Safari Adventure

And yes these cupcakes were an adventure..... This weekend, my dad's coworker's daughter was having a safari themed birthday and asked for cupcakes to match. The family actually loaned me an awesome cupcake decorating book where they got the safari idea from that listed directions and the best materials to work with to create the animal effect. I may go buy that book!

The elephants were by far the most difficult to make. The book gave a template for the white chocolate ears and nose but after I stuck them into the sides of the cupcakes they immediately started to sink a little with the weight. Oh, NO! This is a decorator's worst nightmare, when gravity and temperature are against you. Although it was a cooler day in Buffalo then the upwards of 90 degrees we've been experiencing, chocolate is so delicate that even the slightest bit of humidity can be detrimental to your project. So I decorated them, added a little extra buttercream as "glue" and immediately stuck them in the fridge with the hope that once the frosting hardened a little it would keep the ears and nose solidly in the cupcake. As of now, while waiting for the customer to pick them up, they're still together! I really hope the customer has a smooth drive home.....

The monkeys, oppositely, were the easiest of the three animals! That was as simple as frosting the cupcakes and adding other colors and candies to make the face! The most clever part? Cheerios for the ears! The best part about this book was that it gave edible suggestions other than frosting to make the facial features, very creative ideas that I would have never thought of.

I made the lions last which were also not too complicated. The faces were simple enough, similar to the monkeys, but the licorice mane was definitely time consuming. From cutting up the candy to sticking them into the cupcakes one by one, it was pretty labor intensive. I especially loved the colors on this cupcake, perfect for kids!

Hopefully the kids have a great party today and best wishes to the birthday girl!