Zoo Animal Cupcakes

For a baby's first birthday, what could be better than zoo/jungle animals?  I cut out the background using a round cutter and green marshmallow fondant.  Then I scoured my kitchen for the right shapes to use as cutters for the animal parts.  After much searching, I remembered seeing "homemade cookie cutters" on www.pinterest.com using soda cans.  See my tutorial of how to create your own cookie cutters, or in my case, fondant cutters.  I used my own cutters to create these adorable zebras.

 Next I used yellow and orange marshmallow fondant to create lions.  For all the cupcakes, I "painted" all the details by hand using food coloring gel.

 The next cupcakes I created were the giraffes.  I used yellow and beige fondant.  I had to free hand the ears and the horns.

 Last, what zoo is complete without monkeys?  I created the monkeys using brown and beige marshmallow fondant.  Then I painted on a variety of monkey faces.  Below are the 2 dozen cupcakes and the baby smash cake for the birthday boy!