Elmo Cupcake Ideas

If you ask a group of preschoolers the name of their favorite character, quite a few are likely to yell out, "Elmo!" This furry red resident of Sesame Street has been making children smile since his first appearance in 1979. Many birthday parties and other celebrations wouldn't be complete without Elmo cupcakes to finish the meal. Elmo's simple expression and round face give bakers a good amount of choices in decorating materials. Add this to my Recipe Box.

Face

Elmo's face is a distinctive bright red that usually can't be duplicated with all-purpose liquid food coloring drops. Purchase paste food coloring in a cake decorating store and mix it with either royal icing or fondant to create that bright crayon-red color.

Eyes

Elmo has perfectly round, googly eyes that you can duplicate in a number of ways. Pick white Necco wafers from the tube packages and add bits of black licorice for the pupils. Find small wafers of white chocolate that are designed for chocolate molding and use them with black frosting pupils. If your party guests are slightly older and you trust them not to eat the decorations, use plastic googly eyes from a craft store.

Nose

Elmo's nose is a distinctive orange blob. Place his nose slightly above the center of the cupcake, below the space between his eyes. Use round orange candies for his nose like orange gumballs, orange gum drops or orange jelly beans.

Mouth

Elmo's mouth is a large grin, usually depicted with a black outline in pictures. Use thin black licorice string to outline Elmo's grin and fill it in with either black frosting, crushed Oreo crumbs or more bits of licorice cut to fill in the space.