Superhero birthday party!
My little one turned 3 last November! I have not been posting regularly so I didn’t update the blog with the eventful celebration, but I cannot miss detailing the wonderful small party we threw in Gabriel’s honor…
I’m of the opinion that for birthday parties, little children actually have more fun and enjoy better smaller groups of people… my rule of thumb (I may have mentioned this before) is that they get to invite as many friends as years they have and up to a maximum of double the years… so if they turn five I would let them invite between 5-10 friends, if it is their third birthday I would have between 3-6 children over and so on…
So Gabriel’s birthday was a smaller gathering with the very closest friends we have in NYC. And it was a blast! Again, you probably by now know how I feel about paying huge amounts of money for children’s entertainment at parties, right? Growing up in a middle class household in Spain every birthday celebration we had or attended was a bunch of children running around like crazy, left to play however and with pretty much whatever they wanted, a nice cake, a delicious assortment of junk food and other delicacies, and that’s pretty much it… and they were absolutely awesome parties!! Kids know how to have fun, you just have to let loose a bit on their special day and, if necessary offer them a range of new and fun games and toys to play together… they will have a blast!
So in preparation for Gabriel’s birthday I visited the Flying Tiger store to get some fun games to play: I bought a spinning wheel with animals the children were supposed to imitate, a game of throwing soft fabric balls to a Velcro covered hat (for aim and accuracy), a few large beach balls, giant superhero inflatable balloons, soft mats to lay on the floor and that was it! Entertainment and fun was ensured!
I also put together some fun superhero-themed goodie bags with lots of games, treats and of course superhero costumes…
I did spend a bit more time than usual on the food offerings, since it was a smaller crowd and I had some extra time to prepare. I served a Spanish tortilla (easy recipe coming soon), Italian meatball mini-calzones (Italian meatballs dressed with marinara sauce and wrapped in pizza dough), pigs in a blanket (mini wieners wrapped on bacon and crescent dough strips), a black and white chocolate fondue with an assortment of fruits and gourmet marshmallows to dip, the ever present cheese and Spanish embutidos board, and a bunch of little birthday cone hats with yummy and decadent candies spread around… there were no leftovers!! And I served three times the recommended amount of each dish!!
For the cake I got inspired by Captain America’s shield and I figured the perfect cake flavor for it had to be chocolate cake… so I rolled up my sleeves and prepared the cake with the following Ultimate Chocolate Cake recipe:
READY IN: 50 mins
SERVES: 16
YIELDS: 1 3 layer cake
INGREDIENTS
Cake Batter
1 cup unsalted butter, softened
1 + 1/2 cups sugar
3 large eggs, at room temperature
1/2 cup mayonnaise
1 + 1/2 cups flour
1 cup unsweetened cocoa powder
1 + 1/2 teaspoon baking soda
1/2 teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
1 + 1/2 cups stout beer (I used a chocolate flavored one)
1 tablespoon vanilla extract
1 tablespoon espresso powder
A handful of chocolate chucks or small chocolate chips
1 Preheat oven to 325°F.
2 Grease and line with parchment paper three 8 inch round cake pans.
3 In a large bowl, on the medium speed of an electric mixer, cream the butter until smooth.
4 Add the sugar gradually and beat until fluffy, about 3 minutes.
5 Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition.
6 Incorporate the mayonnaise to the butter, sugar and egg mix until well combined (trust me, I know it sounds weird but it gives the cake a great moist and fluffy texture)
7 Mix the stout, vanilla extract and espresso powder until diluted and set aside.
8 Shift the flour, salt, baking powder, baking soda and cocoa to combine
9 Combine everything by adding to the butter mix the dry ingredients in four parts, alternating with the stout mix, beating well after each addition. You can add a handful f chocolate chunks or chips to the mix but this time I chose not to…
10 Bake for 30 to 35 minutes or until a cake tester inserted into center of cake comes out clean.
11 Let cakes cool in the pans for 10 minutes.
12 Remove from pans and cool completely on wire rack.
For frosting I usually shy away from butter based frostings since I find them heavy and too rich for my liking… I tend to favor cream cheese and whipped cream frostings which I feel are lighter and more airy… in this ocasión I mixed 6 oz of cream cheese with 1.5 cups of powdered sugar, 3/4 of a cup of cocoa powder and vanilla extract. In another bowl I mixed 1 cup of whipping cream with 1 cup of powdered sugar. I then combined them both by carefully folding them together and adding a mix of crushed left over Halloween candies (Twix, M&M’s, Reese’s cups, Kit Kats… pretty much anything sweet and chocolatey I could get my hands on!) Since Gabriel’s birthday falls just a couple of days after Halloween, that is a great way to get rid of extra candy… put it in the cake and share the bounty!
Once the cake was finalized, it came the time for the fondant decoration!
As I mentioned before, given that the party was a superhero themed party and that the inspiration for the cake’s decor was theCaltain America shield, it was clear that the fondant colors required were red, white and blue…
I covered the cake with red fondant and then layered on top the white ring, blue center and white star decorations… I personalized it by cutting Gabriel’s name with letter cookie cutters and adhering them to the sides of the cake… it was fun, colorful, light, ultra moist and delicious! A superhero worthy cake!!
We had a blast drinking, eating, letting the children play freely and discover new fun games, fighting the giant inflatables and of course hitting the piñata!! The candles were blown and we decided to pop a confetti canon for effect and we loved it to much that it has now become a newly added ritual to add to our roster of family traditions!! I love parties and entertaining people we truly care about… is there anything better in the work that fun family celebrations?
