This is actually for my sister who is not an avid decorator (or cake central devotee), but is a dedicated mom! My niece has decided she wants guinea pigs on top of the cupcakes for her 6th birthday, so sis called for advice. But I'm a little stumped. Anyone have any ideas?

I searched here and found some really cute sculpted guinea pig cakes, but she's not up to attemping that. So far, our best idea is to cut swiss cake rolls in half diagonally for a body, add a mini cupcake or donut hole for a head, and pipe fur all over with a grass tip.

She doesn't want to go with modelled fondant as she hasn't worked with it and doesn't think the kids would like to eat it. If she didn't live in FL while I live in NY, I'd happily do them for her.

Have you seen this cute guinea pig? It is made from rice krispy treats and covered with fondant. I don't know any kids that don't like eating fondant figures. If you don't want to use fondant, you can use modeling chocolate or even rolled buttercream (link below.) It is supposed to be for cookies, but I have been using it lately for figures too. Pretty easy to work with. (it looks like the figures will be oily looking,  but as they sit, they reabsorb the oil and look just like fondant.)

http://cakecentral.com/gallery/1587581

http://cakecentral.com/recipes/7434/marshmallow-rolled-buttercream-for-decorated-cookies

You should be able to easily ship some fondant guinea pigs. They don't have much sticking out from them. If you pack them well with a lot of soft paper towels all around them, I bet they would be just fine.

Good luck!