Together Birthday Party: Mina (4) and Rowan (2)

Mina and Rowan had a farmhouse-themed, Together birthday party. I thought I had sold Mina on the idea because of a very simple cake idea, but noooo. It turns out that she had very different expectations and wanted lots of little piggies, cows, shee, bounce houses and who knows what else.  Then Masi got involved, so of course the caliber of the party planning had to go up a notch. 

Since Mina loves chocolate, we decided to go with a gooey chocolate cake that would serve as our mud puddle. A chocolate cake with blue butter cream frosting would serve as the lake. Dy made the actual cakes because I am terrible at it.  

The piggies were made from fondant.  I'm not a huge fan of fondant, so I went with a homemade marshmallow fondant to make the animals more palatable. I thought the animals would be done lickety split, but they took hours to make! 

8 ounces of little marshmallows (half a bag)

2 cups (half pound) of confectioners sugar

2 tablespoons of water

Food coloring. 

Microwave the marshmallows in 30 sec intervals until they are poofy and expanded. Stir them to melt into a smooth paste. Add sugar and stir in.  I had to use my hands, because it really needed to be kneaded in. Keep adding sugar until it loses its stickiness and becomes a smooth ball.  This will keep for a while at room temp.  You can knead in different colors once you are ready to work with it. 

Still, a chocolate cake alone does not a birthday party make.  Fortunately we had lots of help when it came to the rest of the menu, which included: cut veggies and dip, BBQ pork (in two crockpots), buns, spinach bites, milk boxes, juice, water, beer, bbq wings, watermelon (forgotten in the fridge)

Making decorations

Bubbles

Kate brought an inflatable pool

 

The dessert spread. Unfortunately the two cakes didn't make it seem farmhouse-y enough, so I made some marshmallow sheep as well.  I made them by slightly wetting one side of little marshmallows and sticking them to a big marshmallow. The face was made out of colored fondant. The kids swiped these way before the cake cutting ever happened. 

 

Since we celebrated their birthday a little early, we celebrated again between their birthdays.

No, I am not a nutter for buying a FRUIT TART for a birthday cake.  Who eats a fruit tart for their birthday, especially if there is a chocolate cake option?  Observe.