Jungle Safari Birthday Cake and Cupcakes

Ah, children's parties. How I used to adore them. I can still remember when I used to throw children's parties for Mr. M (my son) and my nieces and nephews. The amount of prep work will really break your back; not to mention the expense and sleepless nights!

Since most of the kids are grown, I've since graduated to making cakes for my friends' kids. This was a cake and cupcake tower and cookie pops I did for Diego's 1st birthday. It was made with two layers of cake -- one layer chocolate, one layer carrot walnut with a cookie #1 on top. The cupcakes were a combination of chocolate and red velvet.

I love this theme. It's fun choosing which animals to do in royal icing and what colors to use. Even if it took days to make the decors it was worth it. Since then, I've made this design three times. Clearly it's quite a popular theme for first birthday parties.

The first time I made a jungle safari birthday cake was for my nephew Kyle's 1st birthday back in 2004. I got the inspiration from the book The Whimsical Bakehouse by Kaye and Liv Hansen. Kyle's turning 9 in a few months (how time flies). I hope to make a small cake for him then (fingers crossed). Lord, give me the will to make birthday cakes again (more on that in another post).

Happy baking!