Zoo Cupcakes: Lions, Elephants, Monkeys and Pandas

For Alex’s zoo-themed birthday, I wanted to make a few different types of animals for the cupcakes, so settled on elephants, lions, monkeys and pandas. I made two types of cupcakes: chocolate (I used the recipe from my Valentine’s cupcakes), and vanilla (I used a box mix).

Elephant ears, trunks and tusks

For the elephants, in order to make their ears, tusks and trunks, I melted a bag of white chocolate chips and tinted it in various shades (gray for the ears and trunks, pink for the ears and then I left it white for the tusks). I dipped pretzels in the melted gray chocolate and set on parchment paper to dry. Once these were dry, I smeared a small circle of pink chocolate on parchment paper and then set the dried, gray chocolate pretzel on top—these became my ears.

For the trunks and tusks, I let the melted gray and white chocolate cool (for about an hour)—to the point that I could mold it. I used this to mold trunks and tusks. For the trunks, I took a small knife and added the wrinkles.

 

NOTE: I did these about two days before the actual party.

Buttercream frosting

The day before the party, I was off from work, so could devote a large portion of the day to decorating. I started by making buttercream frosting—this was the first time I used this and it was fabulous! I doubled the recipe below and used my Kitchenaid mixer to get a really lovely consistency.

INGREDIENTS

1 cup of unsalted butter (2 sticks or ½ pound): softened, but not melted (ideal texture should be like ice cream)

3 to 4 cups of confectioners (powdered) sugar, sifted

¼ teaspoon of table salt

1 tablespoon of vanilla extract

Up to 4 tablespoons of  milk or heavy cream

DIRECTIONS

1.       Beat butter for a few minutes with a mixer with the paddle attachment on medium speed.

2.       Add 3 cups of powdered sugar and turn your mixer on the lowest speed (so the sugar doesn’t blow everywhere) until the sugar has been incorporated with the butter. Increase mixer speed to medium and add vanilla extract, salt, and 2 tablespoons of milk/cream and beat for 3 minutes.

3.       If your frosting needs a more stiff consistency, add remaining sugar. If your frosting needs to be thinned out, add remaining milk 1 tablespoons at a time.

I dyed the frosting in various shades:

1.       Yellow (lions)

2.       Light brown (lions’ manes and monkey faces)

3.       Gray (elephants)

4.       Black (pandas—eyes, noses and eyebrows; monkeys—mouths and noses;  and lions—noses)

5.       Pink (lions—ears; monkeys—corners of mouths; and elephants—tip of the trunks)

I then piped the frosting onto the cupcakes using various tips. 

For the monkey’s background color, I used the chocolate recipe in my Valentine's cupcakes as the darker chocolate frosting. 

I used pre-made candy eyes for all of the animals and, for the pandas ears, I cut out black licorice and added. The elephants needed a little support with their ears, so I propped up the ears using some of Alex’s blocks. 

This was my second time using a pastry bag, and I think these turned out much better than my first attempt! The cupcakes were a hit and they definitely helped add to the theme of the party!