How to Make Monkey Cupcakes

Sharing is caring!

These adorable cupcakes are great for any monkey themed birthday party.

This is my second time to make them.

When the twins turned one, we had a monkey party.

Then this year when Matthew turned two, we had a monkey party.

You can make them too and they are certainly a crowd pleaser for kids and adults.

Here is what you will need:

  • 24 baked cupcakes (make our favorite cupcake recipe)
  • 1 batch of chocolate buttercream icing
  • 1 box of Nilla wafers
  • 1 box of mini-Nilla wafers
  • brown m&m’s
  • icing spreader
  • 1 cup of white buttercream icing (here is our favorite recipe)
  • red icing dye
  • black icing dye
  • 2 icing bags- one for piping black icing and one for red
  • icing tip- one with a small opening like what you would use for writing on a cake ( you can omit the last five ingredients if you choose to purchase already made red and black colored icing tubes)

How to Assemble:

Let your baked cupcakes cool 100%.

Apply a nice layer of chocolate buttercream icing to each cupcake using a spreader.

Next, cut your Nilla wafers in half using a sharp knife.

Do this to the mini wafers as well.

 

Add the large Nilla wafer half to the lower section of the cupcake, as illustrated below. This will serve as the monkeys mouth area.

Add two brown m&m’s to each cupcake to represent the eyes. (m&m emblem face-down)

Add the mini Nilla wafer halves to represent the monkey’s ears.

Now it is time to add the red mouth and the black nostrils for the nose.

You could use the tubed color gels that you can buy on the cake aisle at your grocery store. It would be easier than making your own icing, but I do not like it.

Make your white buttercream icing.

Take about half a cup of the icing and add red icing dye to it. Put it in your icing bag with the small writing tip.

Pipe red little mouths on the large Nilla wafer.

Take another half a cup of icing and add black icing dye to it.

Put it in a clean icing bag with the small writing tip and make nostrils on the large wafer cookie as illustrated below.

I also like to add black dots to the m&m’s for some eye detail, but it is not a must.

And you’re done!

How rockin’ are those?!

I am sharing these tips and pointers on these resourceful sites: i heart naptime,  the girl creative,  C.R.A.F.T. craftomatic,  crafts keep me sane,   skip to my lou,  making the world cuter, sumos sweet stuff,  mad in crafts, tip junkie, tasty tuesday, tempt my tummy tuesday,  craft edition,  hope studios, todays creative blog, sew much ado,  someday crafts,  we are that family,  blue cricket designs,  somewhat simple,  paisley passions, house of hepworths,  fun to craft,  fingerprints on the fridge, tidy mom,  a few of my favorite things and  it’s a hodge podge life.   Looking for a more copious list? Here are over 50 sites to search for and share projects  and tutorials.

35 Comments

  1. These are totally rocking! I bet they’re a real hit with the kids. You’re probably known as one of the “cool moms” with such cute edible goodies!

    I’d love for you to link this and any other cupcake related post you have at the month long Cupcake Link Party!

    Cheers,
    Tracy

  2. These cupcakes are fabulous! So easy to make too! I’m going to have to try these!

    I would love if you came over and linked this project to my weekly Round Tuit party at:
    http://jembellish.blogspot.com/
    Have a great week!
    Jill @ Creating my way to Success

  3. I made very similar cupcakes when my kiddo turned two 🙂 Very cute indeed!

  4. ah these are SOOO CUTE!!! and creative, thanks for sharing

  5. These are too cute! I would love it if you came over to my party “Cast Party Wednesday” tomorrow and shared some of your recipes with us.
    Thanks,
    I hope to see you there!

  6. Liz@HoosierHomemade says:

    Super cute! Thanks for joining us on Cupcake Tuesday, I don’t remember seeing your blog before…glad to have you!
    ~Liz

  7. These are so fun! What a great idea! And a total plus around here, we love monkeys. Will be making these for sure. Thanks for sharing! Would love to have you link these up to our Tuesday Help a Momma Out party! Hope to see you there.
    Britney
    http://www.jandmseyecandy.blogspot.com

  8. These are just so freakin adorable! I feel the urge to go throw a monkey themed party immediately and serve these cupcakes along with bananas, monkey bread and fruity drinks out of cups shaped like monkeys. . .

  9. o my heck this is sooooo cute!!!! and very creative:)

  10. Thank you SO much for sharing these!! I do a weekly theme with my kids and next week is zoo animals…we are SO making these! I am your newest follower, please feel free to check me out at Blue Skies Ahead!!

  11. Hi Crystal,
    Your tutorial on Monkey Cupcakes is very good. They just look adorable and your tutorial helps take the fear of failure away. Great post! Thank you so much for sharing with Full Plate Thursday and sure hope to see you again real soon!
    Miz Helen

  12. Adorable…you make them look so easy to try, so I will give it a shot for my grandson!

  13. Michelle Nichelson Photography says:

    Thanks for the great idea!!! Very creative.

  14. super cute! thanks for sharing with made from scratch tuesday!

  15. Really adorable and do-able for those of us who’d rather spend time making non-edible things! Thanks so much for sharing on Craft Schooling Sunday!

  16. These are soo cute! Great idea! I am doing a Monkey Theme for my sons 1st Birthday Party and I am so gonna make these! I am going to the store in a bit to get the stuff to test them out! Thanks for the wonderful idea!

  17. Sanghamitra says:

    What a great post! Thanks for sharing:) Beautiful space you got here!
    Hope to see you on my blog:)

  18. Crystal, I love it. I had to pin it in my Cupcakes board on Pinterest. Thanks for sharing! I am visiting tonight from WFMW. I hope you enjoy the rest of your week.

  19. Arline Jennings says:

    I’m going to have to try these! I love their little monkey faces. These are too cute! They just look adorable and your tutorial helps take the fear of failure away.

    1. I am so happy to hear that the tutorial helps, Arline.
      Have fun making them. They are perfect for a monkey b-day party!

  20. Pingback: Sock Monkey Cup Cakes « iAmTheNetConnector
  21. Pingback: Sock Monkey Cup Cakes « iAmTheNetConnector

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *