How to Decorate a Monkey on a Pile of Bananas Cake

Your guests will go bananas for this cake! The fondant monkey sitting on top of the pile of bananas is the finishing touch that really makes this cake irresistible. This cake is easier than it looks but does require a basic knowledge of cake decorating and fondant work.

Difficulty: Moderately Challenging

Instructions

Things You'll Need:

• baked dome shaped cake (baked in Wonder Mold pan or Pyrex bowl)
• buttercream icing
• yellow gel food coloring
• brown gel food coloring
• fondant

1. Shape the bananas out of fondant two to three days ahead of time so they will hold their shape. To make the bananas, take a very small amount of fondant that has been tinted yellow. Roll it into a snake shape, make the ends slightly smaller. Curve the banana slightly. There isn't one right way to do this so just play with it until your bananas look right to you. Place the bananas on waxed paper to dry.

2. Shape a monkey out of fondant. Add a very small amount of brown food coloring to fondant for the face and stomach accents. Add more brown food coloring to the rest of the fondant to make the rest of the body. Modeling with fondant is similar to modeling with clay. Play around with your monkey until it looks right to you.

3. Once your bananas and monkey have had a chance to dry for a couple of days, prepare the cake. Place the dome shaped cake on a cake board or serving platter. Tint the buttercream icing with the yellow food coloring. Slowly add the yellow coloring until the icing matches the yellow color of the fondant bananas.

4. Ice the dome shaped cake with the yellow buttercream. This will form the pile of bananas for the birthday cake. Make the icing look neat but don't worry if it's not perfectly smooth because it will be covered by the fondant bananas.

5. Place the bananas on the dome cake. Vary the manner in which you place the bananas on the cake so it looks like a pile of bananas. They will stick to the buttercream icing so there is no need for anything extra to hold them onto the birthday cake.

6. Mix a small amount of brown gel food coloring with a small amount of water. With a clean paint brush, add brown accents to the bananas. Paint the stem brown. Make a few brown lines down the banana. Making the brown accents on each banana unique makes it more realistic.

7. Carefully place the fondant monkey on top of the pile. Place a fondant banana in his hand, his lap, or on top of his head.

Tips & Warnings

• You can either buy premade fondant or make your own marshmallow fondant. I used marshmallow fondant for my cake.
• If you need more cake, add a 12" round cake underneath the dome cake. Cover the round cake with green icing using the grass tip. It will look like your pile of bananas is sitting outside in the grass.
• Look at a real banana if you need inspiration for the shape of the correct shade of yellow.
• Marshmallow fondant is a bit soft so your monkey may not hold his shape. I found that mine slowly settled so he ended up being a short, fat monkey! Using premade fondant or adding some gumpaste to the mixture will help your monkey hold his shape.

Resources

• Wilton Wonder Mold Pan

[starlet67]

on 5/25/2009 What a unique idea for a cake! too cute!5*

[elyria]

on 4/8/2009 So adorable! The most unique cake I've seen!

[FrazzledNanny]

on 3/1/2009 My cake decorating is too limited for me to do this, but it looks amazing! Great instructions and picture. 5*

[JanieWrites]

on 3/1/2009 what a cute cake! I think I will try this for my granddaughter's birthday. Thanks! 5*

[motherNN]

on 2/27/2009 This is the BEST cake I have seen in a long time! My Mom took cake decorating class, just to stay in the adult world with 4 kids. We got to sample the cake each week when she got home! She did one like this with a Barbie doll in it and iced the dress. Monkey cake, I LOVE it!!5*****