A Very Elmo Birthday

I never thought I would be one of those moms who says things like, "My baby is growing up" and "it goes by so fast."  That was before my baby turned 2.  2 is old.  It is like an actual person, and not just a baby.  Being two, he now has many, MANY opinions.  When I asked him what kind of cake he would like for his birthday, he immediately said Elmo.  He has not stopped talking about the Elmo cake for months.  He is a huge fan of Elmo (mostly from books though) and could not wait for this cake.


I found this Elmo pan by Wilton, which had all the instructions for how to decorate it.  I had every intention of piping the fur and then...our AC broke and it was 110 degrees outside.  Try working with buttercream in that kind of heat and you will see that spreading it on and throwing it in the fridge is all you can hope to do.  When I put some in a piping bag, it melted from the heat of my hand. 


This is my first attempt at any major decoration and I am really happy with how it turned out.  When my son saw it, he got super excited and kept saying "Elmo cake, Elmo cake" over and over again.  That is success in my book.  Time really does go by fast. Two years ago, he was just born, one year ago he had never eaten cake before and now he has opinions on what kind of cake to have!  There, I said it.  I am one of those moms.    


One birthday party was obviously not enough (said with a hint of sarcasm).  He also had one with my parents and one at school, as well as one at synagogue. For the party at school, I baked cupcakes and tinted the frosting orange (per my child's request) and then I found sugar Elmos to put on top.  The kids really enjoyed them and I think they look pretty cute.

For the cake, I made one recipe of the cake from Dorie's Black and White Chocolate Cake.  I baked it for 40 minutes, since the pan was deeper than just a layer cake pan and it came out really great.  You can find the recipe here.

For the cupcakes, I used Martha Stewart's One Bowl Chocolate cupcakes.  They were good, but a little tough.  I think it is because I doubled the recipe.  Luckily, 2 year olds don't care.  You can find the recipe here.

For the buttercream, I used Martha Stewart's fluffy vanilla frosting.  Yummy.  I did cut down the sugar a little bit so it would not be too sweet.  The recipe is here.  I tinted it with my awesome gel food coloring from King Arthur Flour.  That stuff is amazing.  You don't need much and you get great color.

I also made strawberry cupcakes, which I will post about on the 15th as part of the Martha Stewart Cupcake Club.