Wednesday, October 21, 2009

Zoe's 1st Birthday Party


Last Saturday was Zoe's first birthday and it was such a fantastic day. We had friends and family over for a relaxed barbecue and some Beatles Rock Band later in the night. Zoe was brilliant all day long, she even hung out in the shed with the boys to dance and sing to Rock Band - so cute!

And of course you know there was cake...


I made 24 chocolate cupcakes and 24 vanilla cupcakes, each cupcake was topped with orange coloured vanilla butter cream and then topped with a green or blue fondant star.


I even made a little cupcake tower using this great tutorial from Cake Journal - it was pretty easy to do and it looked great. I definitely recommend it if you have a particular colour theme you are trying to follow for a party.


Then of the course there was the cake, a 6" chocolate cake filled with vanilla Swiss meringue butter cream then covered in fondant and topped with a fondant replica of Zoe's favourite toy - Eric the Elephant.


A little close-up of Eric - he was a lot of fun to make!


Cupcake time for Zoe - we lit a candle for her and sang happy birthday. I thought she was going to freak out but she loved all the attention!


Then once the candle was blown out (thanks to me) she had a little taste of the butter cream.


Zoe then continued to destroy the rest of the cupcake - she loved it!


And the all important sliced cake photo - I love those yummy looking layers!


This is Zoe very smily and happy with her grandma.


Zoe opening presents at the end of the night after a quick nap.


After a big day, Zoe gave her new toy puppy a big hug and then went to sleep.

Can't wait for the next birthday party :)

28 comments:

Chantel said...

Awwwwwww my gosh Alicia, you did the most amazing job!! So much work and love went into those cupcakes and cake - what a work of Art!!

You're truely amazing!! :D

Paris Pastry said...

Aw, what a fun party! Eric the Elephant is so beautifully done! And those chocolate layers ... yum! Congratulations on Zoe!

apparentlyjessy said...

You did a great job with Zoe's party! The cake and cupcakes look fantastic. Love the pic's of you and your family, you all look very happy :)

Cathie said...

awww Alicia, the party photos are gorgeous!!! LOVE it!!!!! looks like you all had a fantastic time and I bet even though you were exhausted from all the cupcake & cake making, you LOVED every minute of it.
you have a gorgeous family ♥

Red Boots said...

Wow, these look amazing! I bet you Zoe had the best birthday!! She certainly looks like she was having the best day! xx

ps: I'm still keeping to my Red Deer baking challenge - this week has been a bit hectic - but it's coming!!

Amy said...

What a beautiful day for your gorgeous girl! Congratulations honey! Wow can't believe Zoe is one now!

xoxo

Gala said...

Happy Birthday!
The cupcakes and cake look amazing, good job on the fondant.

Rose said...

You did such a perfect job with anything. I love the cupcake tower and the elephant toy replica!
The photos are so lovely, Zoe really is a cutie.

ROse

Ash said...

What a lucky girl!! She is too adorable!
Your cake is just plain awesome!! You did an amazing job!!

Kasey at Thrifty Little Blog said...

What a sweet party! I bet this made every baby on the block jealous (or maybe just the moms)!!

Becky Farley said...

OH my GOSH!!! I don't know where to start! Zoe is as precious as can be!!

You did such an amazing job on her cake and cupcakes! I love the stars and orange icing of course!
You did such an awesome job on making Eric! geez!

And again great pictures!! ;)

the shoppe owner said...

your cake layers are perfection! i'm jealous! :O)

Jelli said...

It looks like you gave your daughter a perfect 1st birthday party. The cake looks really tasty, and Eric the elephant is super cute, though I really have never seen him before :)

Ingrid_3Bs said...

Okay, the cake and cupcakes are super cute but the star is your babygirl! Oh, boy those blue eyes! She's gorgeous! Happy birthday, Zoe!
~ingrid

drollgirl said...

that is the most amazing cake i have ever seen! you are AMAZING!

and zoe looks so cute and so happy. 1 year old! can you believe it?!?!? i have young nieces and it is so crazy how much they change in so little time.

The Cupcake Tower said...

What a fun party! My daughter is 10 months and LOVES that very same elephant toy. You did an AMAZING JOB of copying him exactly! Even the checkered tag on his head...really - great job! I'm a big fan of cupcake towers and yours looked great! Congrats!

Anonymous said...

Everything looks absolutely perfect! What cake and frosting recipes did you use! Did you make your fondant?
Kait

Chatterbox said...

I agree with your suggestion of sticking to a color scheme for the party. Your soft orange and baby blue tints gave this baby birthday all the more charm.

Those cupcakes and the cute Eric look so gorgeous. What a perfect treat on a first birthday.

Excellent work Alicia both with the yummy foods and with the pictures.

Belated Happy Birthday to the little angel Zoe :)

Cheers!!

Elissa said...

Oh my goodness you are so amazingly talented!! That cake and those cupcakes look fantastic, they look so professional. It looks like a great day and Zoe is such a cutie! Always smiling, beautiful photos.

alissa said...

you're awesome! seriously those look amazing. will you come make one for my (non existent) childs birthday someday? :)

Anonymous said...

The chocolate cake/cupcake recipe can be found in my Cupcake Recipes drop down box - it is Chocolate V.2.

The vanilla cupcake recipe is also in there under Toblerone (just leave out the Toblerone).

The vanilla buttercream is under the Frosting Recipes drop down box - it is the Cinnamon buttercream minus the cinnamon.

The vanilla swiss meringue buttercream used to fill the cake is also in the frosting drop down box.

Anonymous said...

Happy Belated, Zoe!

Mini Baker said...

I'm super excited I found your blog!! You've got so many tasty treats! I'll be checking back often :)
This cake is ADORABLE! (Almost as cute as the little girl!)
-Mini Baker

boots said...

she is so cute, what a beautiful family and a happy baby. your a great mom, always baking treats!

Gabbi said...

Happy Belated Birthday to little Zoe! She's adorable and you're such a fantastically cool mommy for making all of this... :)

Rhianne said...

such wonderful cakes and photos! I love that Zoe destroyed the cake - she is beautiful.

Renata said...

Alicia that is wonderful you are very talented and I wish I could've been there (bloody work!).
I love all of your cakes. Well done! It must have taken you some time to make everything. I remember it took me a whole month to do my wedding cake! But then again I decided on making hundreds of roses which took forever. xxx

Anonymous said...

happy bday to you zoe! what a big puppy toy! Amost as big as you!