Banana Pecan Caramel Safari!

My friend Dawn is pregnant with her first child and is due in early March.  She and her husband, Brian, went to Africa on their honeymoon and are completely in love with African Animals!  So of course, baby plus African animals = safari themed baby room, baby shower, everything!

The baby shower hostess instructed me banana cake, 12 people invited.  Okey, dokey.  I also googled "safari cupcakes" for my inspiration.  I pulled in my two favorite cupcake-istas Ashley and Marlo, and Ashley emphatically suggested that we could indeed make some super cute animal faces on our own rather than buying them or just cutting small animals using tiny cookie cutters.

I started on the cupcake recipe (using my Martha Stewart Cupcakes book) on my own, and the girls came later to help with the fondant.

These cupcakes called for 4 ounces of pecans.  Pecans make everything better, don't they?

 It's always good to get out the food scale, so that you have just the right amount.  Most other countries bake by weight, and I have found it to be more precise than cup and spoon measurements.

 You first have to zero the scale with your container, and then add the pecans.

 Exactly 4 ounces, how perfect is that?

 Time to toast them just until they are fragrant, yum yum!

 Luckily there is someone in the house who buys bananas with the intention of eating them.  And then doesn't eat them.  So there were 4 perfectly almost-brown bananas waiting to be baked!

 Time to get out the potato masher!

 Four bananas, almost perfectly 2 cups mashed!

 Time to whisk the dry ingredients - with some yummy cinnamon added in.

 Mixing the wet ingredients - bananas, vanilla and buttermilk.

 And here they are!  I sprinkled some of the chopped pecans on the tops of the cupcakes - all but 3.  I actually made 3 cupcakes with no pecans because my hubby doesn't like pecans, and I wanted to be able to tell which ones were "his."

 The recipe said it made 18, but it really made 36, so I used these nut cups - they make such cute cupcakes.

 So beautiful and yummy looking!  Perfect for a winter baby shower.

Time for the Swiss meringue caramel frosting!

 Making caramel - never done it before, of course it didn't work the first time, so Steve (hubby) had to come in and make the second batch!  It's so nice to have a husband who is handy in the kitchen and can help me out when things get rough!

 I can definitely whip up some butter on my own though!

Here is his deliciously perfect caramel!

A perfectly topped cupcake!  These would be done except it's for a baby shower and we need to add the cuteness!!

 Here I am making the parts for the elephant.

 Here's Ashley - I think maybe making the backgrounds.

 Here are the animal parts.  :)

 Finished fondant toppers!

 Ready to go to the shower.

So cute, right?  Luckily the mamma-to-be thought so, too - and that's all that mattered!