Elmo Cupcakes

My niece and nephew just turned 3 this past weekend, and as a special request from my youngest sister - I had made Elmo cupcakes. Last year, I made them babycakes - little mini cupcakes. Cupcakes are the quintessential birthday dessert right? The twins absolutely love Elmo, he's got this lovable laugh and is universally recognizable to any little toddler. I figured these would be a nice addition to their birthday party, and fun for the little kids to eat as well. Use a frosting that will hold shape well, the buttercream recipe that I used did not take well to my spiking efforts.



Easy Assembly:
Cupcakes - I used strawberry & devils food
Red frosting of your choice or white frosting and color it with Wilton Red Icing Paste
Wilton White Candy Melts
Oreos - cut them in half to make mouths
Orange marshmallows to make nose - cheapest kid friendly ORANGE candy that I could find. I wasn't going to buy gumballs for little 3 year olds to eat. Orange gumballs look better as the nose.
Wilton Black Sparkle Gel
Directions:
1. Bake your cupcakes as directed and let cool to room temperature.
2. Prepare the mouths, split Oreos into halves, eat broken ones if you want.
3. Prepare the eyes, add a little black gel to the white candy melts.
4. Frost the cupcakes, spike it up with a fork to create a feather look. It would have worked better if I had piped the frosting.
5. Assemble the cupcakes, add the eyes, marshmallow noses, and Oreo mouths. Presto...you got Elmo!
Happy Birthday Anastaisha and Jerricko, hope you had a fantastic birthday! I'll always think of you as two little monsters crawling around.

Stop growing already!