Zombie / The Walking Dead Birthday Party!

This post is a little late.... but last month was my husband's birthday and he's a huge fan of The Walking Dead.  Like never misses it.  Two years ago I attempted to make a zombie cake and it totally fell flat.  The "zombie fingers" I tried to make with cookie dough ended up baking wide and flat.  Not exactly finger-like.  So... the zombie thing got scrapped.  Until this year.

This year for Dave's birthday his friend Beav came to visit from Philadelphia for a long weekend.  It was like living with teenage boys for the weekend.  They went a metal show {like rock n' roll metal music} one night.  Then on Sunday we had friends over for a birthday party.  I tried to keep the theme quiet as long as possible... and did a pretty good job.  Prepping foods and baking goods ahead of time, Dave didn't find out the zombie theme until Sunday!

Zombie / Walking Dead Birthday!

The Prepping....
This is a white twin sheet from a thrift store and a can of red spray paint.  From what the interwebs say...  this was a thing/saying/sign or something from The Walking Dead.  Anyway.... the fans recognized it.  haha....  I made this to hang behind the appetizers table.

I made these fun signs in keeping with The Walking Dead theme and hung them around the house.

These are little table tents to identify the gory appetizers in a zombie fashion!

And finally!  The zombie fingers for the cake.  This time I tried making them with gumpaste and it worked perfectly!  Molding the fingers was pretty straight forward.  The gumpaste dries very fast, so only take enough out of the package to mold one at a time.  For the knuckles I used a knife and made little lines.  The finger nails are almond slices.  The "dirty" part is cinnamon that I rubbed on with my fingers to make them more zombie-like.  They're 100% edible and people actually did eat them!  Oh, except the toothpick that I stuck in the bottoms to aid in standing upright on the cake. {And yes, I know there are too many fingers in the photo...  One was the "test" finger!}

The Party!!!
The appetizers were all labeled with theme specific names and set up inside our dining room.  Not shown below were dishes of cocktail sauce and green-tinted ranch dressing with a sign labeling them as "Contents of Old Canned Goods".

"Deviled Zombie Brains" are deviled eggs.  After you boil eggs as you usually would to make deviled eggs, separate the whites and soak for about 10 minutes in a pot of cold water that has a lot of green food coloring in it.  The whites will absorb the green very well.  The yolks have a few squirts of red food coloring added to make them more.... well.... brain like!

"Zombie Eyeballs" are mozzarella balls {soaked in oil and herbs in advance} with slices of green olives held on top by a toothpick.

"Zombie Brains with Bloody Chunks" is a head of cauliflower hollowed out a bit, guacamole dolloped on top and the "blood" is salsa drizzled down the sides.  I used some red napkins to help support the cauliflower head in the dish.

"Human Brain Matter" - This is definitely the coolest thing at the party....  even cooler than the cake, I think!  I got the tutorial on how to create this monstrosity from Martha Stewart, of course!  Basically it's cooked shrimp placed in a brain-shaped mold and covered in seasoned gelatin.  Once it is set in the fridge, flip it onto cardboard and place on top of a mannequin head.  This one I bought online at Amazon and sliced the top part off to put the brains on.  Use bandage stuff to wrap around the base of the shrimp and keep it fixed to the mannequin head.  I also "dirtied" up the mannequin with cinnamon, because it was too clean for zombie style.  Haha...

And... the whole appetizer table - set and ready for guests!


The Zombie Birthday Cake!

My husband's favorite cake {and pretty much the only kind he'll eat} is yellow cake with chocolate frosting.  I do my best to think of fun ways to make the same cake every year!  The "dirt" that the zombie fingers are emerging from are crushed Oreo cookies.

And here's the cake being served to the birthday boy!  {That's me lighting it.}  Thanks to Mary for snapping these pics during the lighting!  Can you see the blood splattered napkins?!  Loved those!  

Even though Dave's birthday is in February, we live in Northern California and always have wonderful weather!  So of course the party was outside in our backyard.  After appetizers we had a BBQ with so many different kinds of meats I can't remember the all.  Dave's friend Matt is a BBQ genius.  He comes to every party and we just let him loose on the grill.  After grilling we played horseshoes, had some cake and got the campfire going.  I think that might have been my favorite part.  Sitting by the campfire.  =D

Here are some past posts about Dave's Birthday party themes!
2014 Birthday theme - Vintage Dude
2013 Birthday theme - it was a bust!  =(
2012 Birthday theme - Cat Autopsy Cake!