Coolest Elmo Birthday Cake 70

by Kelli
(Bay Area, CA)

Homemade Elmo Birthday Cake

Thanks to all the great ideas from this site, I was able to come up with this Elmo birthday cake. My friend who is a much more experienced cake decorator came to help me (this was my first attempt).

I made a 9x13 cake with a buttercream/shortening icing. I found a picture of Elmo on the internet and traced it onto parchment paper. Then I used piping gel to trace Elmo and the letters. Elmo's nose is a malted milk egg covered in orange icing.

Here are the things I learned:
1. Don't use chocolate cake. Even with the crumb coating we were having a hard time with crumbs- especially on the sides. I think I'll try yellow or white next time.
2. Plan ahead. These things take a lot of time. Mixing the icing and getting it colored takes a while.
3. When the icing becomes hard to squeeze out, take some time to warm up the bag in your hands. This made a world of difference when I was outlining Elmo.

Thanks again to this site for all the ideas!