Frankie & I emailed Hi Monkey! with our Panda cake story, and he was gracious enough to respond to us. Here is the correspondance in its entirety:
At 03:00 PM 11/16/2006, you wrote:
Hi Monkey,
We made cupcakes for our new friend Jayce, who just came into this world yesterday. We thought it might be a nice present, but unfortunately we don't have a great photograph since we were rushing to get to the hospital in time to see everyone while they were still awake. There is a little story about it on the blog www.oyster-stew.blogspot.com, and here is a picture for you of just the cupcakes: *we included a picture of Frankie wearing his Lavender Wreath*
As you can see, we have had our license to operate a #12 spreader revoked and now have to go back to using the #14 safety spreader until our classes are completed. :(
I volunteered to eat all the cupcakes until Mommy gets it right but somehow she didn't think that was a good idea.
Love, Francis (aka Frankie)
(with some typing assistance from Mom Heather)
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my dear frankie,
i can't tell you how delighted i am that you took the time to write me such a charming note. you are certainly a photogenic and festive chap!
you and your mommy are so smart to whip up panda cupcakes to celebrate jayce's premier. many people are not aware that new born panda cupcakes need time to develop their ears. i noticed that you even had some pandas that were a wee bit younger than the others because they still had their baby white noses. i must say i am concerned that you had your #12 spreader license revoked. i've seen many a master of the #12 spreader shy away from a panda cup cake. i'll be speaking to the licensing board immediately to have your license reinstated and see that you receive a commendation for frosting tinting.
i must say that is very compassionate of you to eat any unsightly panda cupcakes. just remind your mommy to remove those chocolate ears first!
all my best to jayce, his mummy and daddy and your mummy!
deliciously yours,
monkey
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Panda Bear Cupcakes for Jayce's 1st birthday
I decided to make some Panda Bear cupcakes for, alternatively, Jayce Preston's first birthday or Jennie's first dose of chocolate now that she's given birth depending on which excuse you prefer. When I first saw the recipe on HiMonkey.net I knew that I would have to try them at some point. If you'd like to see the original inspiration as well as photos of what they should look like, check out -
http://www.himonkey.net/cooking/pandacupcakes/
The only thing I did differently was to make the Devil's Food from scratch with a recipe from cupcakeblog.com (http://cupcakeblog.com/index.php/category/ingredients/chocolate/?s=devil) and I skipped the ganache filling because well, I had to get to the hospital at some point. Oh and of course the other thing I did differently was completely mess up the frosting. One would think that I could handle a simple buttercream recipe at this point but apparently not. I need remedial frosting class. Maybe I could take a pastry class just on making frosting because I don't think I could eat the sheer volume of cupcakes it would take to get it right on my own. I did however splash out on a set of nifty food coloring gels which not only mixed up the perfect color immédiatement but did not get all over my fingers, hands, countertop, dog's ears, etc. which the watery tear-drop old-school ones always manage to do. I am throwing those away right now as I doubt there will be much use for them except for easter egg dying, and quite frankly, with a newborn infant I don't think there will be much playing around with eggs this year, human or chicken.
Pandas ears actually develop post birth (well, the cake ones anyway!)
