Monkey Balls :)

[Life has been happening. I've been busy. I apologize.] 

Monkey Balls....it's not what you think. Get your mind outta the gutter people! During my Adidas Cake delivery, I was lucky enough to score another cake order.  Keisha Leilani, a server from Basic Pizza in Downtown San Diego was turning 25.  Her best friend, Nelli was turning 23 and she wanted to have a joint birthday cake. Keisha told me that Nelli loves monkeys and tennis, so that's what I made. This was also the first request for a gluten free/dairy free cake! (Note: Only the actual cake was gluten free/dairy free. The fondant covering and monkeys may include gluten and/or dairy.)

I started by making monkey figures out of chocolate fondant. Sculpting figures out of fondant is probably my favorite decorating technique. Here's how I did it...

 I made the monkeys some fun party hats for the celebration :)

Probably the most distinctive features on monkeys are their ears and tail. 

Next thing to do was make the tennis balls.  I decided on using three balls for a well balanced design. Tennis balls have a very recognizable yellow-green color with a white striping. In order for them not to look like any other spherical-shaped cake, I had to stay true to to these distinctions.  I waited until the tennis balls were completed before I permanently adhered the limbs onto the bodies. 

The cake board for this order played a very important role in my overall vision.  This cake needed to withstand a 2-hour drive to San Diego, so the cake itself needed to be structurally sound.  I couldn't do whole tennis balls in fear of damage during delivery, so I made three hemispheres instead. The cake board I chose was silver metallic that was slightly reflective, so that when the hemispheres were placed on top, it would create an illusion of whole round balls....tricky tricky.

Through my tennis ball research, I analyzed the various logos, and created a font of my own to add the "happy bday" greeting.

Last thing to do was add the monkeys. Keisha requested that I write "Monkey see, Monkey do" so I made the monkeys gesture accordingly.

All that was left to do was box it up and get ready for delivery. This order is one of the most unique design requests I've gotten. I can't wait to see what other challenges get thrown at me.

I have so many more fun cakes to share with you. I hope I can catch up on my updates, so please stay posted. Thank you for stopping by.

~Abs of Cakes~