Monkey Birthday Cake

 Last week my baby turned two.  We don't go to extremes around here for birthdays, but I do try and make it special.  Since the birthday girl has a thing for monkeys I made her a monkey cake. 

For more cake ideas, visit my favorite cake recipe page.

I got the idea online at coolest-birthday-cakes.com. There is a pretty good description of how she made it so I won't go into the details. This is my first attempt using decorating tips.  Definitely not professional but not too bad for a first try.

For the cake I used the Devil's Food Cake recipe found in my Betty Crocker Cookbook.  I am not opposed to using a cake mix - in fact lot of times I do. I thought it might be more fun for the birthday girl to help make a real cake.

Of course her sister had to help too. 

Here she is trying to blow out her candle. Dad had to help her.

When we tried to sing Happy Birthday to her, she started screaming "my do it". We'd say "okay sing it with us", but she just kept screaming "my do it".  She's definitely 2.

Here's the recipe:
 Devil's Food Cake - Betty Crocker's New Cookbook
 2 1/4 c. flour
1 2/3 c. sugar
3/4 c. shortening
2/3 c. cocoa
1 1/2 c. water
1 1/4 t. baking soda
1 t. salt
1 t. vanilla
1/4 t. baking powder
2 eggs

Grease pans. Mix together on low speed 30 seconds, then on high for 3 minutes. Pour into pans.

Bake at 350. Rounds 30-35 minutes. 9x13 40-45 minutes.

Cool 9x13 on wire rack. Cool rounds 10 minutes, then remove from pans to wire rack. Cool completely before frosting.

I did use store bought frosting.  Anyone have a good recipe for chocolate frosting?  Let me know. I haven't found a good one yet.