Sesame Street Cake and Cupcakes

I was recently asked to make these Sesame Street cupcakes and "smash" cake for a little boy's first birthday. I couldn't help but say yes. I had tried my hand at these before but it was some time ago (see those HERE) and I knew I wouldn't ever be making them for my own kids again. Sadly, our Sesame Street days are already over. And much too soon for my liking :(

Below are instructions and tips on how I made these. If you have any additional questions, please leave a comment below...Thanks!

The "Smash" Cake

- Bake a 2-layer cake. Use your favorite recipe. This cake was classic vanilla.
- The birthday boy's mom asked for a small cake. The smallest cake pan I had was 5" which I thought might still be bigger than she would like. So, I baked the cake in one 9" cake pan and then used a 4" ring cutter to get the two layers. I thought the cake was the perfect size.
- Dye frosting your favorite color. I used a very pale blue here so I didn't need to add a lot of food coloring.
- Frost the cake with a crumb coat first and then another layer of frosting. Smooth out the frosting. Here is a post on how I smooth out my frosting.
- To make the sign I used Wilton's fondant, dyed it green and yellow. See this post for a few more tips on how to work with fondant.
- Apply the sign to the cake and press gently to have it adhere.
- The use a tiny round tip (this was a Wilton's #3) to write the number and name on the sign.
- Finally add a decorative boarder at the base of the cake and on top to give it a finished look.

Elmo Cupcakes

- Dye the frosting red. You will need A LOT of food coloring to get a true red frosting needed for Elmo.
- Apply frosting to the cupcake using a small star shaped tip.
- Add candy eyes*.
- Add a nose. These are just orange colored peanut M&M's. Buy the big bag of M&M's b/c the single serving bags (that you find near the check out register) will only have 3-4 orange per bag.
- Add a mouth. This mouth is made from an Oreo cookie. I twisted the cookie apart, used a sharp knife to scrape off the white cream center and then cute it in half.

Cookie Monster Cupcakes

- Dye the frosting blue. You will not need a lot of food coloring to get the right shade. So start with just a little and add more as needed.
- Apply frosting to the cupcake using a small star shaped tip. I used the same tip that I used for Elmo.
- Add candy eyes*.
- Add a cookie. These cookies are the Famous Amos mini cookies (cut in half). They were the perfect size, not too big, not too little.

Oscar the Grouch Cupcakes

- Dye the frosting green. I added just a tiny bit of brown food coloring here too to give green a bit more of an olive hue.
- Apply frosting to the cupcake using a grass shaped tip.
- Add candy eyes*.
- Add a mouth. This mouth is made from an Oreo cookie also.
- Add a tongue. Just pipe a small amount of red frosting into the center of the mouth. I used leftover frosting from the Elmo cupcakes
- Add eyebrows around the top half of the eyeballs. Use brown frosting for this and a very small star shaped tip.

More Tips:
- *I cheated and bought candy eyeballs from a local cake supply store to save time. There are a few ways to make these at home but that is a post all on it's own. If anyone wants to see that, please let me know and I will post a tutorial.
- Give yourself some time to make these, at least two days. Try baking the cake and cupcakes one day. Then make the frosting and decorate the next.
- I used coordinating greaseproof liners (red, blue and green) to match the cupcakes.
- Making several different frosting colors it is helpful to use this plastic wrap technique (aka..."the frosting condom") to save pastry bags and make clean-up easier.


Here is the birthday boy enjoying his first taste of cake. How cute is he??!! Happy 1st birthday Maddox!