Elmo Cupcakes

February 3: Elmo’s Birthday

Happy birthday to our favorite, fuzzy red monster from Sesame Street—Elmo! He is extremely popular with kids (and kids-at-heart like middle-aged Islander) and has a positive impact all over the world. To celebrate his birthday, we made simple but adorable chocolate cupcakes covered in red and orange frosting and decorated with vanilla candy wafers and an Oreo fudge creme cookie. We share these irresistably cute creations with co-workers and college students and they are always tickled at the sight of smiling edible Elmo cupcakes! Spread some smiles today and give the gift of an Elmo cupcake on his birthday.

Recipe

Ingredients

• Cupcakes, baked and cooled
• Red frosting (for Elmo’s fur)
• Oreo fudge creme cookies (for Elmo’s mouth)
• Vanilla candy wafers or melts (for Elmo’s eyes)
• Black tube frosting (for Elmo’s pupils)
• Orange tube frosting (for Elmo’s nose)

Directions

Bake and cool cupcakes. Stir the red frosting to a spreadable consistency. Use the “grass” tip to pipe in Elmo’s fur. Begin piping the frosting on the outer edges of the cupcake and generously finish filling in the middle.

Cut the Oreo fudge creme cookies in half. Place a piece on top of the cupcake. Pipe around the edges to cover any cookie seams.

Prepare Elmo’s eyes by matching pairs of vanilla candy wafers. Use the black tube frosting with a small round tip to pipe in the pupils. Position the eyes on the cupcake above the cookie mouth.

Use the orange tube frosting with a large round tip to pipe in the nose. Complete the rest of the Elmo cupcakes in the same technique.

Notes

• Use your favorite flavor cupcakes. We recommend a red velvet or chocolate cupcake recipe from our previous blog posts. Bake them in red cupcake papers or Elmo-themed liners.
• We used CK brand tub of red frosting since the Wilton brand has been discontinued. The latter yields a more vibrant and brighter red color. Pre-made frostings are not the best tasting but they are convenient for decorating a big batch of baked goods in color.
• Substitute blue frosting, eliminate the orange nose and mix up the eyeballs to make Cookie Monster cupcakes. We used a “star” instead of “grass” tip to make a similar version of Cookie Monster cupcakes on November 2, which is Cookie Monster’s birthday.
• For a baking challenge, make Elmo macarons for his birthday! Check out our MacAttack post for decorating techniques.
• See more Elmo cake and cupcake decorating ideas on the Elmo Cake website.