When Trevor turned 4, he was so excited to have a Curious George birthday party. I figured a monkey-face cake couldn’t be *that* difficult… but all it takes is a Google search to prove me wrong! I found “George” cakes that looked like pigs and dogs and bears. Big ears, no ears, Oreo cookie eyes. Some did look like monkeys, but finding a true likeness of the one-and-only Curious George was decidedly hard to come by. I’ll take the challenge!
The very best Curious George birthday cake I came across was on My Blessed Mess. And so, careful to keep the frosting off my open laptop, here’s what I came up with. You need one batch of cake, white frosting, chocolate frosting, and a black or very dark brown frosting in a bag with a small round tip. You could also use a writing gel or similar.
With one yellow cake mix, I made a 9″ round cake, two regular size muffins, and a dozen mini-cupcakes. Flour the round pan well or use a parchment round on the bottom. I could have put a little more batter in the round pan and a little less in the two muffins.
The mini-cupcakes were basically using up leftover batter since one mix makes enough for 2 round pans. Bake the extra however you want.
Yay, out of the pan without sticking! You want to cool the round cake with the rounded “top” facing up.
Next, use globs of frosting to glue the ears on George. You’ll need to cut the muffins down to size. I cut off the rounded muffin top and some off the side of each one. Not pictured: scraps I snacked on. Take your time with placement. They are not exactly centered on the sides of the face but rather slightly below center. (See finished photo at the bottom.) Honestly I think mini-size muffins would work fine here. My George’s ears were on the large side.
Time to mix up some face paint. Take a scoop of vanilla frosting out of the tub and add a scoop of chocolate. Stir stir stir.
Before you get crazy here, take a toothpick and gently draw the face outline in the top of the cake. Notice that the sides dip in very close to the tops of the ears. This photo is angled slightly so see the next photo for a better look. Ok, now you can frost the tan center of the face.
Frost the dark chocolate next and the ears last. Be careful with the ears. You don’t frost dark brown to the edge of the round cake. Better take a toothpick and draw part of the ear onto the top of the round cake first.
So far so good, but so far yet to go! Here’s where I started feeling uncertain of my novice cakery skills. Deep breath. Use the toothpick to draw if you need to. Take some reserved white frosting for the whites of the eyes. Many cakes I saw had horrific eyes. Mine turned out slightly different from each other but I claim it added character. Whatever you do, don’t make them too big, and please don’t use Oreos!
I practiced my black piping on a saucer. Ok, it wasn’t actually black but very dark chocolate “brownie topping” I picked up on clearance one fine day. Been in the pantry for ages, gooey and hard to squeeze. How nice that my round frosting tip fit perfectly.
Did you catch the outline of the eyes? Don’t complete the circles. Notice where the nose lines up with the eyes and ears. See how low and wide the smile is. Have fun, George is smiling at you!
I was so pleased with the result that I took a picture to show off all the fingerprints on the plate. Anyway, the Birthday Boy was very happy with it.
Happy Birthday Trevor!
I am so grateful for you doing this. Every george I have looked at looks nothing like him yours is wonderful perfect. My daughter loves him. She isTurning 3 im trying it thank you again.
Thank you. My daughter is turning 2 and LOVES George. Wasn’t sure just how I was going to tackle the cake. Now I know.
THANK YOU for posting this! I really wanted to make a George cake for my daughter’s second birthday, but a lot of the “homemade” cakes I’ve been seeing online look like you need the skills of a professional to pull it off. Thank you for the tips and step-by-step directions!
Will it hold up well if i make it the night before? I really love this adorable idea and my monkey turns 1 next weekend
It should hold up just fine unless you’re in a humid climate. Lightly cover it but not airtight or it may get soggy. First give the frosting a chance to dry out and harden up a little. Then you can stick toothpicks into the cake and lay plastic wrap over that. I keep mine at a cool room temp on the counter but you could refrigerate it also. Happy Birthday to your little Monkey!
Great instructions!!! It took some effort and concentration, but it wasn’t crazy difficult and I was able to pull this off and my two year old knew right away that it was “George!” Thanks for the help!
YAY! Home made is always better than store bought! My daughter is turning 2 and I am turning 28. Yes, we have the same birthday. :o) thank you so much! I cant wait to see her eyes light up!
Thank you for this step-by-step article! I just have one question: how many does this cake serve?
Thanks!
Thank you. This is awesome.
Thanks for the instructions! I made a great curious George cake for my son’s 5th birthday. You made it possible!
I am so glad I found your site this past week. I was able to follow your great instructions to make my first character cake for my 2 year old daughter! I surprised myself! But couldn’t have done it without your directions. Thank you.
Thank you so much, you saved the day, our grandson wanted a curious George cake and we looked high and low and unable to buy one we searched the internet and found you…. I copied your cake and it was a complete hit for our 2 year old. \thank you so much for sharing this.
I followed your instructions to make my first ever cake and first ever time frosting a cake for my sons 2nd bday party! It was a hit!
Nothing was left the cake was devoured and every one loved the monkey cake with our george theme! Thanks so much for sharing
Best tutorial, I made this cake and it looked great, could NOT have done it without your post. Thank You!
Thank you!! I followed your design for my son’s 3rd birthday cake today. It was a big hit. I made the Hershey frosting with Special Dark cocoa, so our George was rather dark, but definitely still looked like the real thing.
Just wanted to say thank you for the tutorial! I made a huge duck cake for my son’s 1st birthday (which was a lot more people there than his 2nd birthday will be). It was 2 large round cakes and it turned out a lot better than I anticipated. It was also so much fun to make. I am really looking forward to trying to make a fun cake for each of my kid’s birthday’s. 🙂 I’m no pro, but it’s just plain fun and adds more love to the day to do it yourself I think.
This year for his 2nd birthday it’s just a small family gathering and he has been LOVING Curious George for the past few months. So, I thought it would be the theme to go with.
This will be the perfect size cake and I so appreciate the step by step tips.
Thank you again and God bless!
Sarah