Making Elmo Cupcakes! (a tutorial)

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I recently had an order for Elmo cupcakes for a friend's son.  He just turned a year old!  I found a couple of pictures online of other Elmo cupcakes, but no one had a tutorial.  I thought I would make one so everyone could see what went into each cupcake, step by step.  Didn't they turn out great??

You'll need:

• icing (enough to frost all of your cupcakes) NOT from the supermarket!*
• fondant (enough for eyes and noses)
• Wilton's white candy melts (enough for 2 eyes per cupcake)
• Oreo cookies
• cupcakes 
• Icing bag
• Wilton tip #233 (grass tip)
• cake decorating food coloring (Wilton, AmeriColor, or similar) in Red, Black, and Orange

*The icing you use should NOT be the kind you get out of a tub at the supermarket.  It's the wrong consistency for cake decorating.  Buttercream icing is actually VERY easy to make - just use a hand or stand mixer to make sure it's blended well.

There are a few beginning steps that I did not photograph.  First, you need to color your fondant.  I colored some orange for noses and some black for eyes.  You will have to "guestimate" how much fondant you'll need depending on how many cupcakes you're planning to make.  I always make too much!  I'm terrified of not having enough - matching the colors would be a nightmare!

Then I made the icing.  She wanted chocolate cupcakes with vanilla buttercream frosting.  (Your frosting will have to be light otherwise you won't be able to tint it red!  No chocolate!)  I made the icing and colored it red the night before I wanted it.  (Again, I made too much just in case!)

BIG hints:

With icing and fondant, the color gets deeper and darker when it sits.  Whenever you're coloring it a dark color (like Elmo's black eyes or red fur) make it in advance to give the color a chance to really show.  Also, when starting with white fondant and white frosting, be prepared to use a LOT of food coloring!!  Make sure you buy gel food coloring for cake decorating, like Wilton's or AmeriColor - the tiny squeeze bottles at the supermarket are too thin and will ruin the consistency of your product!  Red is very difficult - you'll need a lot but it can make the icing taste funny.  Look for No-Taste coloring if you can find it!

So, the night before I made the fondant and the icing.  In the morning I made the cupcakes and let them cool.  Once the cupcakes were baking, I got to work on Elmo's eyeballs!  I poured out a bunch of candy melts and matched them in pairs.  (Believe it or not, they vary in size!  The perfectionist in me needed them to be similar in size so the eyes would look normal!)  Then I rolled tiny pieces of black fondant and pushed them onto the candy.  (You can use vodka or clear vanilla extract to adhere them with a food grade brush if you want, but I didn't need to.)  Make a pair of eyes for each cupcake.

You should have a bunch of eyeballs staring at you now!

Set the eyes aside and get to work frosting your cupcakes.  I used a small angled spatula to put a thin layer of red icing on each cupcake.  It doesn't have to be perfect and you can use a butter knife if you need to.  You just need a base from which to start.

Now it's time to fill your pastry bag and use your grass tip!  Yay!!  Add some "grass" to one part of the cupcake.  You just need enough to stick the eyes into and prevent them from falling off.  Place a pair of eyes onto each cupcake being careful not to get any red on the white candy eyes!

Now, separate your Oreos and break each cookie in half.  You won't need the cream filling, so either peel it off and eat it or toss it.  You should have just the chocolate part of the cookie now, broken in half.  (You can also roll and cut black fondant for the smile - it's up to you!  Fondant is notorious for not tasting so great and I wanted the kids at the party to have fun finding an Oreo in their cupcake!)  Stick a quarter Oreo smile onto each cupcake like this:

I know, I know…it looks so weird!  It'll all come together, I promise!

The next step is to frost around the smile.  Be careful with the grass tip - use small squeezes on the bag to prevent the icing from going everywhere and ruining the smile!  You need to make sure the cookie is secure so first frost under the corners if they are sticking up.  Then frost around to make the smile shape.  He should look like he has a red beard.

Almost done!  Using your orange fondant, roll a nose for each cupcake.  My noses were all about the same size and I made them a little narrower at the top.  When you're happy with your nose, stick it on!

Now use your grass tip to add his fur.  You'll have to fill in his cheeks and make sure it all looks good!  I made sure there weren't any blank spots or any that were lower or higher than the rest.  

And that's it!  You now have a tray full of Elmos looking up at you!

Seriously, how adorable is this?!?  

As you can see, they're actually really simple to make.  And, you only need a few tools and ingredients!  They're perfect a child's birthday party or get together!

Maia kept singing every time she saw them!  She knows the "Elmo's World" tune and was swaying her head and singing.  Too cute!

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