oooh baby, baby...ba-baby baby

My bestie is was pregnant. (By the time I got around to this post, she already had her baby!) I'm pretty sure she tried to drop me hints before her and her hubby told everyone. And I was pretty clueless. hahahaha. It's not usually like that. Honest.

So when we finally knew what was up, I snapped into shower-planning mode. Being that she has no sisters, and her closest cousins are in Canada, a couple other girlfriends and I jumped at the opportunity to plan something amazing for our beloved girl and her baby girl {oh yes, and her hubby, too}.

It was very much a Pinterest-inspired shower, on a very tight budget, for a guest list mostly populated by the baby momma's Filipino family -- men included. Us hostesses rose to the challenge, and, months later, out came a successful shower to welcome an already very loved little one.

My bestie and I share a love for sweets, mostly anything in cupcake and cheesecake form. In our apartment in college, baked goods often took up the space on the counter between the fridge and stove...and while counter-top real estate was highly sought after, we happily allowed whatever sugary goodness that came from our oven to live there, rent-free. So planning from the beginning, I knew that I wanted to have a sumptuous sweet table for the shower.

I had the eyes of a hawk, scanning through pins, and reading up on my favorite blogs. So many good things surfaced, and it was hard to pare it all down. But I knew that in order to keep the high quality of anything I was putting my name on, I had to focus my efforts.

First, as any good hostess should do, I inquired as to what the guests of honor would like. She said that it would be best to keep the cupcake flavors simple, since there would be kids there as well. I figured with the assortment we would have, minis were the best option. And with chocolate and vanilla, it only makes sense to alternate the flavors, and give the butter cream some color. Green and pink accent the baby's room, so green and pink vanilla frosting it was.

She didn't know the extent of the options for the sweet table -- I like to have some surprises -- nor did she request anything else.

Because the baby's room is monkey-themed, I knew I had to make some monkey cake pops. And since the cupcakes were chocolate and vanilla, the cake pops were red velvet -- a favorite of the parents-to-be (and several guests, too). This is what I did.

I alternated pink and green cake pops as well, to add more 'pops' of color to the table.

After seeing the recipe for cake batter cheesecake on Pinterest, I knew I had to make these. They were SO. GOOD. I cut them into small squares -- perfect for a bite or two. 

There are two things, regardless of pregnancy, that my bestie usually has around: 1) a package of Oreos and 2) rice krispy treats {or at least ingredients to make them}. Seriously. This is one of many reasons why we get a long so well :P 

I had made these Oreo cheesecake cupcakes for my students, and they were a hit. So I knew these would be perfect for the shower. I did regular cupcake-sized cheesecakes, and bought some mini Oreos to make mini cupcake-sized ones as well.



One of the hostesses worked with me tirelessly through the night {thanks again, Danielle!}. She gets the credit for the rice krispy treats -- with sprinkles, to give them a little color and make them more festive. :)

She also made the white chocolate popcorn favors, like these {unfortunately, not pictured} which turned out awesome! (Note: It's a good idea to stock up on the pastel-colored white chocolate m&ms right around Easter.) 

For the favors: Using my 'fancy' scrapbooking scissors, I cut the tops off of plain paper lunch bags, and she stuffed them with the goods. We used thank you stickers that we printed out to close the bags and they looked great.

Last but not least, I wanted to make a small cake. Something with pink frosting. But since we already had the pink vanilla buttercream, I was thinking: strawberry! And nothing seemed more shower-like and springtime-y than strawberry lemonade. I was really excited about this cake. 

From the inside out: lemonade cake, strawberry lemon mousse, strawberry frosting. Check out my directions here.

We also had some assorted fresh fruit and my bestie's momma made her filipino fruit salad. Such a good way to round out this spread! 

We were very fortunate for all the help and support that we got from the grandparents as well a couple of friends and family - both behind the scenes and on the day of. Everyone's work made this shower a success! It was a great way to welcome this baby girl into the world. And now that she's here, I can't wait to start baking for her! :)

Read about the shower decor details here!

baby shower - monkey cake pops

To make the monkeys, I used a couple tutorials and pictures as guidance. This video by Dessert Decorating is pretty clear though. 

So this is what I did: I started with a regular cake ball. 

**For the ears: I used chocolate chips (flat side facing front). I didn't dip them in the melts before sticking them into the cake ball, as the tutorial suggested -- for me, it didn't seem necessary. 

**For the face and ear color: I had some peach candy melts and mixed in a few chocolate melts until I felt I had the right color. Other tutorials used a mixture of white and chocolate melts or just peanut butter melts. 

**Applying the face and ear color : In the video, she used toothpicks to apply the melts for the face and ears. Really warm or not, I found the candy melts rather difficult to 'paint' with. After a couple of super-lumpy-faced monkeys, I promptly poured the melts into a plastic icing bottle. This worked like a charm. 

If the melts got a little lumpy (started to dry more quickly than I was finishing the face shape) I just popped the bottle back in the microwave for 10 seconds or so. Be careful not to heat the melts too much. If it's too hot, it can crack your chocolate coating.

I did like the video tip of making the top part of the face shaped like a heart, and then the bottom of the face into an oval. 


Normally, when I make cake pops, I stick them in my Styrofoam stands to dry. For these, I laid them flat on a cookie rack to dry after I applied the face and ears, just to make sure none of the melts shifted or dripped off during the drying process.

**For drawing on the face: I only had the Wilton food markers on hand. I had used them once before, and I thought I was using them wrong. This time around, I learned that they're really not that great. At least on the candy melts they aren't. It took me a longer time to draw on the monkey faces than to outline them with the light brown melts. It was a tad bit frustrating.

Ordering new markers is on my list of things to do. I've heard good things about AmeriColor, and I love their gel coloring, so I can't imagine they'd steer me wrong. Any suggestions are welcome. 

Overall, these pops were fairly easy to make. I love the cartoonish look to them, which match a lot of the baby monkey decor that is out there. And even if you want to match the decor more precisely, this is a good starting point. 


Hope you have some fun monkeyin' around with these cake pops! (LOL...I had to...)