This is a lengthy introduction to the zoo animal cupcakes I recently made, but here goes. My daughter Mia was born with hip dysplasia. For the first several months of her life, she had to wear a brace that kept her legs splayed out like a frog. So, we called her The Frog. The name took on a life of its own: She became Froggie, then Frogalina, and even had her own Froggie theme song. The nickname sounds callous, I know, but the best nicknames usually are. (Take for instance, my 6’8″ brother-in-law, “Stubby”, who earned his nickname as a teenager after blowing off three fingers with a homemade bomb.)

Cute frogs are hard to come by, but when Mia was about six months, I found this card at the Papyrus store on 2nd Street in Long Beach and bought it thinking I might use the design for Mia’s first birthday. We ended up going with a very different theme, but I kept the card in my inspiration file. So, when a client called and asked for zoo-themed cupcakes for her son Dante’s 2nd birthday, I knew exactly what design I would use. Here’s the card:

And here are the cupcakes:

PS: Mia no longer wears the brace, and has earned a new nickname: The Maniac.