; it was legit).
When I got to high school, this childhood neighbor was a senior, but she never hesitated to introduce me to people as her younger sister, even though I was a good 6 inches taller than she was.
So naturally, when she became a mother, I quickly became Aunt Shanna.
Her youngest turned 1 this weekend, and I was eager to perform my auntie duties by decorating some monkey cupcakes for her little monkey.
And although I watch "Ace of Cakes" and Food Network’s "Challenge" on a regular basis and think "I could do that," I'm a little hesitant when it comes to decorating.
But after some minor adjustments, the cupcakes turned out almost as cute as the 1-year-old girl who was shoving it into her face Saturday afternoon.
What you need:
1 box (18 ounces) of cake mix, your choice, plus ingredients to prepare mix
1 container chocolate frosting
1 container vanilla frosting
Yellow food coloring
Chocolate disks
Black dye or decorating gel
What to do:
Bake cupcakes as directed on box. Let cool completely.
Frost cupcakes with chocolate frosting as flat as possible. Use a knife or spatula. Place chocolate disks one on each side for the ears.
Place vanilla frosting in a small bowl. Add food coloring, a few drops at a time, until desired color is reached. Spoon frosting into piping bag, or a Ziploc bag with the end cut off. Pipe yellow frosting into oval shape in the middle bottom half of the cupcake.
Pipe circle of yellow frosting in the center of each chocolate disk for the ears.
Mix black food dye with vanilla frosting in a small bowl. Add to piping (or Ziploc bag). Or use decorating gel to dot the eyes just above the ovals. Add line for the nose inside the oval.
Use a toothpick to pull up the frosting at top of cupcake into hair.
