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Zombie birthday cake

May 13, 2013 by Katie Bryson

Zombie cake

Arlo is obsessed with zombies. I think it comes from a combination of Scooby Doo and the Plants Vs Zombies game on the iPad. So when I asked him what kind of cake he’d like for his fourth birthday party, it had to be a depiction of the living dead. Naturally.

We didn’t want to give the other children at the party nightmares, so after ruling out most of the gruesome looking cakes we found on Pinterest, we decided to model the cake on the more adorable zombie out of the Plants Vs Zombies game.

Like last year it was a team effort, with me baking  the cake and Matthew taking creative leadership with the fondant icing.

How did we do it?

I used my staple chocolate cake recipe, using all the batter to fill a lined 25cm square loose bottomed cake tin.

After it cooled Matthew cut sections of the cake out of the bottom to create a jaw line, and shaved a shallow well to create a recess for the mouth.

He then rolled out grey fondant icing until very thin and after brushing the sponge with raspberry jam that had been warmed in the microwave, he carefully covered it with the fondant.

Any splits in the icing were cleverly turned into wounds oozing raspberry jam. The rest of the features simply cut out of different coloured rolled fondant icing.

Fondant icing is brilliant as it gives such a crisp finish for novelty cakes.

The party

feeding boys43

We joined forces with Arlo’s best buddy James and hit the local sports centre complete with bouncy castle and loads of their friends from nursery.

Sharing a party is just brilliant. Not only does it halve the costs, but you can split the tasks and it leaves you with more time to actually take in a bit of what’s going on rather than manically running around with plates of sandwiches and jugs of squash.

We served up a simple selection of sandwiches, mini sausages, crisps, popcorn, carrot, cucumber and cherry tomatoes. And as usual about a quarter of it was eaten!

We ditched plastic-filled party bags in favour of a book, a marshmallow pop and a slice of cake for each of the revellers.

Marshmallow pops

Another birthday

It also reminded me that one of my first ever blog posts was about Arlo’s 1st birthday celebration – so Feeding Boys and a Firefighter is three years old this month! Can’t quite believe how much Arlo has changed in that time, as has my life!

Have a good week everyone 🙂

 

 

Filed Under: 1 Featured Recipes, Bakes, Fun, Party

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Comments

  1. Corina says

    May 13, 2013 at 2:58 pm

    I love this! I made my first kids cake a month ago – a dinosaur – and now I just want to try and make more fun cake designs.

    • Katie Bryson says

      May 15, 2013 at 6:36 pm

      Wow a dinosaur – brilliant!

  2. Hussy London Housewife says

    May 14, 2013 at 7:53 am

    This looks amazing.
    Well done !

    • Katie Bryson says

      May 14, 2013 at 8:09 am

      Thank you! Arlo loved it 🙂

  3. Jan Bailey says

    May 14, 2013 at 9:22 am

    Well done Team Bryson – it looks suitably gruesome!! Hope you all had a great party – Happy birthday Arlo.
    Well done too on bucking the trend for plastic bags full of over-priced rubbish that has become a “must do” for parents hosting a kid’s party!

    • Katie Bryson says

      May 15, 2013 at 6:35 pm

      Thanks Jan! Yes, we’re not a fan of plastic tat in this house… I tend to chuck it in the bin when the kids aren’t looking 😉

  4. Rosemary Hamilton says

    May 14, 2013 at 12:02 pm

    At long last I know what a Zombie is! Thankyou Arlo for educating Grannie Strawberry.
    Well done Matthew for the decorating, I’m sure you will be in much demand(nice little sideline!)

    • Katie Bryson says

      May 15, 2013 at 6:35 pm

      fighting fires by day, decorating cakes by night… or in this case the other way around as he put it together before a night shift!

About Katie

I’m Katie Bryson – Freelance Food Writer, wife of a strapping vegetarian and mum of two boisterous boys – keeping them all fuelled and trying to stay sane is a daily challenge so I thought I’d share my experiences. Read More...

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cookingkt

This is a giant @reesesuk birthday cake for my gia This is a giant @reesesuk birthday cake for my giant 15 year old son Arlo… pretty bloody pleased with myself!!!! Many thanks to @thebakingexplorer for a fabulous recipe… 🎂🥳🎉🎁🎈🎊 Now it’s time to celebrate!!!!!!
Bank holiday weekend complete. #fishnchips #jackru Bank holiday weekend complete. #fishnchips #jackrussellterrier #whitleybay
Just what I needed this morning… it doesn’t ma Just what I needed this morning… it doesn’t matter what shizzle is going on in my life, the beach is always there to soothe me. #whitleybaybeach #upwiththelarks #seatherapy🌊
Feta-stuffed peppers with colourful couscous from Feta-stuffed peppers with colourful couscous from the latest @slimmingworld magazine…. Smells amazing!!!! #slimmingworlduk #slimmingworldfood
Beautiful little book the audience were all given Beautiful little book the audience were all given at last night’s performance of #Here from @curious.monkey_ at @northern_stage. Such a powerful performance from the talented cast bringing together individual stories of what it means to seek sanctuary in the North East, the friendships that are forged and the spark of hope that refuses to be snuffed out. With the plight of refugees so visible right now,  the timing of this performance was impeccable. #RefugeesWelcome #togetherwithrefugees🧡 #StoryCollectors
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