This is my first Sock Monkey Cake. All it took was some strawberry cake, strawberry Rice Krispy treats, fondant and buttercream icing. (Oh, and approximately 14 hours, lots of patience, and some trial & error. A little too much error.)
A dear friend of mine contacted me a few weeks ago and asked if I'd be up for the challenge of making a Sock Monkey Cake for his mom's 75th birthday party. (She's collected them for years, so it seemed like a totally awesome idea.) I was both, intrigued & intimidate. Sock monkeys are lanky, floppy, silly things. How in the world do I make that out of cake? Plus, there's this thing called GRAVITY that usually doesn't cooperate with cakes that need to sit upright. Or be transported. More importantly, I'm always intimated when I'm asked to make desserts for an event, where people are expecting great things. Ack. The pressure just about kills me. I prefer to bake on a whim, and if it turns out, I surprise someone with it. Ta-da! Less stress that way.
Anyway... I did it. And it turned out pretty good. The trickiest part was figuring out how to make the blotchy brown & white sock monkey fabric. I used a recipe for chocolate fondant that tastes a lot like a Tootsie Roll, and then grated white chocolate over it, embedding it into the fondant with my rolling pin. Time consuming, but totally worth it, dontcha think?
Happy Birthday Alys! Enjoy your monkey.
Not to gross you out or anything... but strawberry Rice Krispy treats look a lot like ground beef. Ewwww. They do, however, allow you to make 3-dimensional cakes that will defy gravity.