How to make Curious George Cupcakes!

My son Asher turned two last weekend and his absolute favorite show is Curious George.  Originally I wanted to make a large centerpiece George cake... but we decided one party was not going to work and booked our weekend full of family visits to celebrate Asher's birthday, my husbands birthday and Mother's Day all in one..

(Asher was nice enough to have his birthday  on Mother's Day this year and let me open some gifts of my own with him)....so lots of cupcakes it was!  Also being close to 9 months pregnant cupcakes seemed like a much more achievable goal then multiple centerpiece cakes! 

The flavors were Creamy Lime.. of course, my husbands favorite... Chocolate and Gluten-free Vanilla for the in-laws.

Creating a monkey face was a little more work then I imagined it to be. At least making a monkey face that resembled Curious George was. I first tried piping the icing through a small tip but it didn't have that "George-ness" to it. I decided to paint George's face with icing color and piping gel. I'm not much of a painter so it took lots of trial and error but the results were at least recognizable...  the yellow hat  helped the theme come across too!

If your even slightly more painting skilled then I.. 

which is very probable you'll have George down in no time!

 Start with small round of light brown fondant, rolled about a 1/4" thick.

Chill it for a few minutes to firm.

Next squeeze in the sides to elongate the face just a little bit.

(I found using a small plate dusted with cornstarch made it a little easier to work on then the counter.)

I mixed brown icing gel with piping gel to use as my paint. 

 The brown should be a few shades darker than the fondant. 

 Outline George's face with a very fine tipped paint brush.

It really helped to have  picture of George right next to me the whole time!

Next color in his fur.

The eyes make George start to come to life.

 His nose is pretty much two slightly curved lines.

 And of course a big smile!

 I opened up his smile to give him  a more playful expression.

 And added a small pink dot for a tongue.

 Two little fondant pieces complete his face for ears. 

 Use a little water to stick the ears on.

 My biggest challenge was trying to get all the George's to look alike, 

but I guess it gives them each a little more character to be different.

 All in all I think I got George down, even if it did take me  2 hours to make 3!

 The yellow hat was much easier just a yellow round with a yellow cone and a small strip of black fondant... phew much easier. Since I didn't make a lot of George faces I did sprinkles on a few, a yellow hat and one with balloons.  I added a couple also with bright colored roses for Mother's Day.

Asher was excited to see his 2 favorite things together.. cake and George!

Happy 2nd Birthday Asher!