A Very Peppa Birthday

If you’re not a parent who has caved and turned on the TV in a desperate search for sanity, you may not be familiar with the British cartoon, Peppa Pig. Since I am one of those parents, Abby has grown to love this cute cartoon character, and thus had a Peppa Pig-themed second birthday party.

Now call me a bad parent, but I’m all about low-key birthday parties for children who aren’t old enough to remember the actual party. So, like last year, we had a family dinner at a hibachi grill (a “cook-in-front-of-you,” as it’s known in our family), then ate cake and opened presents after. But unlike last year, I decided to have a theme, because, you know, you want the pictures to be good!

For about $30, I purchased a Peppa Pig party kit, which included plates, napkins, cutlery, a table cloth, hats, balloons, etc. Totally worth it!

I also bought Abby a cute birthday dress, which will double as her Easter dress!

Because I’m a foodie, I spent the most time on Abby’s birthday cake, which, if you’re familiar with the Peppa Pig image, was either going to end up cute or obscene.

I think it turned out pretty well, especially considering that the cake itself was so crumbly that icing it was a challenge. And even though I made a healthful strawberry smash cake for Abby’s first birthday, I took the lazy route this year and used a lemon cake mix with homemade strawberry icing and fondant. It was delicious, albeit super unhealthy!

In case you’re interested in making your own Peppa Pig cake, here’s how I did it.

How to make a Peppa Pig cake:

1. Bake two 9-inch round cakes, preferably not super crumbly. Allow to cool completely.
2. Go online and find a simple picture of Peppa to use as your template. Stretch the picture out on a vertical Word/Pages document so that the head fills one page and the torso fills another. Print and cut out the head and torso separately, keeping the ears intact.
3. Place the first cake on one half of a large baking sheet or serving tray, then place the torso template on top. With a sharp knife, trace the template and remove the excess cake.
4. Wrap the torso in homemade or store-bought fondant icing, dyed red or dark pink with gel food coloring (just a few drops!).
5. Place the second cake so that the curved edge is flush against the top of the torso. Now place the bottom of the head template along that same edge and cut along the pattern to remove excess cake. Place some of the extra cake under the nose portion of the template and cut around the template to form the nose. Cut out the ears and place them on the large cut-out scraps of cake. Cut around them and attach the ears to Peppa’s head.
6. Using a light pink icing, ice Peppa’s head and ears.
7. To make the eyes, carefully remove the creme centers from two Oreos and add two black fondant pupils.
8. Using a cookie cutter, cut a circle out of the fondant to make the cheek. Roll out the fondant to make the mouth, arms, tail, and legs. Use black fondant to make shoes and nostrils.
9. Finally, pipe dark pink icing around the eyes, head, nose, and ears. If you like, pipe icing onto the the baking sheet to form a balloon.

The result is a homemade-looking Peppa cake that’s made with love! ♥

Even though Abby’s second birthday was small and fairly low budget, I’d say it was a success! She was very excited about her cake and presents, and we have the photos to prove it.

That’s one happy two-year-old!