Corcoran Street Kitchen: Banana Monkey Cupcakes

These cupcakes are the absolute cutest cupcakes on earth. My cousin Jordan and his wife Rachel are expecting their first baby, a boy, next month. We celebrated the great news with a Monkey-themed baby shower last weekend in New Jersey. My mom, sister, and I were in charge of dessert and we found these adorable cupcakes on the interwebs. We loved them so much that we got together before the shower and decorated them together. My sister made us a delicious brunch to keep up our strength while we worked and she also took the pictures. She was pretty drunk, which is probably why they are so blurry (#sarcasm). But they turned out super cute and very delicious. I really loved them. They are a great idea for a birthday party or shower, so keep this recipe on hand if you have one coming up.

Banana Monkey Cupcakes (makes 2 dozen cupcakes)
Ingredients:
1 batch Banana Cupcakes
Icing:
1 sticks butter (melted)
2/3 cups cocoa powder
3 cups powdered sugar
1/3 cups milk
1 tsp. vanilla
Monkey Decorations:
1 box Nilla wafers
1 box mini Nilla wafers
mini M&Ms or chocolate chips (for the eyes)
red gel icing
black gel icing

1. I made up a batch of my banana cupcakes and allowed them to cool completely.

2. I used the back of a box of Hersey Cocoa powder to make their "Perfectly Chocolate" Chocolate Frosting. It was my first time making chocolate frosting, so I stuck with the original and it was very delicious.
- Whisk together melted butter, vanilla, and cocoa.
- Alternate adding parts of the powdered sugar and milk until both are fully added and incorporated.
- Frosting's done.

3. Slice 24 mini Nilla wafers in half for the ears. This wasn't an exact science. A few crumbled while Katie was cutting them, but that is OK. Just eat the broken ones and make enough so that you have 48 little ears.