The Cooker Boy's 4th Birthday

It's my Birthday!!

This past Sunday was the Cooker Boy's 4th birthday. I can't believe how fast he's growing up! This is the first year that he has been really excited about his birthday, and he had been planning a Spiderman-themed party for months. A group of our family and close friends gathered at our house to celebrate, Spidey Style- complete with "web"...that story will follow!

A few weeks ago, the Cooker Boy and I were both under the weather. We spent an afternoon lounging and looking at pictures of different Spiderman cakes on Flickr. The Cooker Boy was very vocal about what he liked and didn't like, and after about an hour of looking at cakes, he'd picked his favorite. I wasn't so sure I could pull it off, but I would certainly try. Check out the inspiration here.

This cake is definitely far from perfect, but being only the 2nd time I've worked with fondant, and the first time I've ever made a tiered cake, I was pleased! The bottom tier of the cake is my favorite Chocolate Cake recipe, the same recipe I used for my Snickers Cake. The top tier is a Sour Cream Cookie Cake that I found in my Betty Crocker Cookbook. It is a delicious cake! I'll be sure to get the recipe up this week. Both tiers are filled and covered with Vanilla Buttercream, and Spiderman's face is covered in homemade Marshmallow Fondant.

I made a cake the previous weekend using Wilton's premade fondant, and it worked well, but I wasn't super thrilled with the taste of the fondant. I found an easy recipe for Marshmallow Fondant and decided to give it a try. It was very easy to make and the taste is far better, but I had a little trouble with the rolling part. It seemed the Fondant was either too sticky or too dry at first- I just couldn't find the happy medium. After rolling and rerolling the same bunch of Fondant a few times, I pitched it and decided the bottom tier of the cake would just be covered in Buttercream. I saved the rest of the Fondant for Spiderman's face, and gave it a go the next day. I had much better luck the second time around!

As for the rest of the menu, we had:

Buffalo Chicken Dip with Pita and Tortilla Chips

Pigs in a Blanket

Spinach Artichoke Braid

3 Varieties of Chex Mix*

I have to say I underestimated the amount of food I'd need by far- either that or my guests were super hungry! I also forgot to take pictures of the food during the party! I'm still getting the hang of the food blogging thing, especially when it involves a party.  I'm not the kind of person to serve Pizza or premade food at a party, so I spent the morning/afternoon of the party cooking. I hadn't eaten anything all day myself, so I was shocked when I looked up to see most of the food had disappeared in minutes! I also forgot to mention that the Pigs in a Blanket were for the kiddos..(The Cooker Boy requested his Birthday Party Menu include Hot Dogs and Cheese sticks..so I compromised!) and they were inhaled by the adults! I guess we're all kids at heart.

We had a great time- the Birthday boy was super excited about having his friends over for a party, and especially about his Spiderman Cake. Here are some pictures:

Whack-a-mole! Mommy's favorite arcade game turned into a home version!

Evan helping Ben out on his new wheels

The following is what happens when your good friends (who happen to be childless at this point in time) give your child a Spiderman Glove that shoots real "web" (silly string). Revenge is sweet my friends, just wait until you have kids and Auntie Beth comes to visit!

I had "web" on my ceiling..ceiling fan..floor..walls..

Arni was the tallest guy around, and could still barely get the "web" off my ceiling!

Thanks to everyone who came to the party- we had a great time. Your friendship and love mean so much to Ben and I- loud games and silly string included!

Check out my friend Kaytie's blog, Confessions of a Viking Wife. I love her account of the web incident! Kaytie and her hubby Arni are newlyweds, and they are leaving the Sunshine state to move to Colorado in January. We're gonna miss you, but I'm glad I can follow your adventures on your blog!

Recipes will follow soon!

*The Chex Mix was generously provided by General Mills as part of a MyGetTogether party package I recieved through my participation in the Psst...network.