Jungle Baby Shower Sweets (Vegan Sugar Cookies)

Last Saturday I attended a baby shower for one of my best friends! She is due in the middle of December, and her family decided to throw her a Jungle themed baby shower. So excited!


I was asked to do the desserts (yay!) and was given free reign with the design. The only request were "mini cupcakes (carrot cake and lemon funfetti) and ninja cookies".  The ninja cookies are kind of an inside joke, just go with it.

Oh, and everything had to be vegan. After making these sugar cookies I have to admit that this is the best sugar cookie recipe that I have come across so far. I love how they rolled out, baked up, and tasted! I am also really happy with this vegan icing (ie: no meringue powder could be used!) that I used to decorate the cookies, one batch was enough for 3 dozen of these! Since cookie decorating isn't my forte, I think I will stick with this icing recipe for now.

In addition to the cupcakes and cookies I decided to make a jungle-themed cake to highlight the main baby shower theme. It is sometimes hard display a theme with something as small as mini cupcakes and I had some fun ideas for the cake.

The cake was an 8" vanilla funfetti cake that I topped with chocolate fondant.  This was the very first time that I was able to completely cover a cake in fondant with NO rips or tears!! I happy-danced all over the kitchen over this one.  

I then rolled out two different colours of green fondant and cut it with a variety of cookie cutters. I realized quickly that I only own two different leaf cookie cutters! A maple leaf and a tiny 1" leaf.  Oops.  So I used a funky heart cookie cutter and a snowflake cookie cutter as well to add some extra shapes. Since I was going to be layering the leaves I wasn't too worried about people noticing snowflakes and hearts on the jungle cake :)

The animals were also made completely out of fondant.  I think the Elephant and the Giraffe are my favourites! My idea of Lion needs some work though... I still can't believe I was able to make something like these out of fondant.


I hope everyone enjoyed the desserts at the shower! I had an absolute blast and I CANNOT WAIT to meet this little ninja!


This cookie recipe made 3 dozen ninja cookies. The original recipes for both the cookies and the icing are from Vegan Cookies Invade Your Cookie Jar.

Vegan Sugar Cookies

• 2 1/3 cups flour
• 2 tbsp corn starch
• 1/4 tsp salt
• 1/4 tsp baking powder
• 1/2 cup margarine, room temperature
• 1/2 cup shortening
• 1 cup sugar
• 2 tsp vanilla
• 1/2 tsp additional extract (could be lemon, maple, almond, more vanilla, etc. I used maple)
• 1/4 cup soy milk

1. In a large bowl whisk together the flour, corn starch, salt, and baking powder
2. In a second large bowl cream together the margarine, shortening, and sugar until light and fluffy
3. Add the vanilla, other extract of choice, and the soy milk to the sugar mixture and beat well to combine
4. Add half the flour to the wet ingredients and mix well
5. Add the remaining flour and mix until a soft dough just begins to form
6. Divide the dough in half and press each half into a disk that is 1" thick
7. Wrap each disk in plastic wrap, and then place in a ziploc bag and set them in the refrigerator
8. Let the dough chill for a few hours, or overnight
9. When ready to roll the dough, preheat the oven to 350 F and line your baking sheets with parchment paper
10. Flour the counter, and then roll one disk (keeping the second disk in the refrigerator until you need it) until it is about 1/4 - 3/8" thick
11. Cut out the desired shapes and place on the prepared baking sheet
12. Bake for 8 - 10 minutes until the edges just start to turn golden brown
13. Repeat with the remaining disk of dough
14. Let cool completely before decorating
15. Enjoy!

Vegan 'Royal Icing'

• 4 cups icing sugar
• 4 tbsp soy milk
• 1/2 tsp vanilla
• Food colouring (optional)

1. In a large bowl sift the powdered sugar until no lumps remain
2. Whisk in the soy milk and vanilla until smooth
3. Divide the icing into several bowls and dye the icing any colour you like
4. Using a pastry bag with a small round tip, or a ziploc bag with the corner snipped off decorate the cookies until your heart is content
5. Let dry completely before storing (they can be stacked with layers of parchment paper between the cookies)
6. Enjoy!

I'll post the vegan Carrot Cake Cupcakes and the vegan Lemon Funfetti Cupcakes recipes later this week :)