The Joys of Caking: Curiouser and Curiouser

*I wrote this two years ago and finally got caught up enough to post it! Only two years of cakes left to post to catch up . . . . .*

Laura [used to] work in my office. Her niece was getting baptized and they wanted to have a cake to celebrate. Apparently, Curious George is quite popular in their family. So she commissioned a two-tier, yellow cake, with raspberry whipped cream filling and the theme of Curious George.

I decided to do George, sitting amongst the trees. But you can't have a monkey without bananas! So, first, I made some fondant bunches of bananas. They turned out pretty darn good.

Next I made the leaves for the trees and some single bananas. I had to make the leaves ahead of time so they would dry and harden. That way when I put them onto the trees, they would hold their shape.

(You may notice the banana peel there)

Now, I had to make George. I'm getting better at figures, but they still freak me out and I'm not great with the balance. I didn't take any pictures while I was making him, but I do have pictures of the final product.

I put George on a styrofoam circle, on top of some parchment paper. This way, if you need to use toothpicks in the bottom or anything like that, you can just stick it in the styrofoam. The Crisco can behind him is helping to make sure the body doesn't fall over. I did use a tutorial to make the monkey.

I made the body first, then added the legs and arms. I made the hands and feet separately and then added them to the arms and legs. I made the head separately as well and then attached it to the body using a toothpick. I started with the dark brown part, then added the thin layer of ivory color to the front. Next I added the ivory colored part of the mouth which goes under the dark brown part. Next came the nose and ears. Finally, I added the eyes and piped on the pupils, eyebrows, and mouth.

Finally I made the banana that George is holding. I used the calyx cutter to make the peeled banana. It turned out so great!

What would curious George be without the man in the yellow hat? So, as a tribute to him, a yellow fondant hat.

Now it was time to assemble the cake. I covered both tiers with green fondant and stacked them. Then I started adding trees and branches. The trees are pretzels with green leaves glued on with icing. The branches are fondant. I also made a fondant leaf border where the two tiers connect.

I added more trees and started adding vines as well. The yellow hat went on the top tier.

Then I added more piped leaves. It really started to look like a jungle.

Finally, I added the bananas and a few flowers.

Meanwhile, George started to get a little tipsy. So I propped him up with a chip clip against the crisco can and hoped that he would dry well and not fall over.

Delivery Day: I actually left work early to go to Wisconsin for a dance competition, but first I had to drop off the cake. Fortunately, Laura lives only a few blocks away from me. I got the cake set up and it was time to add George.