Bananas for Another Monkey Cake

Can I just say, I love monkeys as a baby theme? I don't know why, but I think they are adorable. With all the new fresh trends come new challenges and opportunities to get creative, but sometimes I just like going back to basics and sticking with more traditional baby themes - jungle, monkey, ducks, frogs, elephants, etc. While some of these old standbys come back with a flourish, not all of them do, so when I get a chance to make a good ol' traditional themed cake, I'm excited.

I especially get excited because some of my favorite blankets to use are these great neutral monkey blankets and, of course, if you'd sorted through images of my diaper cakes, you'd see those as well as this adorable Ty monkey that have become some of my favorite monkey accents.

So, I had a request for a monkey cake about 5 months after making a similar cake. I'm more than happy to repeat themes, but I do have to clarify that no two diaper cakes are going to be exactly alike. I can create two that are pretty close to the same thing when made together, but with the changes in availability of certain items, I can't always repeat a design after the fact.

For this cake, I started with my standard spiral cake. I used my favorite monkey blankets around the top and bottom tiers with a coordinating blanket for the middle layer. For this cake, I had some brown washcloths which aren't a common baby item, but I had some extra from a special order for a previous cake, so they made a great addition to this one. One of my favorite parts of this cake was the adorable monkey hat that I found. Complete with monkey face and ears! So adorable! The cake was topped with the good ol' standby Ty monkey. Just like the previous monkey cake I made (and a few other monkey themed baby gifts). I then added some super cute monkey die cuts to decorate the layers.

There are definitely differences between the two cakes I made, though the overall look is very similar. It's tough for me to decide if I like one over the other just because they are so similar. Not that it matters, the finished product was a great hit. I'd love the chance to make another monkey cake. Truth be told, I already have the monkey topper. He's so cute, I just can't help myself.