12 Cool DIY Monkey Face and 3D Cakes

Since my 2 year old is a little monkey we decided to do a monkey themed party this year. We did yellow card stock banana invitations and decorated the house with green streamers (our jungle vines) and stuffed monkeys that were flying around everywhere. I served the Monkey face cake with banana splits. It was a glorious time.

The monkey face cake idea was one of Martha’s. I did not however make the cake from scratch… I did a box one. As I’m not a banana fan I didn’t do banana flavor either – just a plain yellow cake.

I used an oven proof glass mixing bowl for the head and then the one cupcake (cut in two from top to bottom) for the ears. I realize that Martha was apparently able to get her ears to “stick” with some icing but I had to use some toothpicks to keep the things on and up. I also just used store bought icing (chocolate and vanilla). Vanilla got yellow food coloring and for the eyes nose and mouth (as I didn’t have licorice or things for the eyes). I put in various food colors into the chocolate to get a darker color.

My monkey face cake was a hit and MUCH easier to do than what I thought. Hope you enjoy making a similar one sometime for your little monkey!

More Monkey Face and 3D Cakes

Monkey cake by Kathy W., Hampton, VA

The idea for this monkey birthday cake came from the coolest-birthday-cakes website. I baked a 9×13 sheet cake. I used a basic cake recipe but a boxed cake would do.

After baking I froze the cake to make it easy to cut. I cut the shape of the monkey’s face out of the sheet cake. I used store-bought chocolate and white frosting. To get the light brown I mixed a little of the chocolate into the white frosting.

I started by outlining the bottom of his face then filled in with stars. I did the same on top. Then I did the sides with more stars. I was really pleased with how it turned out.

Monkey cake by Erin K., Coatesville, PA

I was having a monkey party for my son’s first birthday (you know…the only birthday that Mommy gets to pick the theme)! I was going to try the Martha Stewart monkey face cake but it was a little too serious for me.

I used store-bought cake mix (he’s only 1). I had to use 2 boxes for this cake. I put one whole mix in a greased and floured Pyrex mixing bowl. This took about an hour and 15 minutes to bake. I actually over baked my “practice” cake. I also baked to small cakes in the 5-inch Pyrex baking dishes. One I used for the ears (cut in half) and the other was Mikey’s smash cake.

I iced the whole thing in chocolate icing (the ears are just stuck on with icing not with toothpicks) and then piped the rest on. I mixed the chocolate with the vanilla to get the color for the monkey face. I used a leaf tip to do the vines. This cake was a BIG hit and was a heck of a lot cheaper than the cakes at the grocery store or bakery!

Monkey cake by TJ M., Bloomington, IN

I baked a 12″ oval cake using package cake mixes according to directions. I frosted it with traditional buttercream icing tinted banana yellow. Then using the Wilton Animal Crackers Pan, I baked the second cake.

I had to cut off the ears from the top of the baked cake and reposition them more to the sides of the head to make it resemble a monkey face instead of a bear. I then decorated it like a monkey, using chocolate buttercream and traditional buttercream icing tinted to necessary shades.

Monkey cake by Eileen S., Old Bridge, NJ

For this monkey face cake I used a dome shaped cake pan, bananas for filling of course, cupcake cut in half for the ears, black string licorice for the mouth, nose, and hair, M&M’s for eyes, and creamy peanut butter for the nose and ears. I also made cupcakes and put banana runt candies on the top.

Monkey cake by Jennifer B., Canada

I decided to make this monkey face cake for my daughter’s first birthday. I thought it would fit, as she was born in the year of the Monkey for the Chinese New Year. I made it a banana cake, and used cocoa and butter for the icing, as I know you shouldn’t give infants chocolate.

It was actually quite easy to do. What you need is black Ju Jubes for the eyes, and black licorice laces for the nostrils and mouth. I used cocoa to make the brown icing and yellow food colouring for the yellow. Bake any type of cake in a glass oven safe bowl, and reserve enough of the mixture to half fill one muffin cup or tin. You cut that in half and I used wood skewers to hold the ears on.

Monkey cake by Kerry-Sue B., Whitby, Ontario, Canada

For my son’s first birthday, my husband and I decided to do a jungle/monkey theme. I used the Wilton “Animal Cracker” cake pan. The pan gives you four different ideas and instructions for animals you can create (giraffe, panda bear, pig and cat). It really looks like a bear but you just decorate it accordingly.

As many of you can imagine, with a one-year-old there isn’t a lot of time to create/bake so I opted for a cake mix (butter pecan) and bought milk chocolate & extra creamy vanilla icing (I mixed a little chocolate with vanilla in a separate container to get the light brown colour for the monkey face).

Once the cake came out of the oven and cooled, I performed some delicate surgery to the bear’s ears, removing them all together and placing them lower on the face to look more like a monkey (I used icing to glue them to the head). I drew the outline of the monkey face with a straight tip and started filling in the rest with a star tip. I highlighted the eyes and outlined the inner ear to add a little detail.

I put a few green leaves behind the cake and it just came to life. I made cupcakes for the children and made one that looked like a monkey just for my son to eat (or rather wear). I will say store bought icing is hard to pipe out at first and if you let it warm it starts to lose the star shape (you’ll notice the outside stars are kinda sloppy, I was running out of time before people arrived and didn’t have time to re-chill the icing; it still turned out fine).

My husband and I braided green streamers to look like vines and I cut out foam leaves in two different shades of green and hung them all over the house (that took a while but looked awesome). We put up a rattan plastic border on the walls and placed jungle theme stuffed animals all around; monkey’s hanging from the vines etc.

Overall I was really happy with how it all turned out. I know this isn’t the most intricate monkey face cake you will ever see and I have made some cool cakes in the past (pre-baby years!), but this is one of those classic simple cakes that can look really good with minimal effort. Tasted really good too!

Monkey cake by Lyndsi I.

You will need 2 cake mixes for this monkey face cake. I used devil’s food cake. You will also need The Pampered Chef Batter Bowl greased and floured.

Mix one cake mix as usual and pour into floured Batter Bowl. Bake at 350 until toothpick or cake tester comes out clean. Usually 45-60 minutes. Reserve small amount for ears. Do this twice so that you have 2 cakes.

I bought a Pyrex bowl (smallest size) for the ears (a cupcake was to small). Grease Pyrex bowl and pour batter 2/3 full and bake for 15-20 minutes until toothpick comes out clean. Set aside for later. Level off the top of one cake and set it aside.

Cut 2-3 inches off the bottom of the second cake off and use it for the base of the head with the small end down, then place the larger cake on top with the larger end down so that it forms a ball shape. Cut small Pyrex bowl-cake in half from top. Insert toothpicks to flat side and attach them to each side of the head.

I used Chocolate frosting and frosted the whole head except for a small area for the mouth which I used Caramel frosting. I piped chocolate frosting on top for the hair, but you could use Caramel also. I used gel to paint eyes, mouth and nose.

Everyone loved this monkey face cake, it was a big hit.

Monkey cake by Melissa C., Monson, MA

I made this monkey face cake for my son’s 2nd birthday and he loved it so much!!

I used a bowl to bake the monkey face cake in and frosted it with canned chocolate frosting. I tinted canned white frosting yellow and used it for the mouth and inside of the ears. I also tinted some black and used it for the eyes, nose, and mouth. The ears are ring dings cut it half and secured with toothpicks.

I used a decorating tip and canned icing to dribble chocolate frosting all over the top for hair. It didn’t make a lot of cake and since we had a lot of guests I made cupcakes and frosted them brown, yellow and white and placed a dried banana chip on the top of each.

Monkey cake by Kim R., Woodbridge, VA

My 10 year-old daughter loves monkeys! She really wanted a monkey cake for her birthday. I couldn’t find a monkey cake pan so I used what I had and was very happy with the end result.

I used the Betty Crocker Bake and Fill Dome pan for the monkey face. I also baked a 6-inch round and cut it to form the ears. I used chocolate and tinted vanilla icing for the monkey decorations.

The kids loved the monkey cake!

Monkey cake by Nanette M., Lafayette, LA

My nine-year-old daughter loves monkeys. For her birthday she had a luau theme. So I made a monkey cake with luau decorations. I drew a monkey face on the cake and trimmed with flowers from a lei.

Monkey cake by Nicole S., York, PA

When I found the animal cracker cake mold at Michael’s craft store I thought how perfect that would be for my son’s 2nd birthday party. The theme we chose was jungle animals.

Each animal was made of different cake mixes (they were boxed cake mixes like Duncan Hines) and different icings. I wanted people to have a variety to choose from. The monkey face cake was iced with white chocolate almond icing. Some of the icings I tinted and others I didn’t have to.

I used the Wilton brand icing tints also bought at Michael’s. Just be careful with the tint because it will stain your hands. I used a toothpick to add the tint to the icings and you don’t need much at all. A little goes a long way trust me.

I had lots of compliments on the monkey face cake and I was very pleased with the way it and all the rest of the animal cakes turned out.

Some tips to give are:

*Keep the icing in the fridge until you are ready to use it, if not the stars will not look like stars but like blobs and the icing will run and not look nice. I learned the hard way

*Do not use the pour and frost icings by Betty Crocker. It was more liquidy and the stars looked like blobs. As you are making the stars the heat from your hands melt the icing.

*Grease the monkey face cake mold REALLY well or when you flip the cake out it will stick. I also bought a decorating bag with the size tips that are listed in the animal cracker cake mold instructions.

Since the monkey face cake was a little more difficult I made it a couple of weeks before the party. I wanted to practice before I had to make them for the party.

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