Elmo

One of the most popular characters for young children is Elmo. Both girls and boys love Elmo and there are so many ideas out there for parties. I wanted to make this face 2-D so that it would not just be a flat picture. I put the eyes on first using a #2A Wilton pastry tip. I made a big dot for the white parts and then a smaller dot for the black part. This made it easier for me to judge where the fur should start. As a rule of thumb I always have a picture of what I am making beside me for reference while I am working. I then used the #234 Wilton tip (grass tip) for the fur. For the mouth I used a #2 Wilton tip. For the nose I used the same tip as the eyes. It is supposed to be orange but after sitting for a little while it started to get white streaks. I think the main reason for this was that the entire cake was dairy free. Therefore, in the "Buttercream" Frosting I used a buttery spread made with olive oil. I didn't want to use just shortening, because the taste is horrible. I think the white streaks are the oils separating from the sugar. It didn't happen with any other color but the orange though. The numbers and letters on the side where done with the #2 Wilton tip and the shell border was done with a large closed star tip. I should have used a smaller one because the border looks too large for the cake. No matter what I, as always, had a lot fun making this cake. If you have any questions please feel free to contact me. Thanks and enjoy!!