The Sesame Street desserts were my favorite part of my son's Sesame themed party. Based on the rave reviews, I think they were my guests' favorite part too. I made a huge Elmo cake and then I made homemade Elmo and Cookie Monster cupcakes.
I just loved how the homemade Elmo cake turned out… so much that I was actually sad cutting into it.
The DIY Elmo cake was a 12″ two-layer, gluten-free vanilla cake with chocolate icing. Red sprinkles covered the sides of the cake, along with two Elmo face cut-outs – made from cut-out cookies and chocolate melts.
The homemade Elmo and Cookie Monster cupcakes were regular vanilla cake with chocolate icing and decorated with sprinkles, icing tubes, and chocolate chip cookie halves to resemble Elmo and Cookie Monster.
Our guests were totally impressed with the Sesame Street desserts – and the homemade Elmo and Cookie Monster cakes were so easy to decorate.
chocolate chip cookies – broken in half and used for Cookie Monster's mouth. Homemade or store-bought both work fine. I made a batch of chocolate chip cookies a week earlier and put about a dozen (broken in half) aside and froze them for the cupcakes. Working with frozen cookies was easier too.
icing tubes in white, black, and orange .- used for the eyes, mouth, and Elmo's nose. When looking through the aisles at Joann and Michael's for ideas, I kept seeing pre-made candy eyes. I preferred using icing because those little candies can be a choking hazard for little ones.
Pictured above is my Cookie Monster cupcake set-up.
For Elmo's mouth, you could always use half of an Oreo, but since I already had a black tube of icing for the pupils and I didn't have Oreos – I went with the easier option.
First, after the homemade cupcakes cooled, I iced them. I was running a little low on icing, so I put just enough on so that the sprinkles would have something to stick too.
Next, I filled a small bowl with blue sprinkles, and then I flipped the iced cupcake upside down and dipped it into the sprinkles. I twisted it around a little to give the sprinkles a good stick.
Then, I used a white tube of icing to make Cookie's eyes. I first made a circle outline and then carefully filled it in.
After that, I used the black tube of icing to make the pupils. I made sure to make one higher than the other, as that is Cookie's signature look.
When the eyes were done, I took a chocolate chip cookie half and ran a strip of icing across the edge of the cookie (the part that would to stick to the cupcake), and then stuck it on.
I used a pizza pan to put the cupcakes on, so the Cookie Monster sprinkles didn't run everywhere.
A cookie sheet would be fine too, but I was using all of those for my butterscotch batches that were baking.
Here is a picture of the finished Cookie Monster cupcakes.
The homemade cupcakes turned out so cute and were much easier to make with sprinkles, rather than the blue icing 🙂 ​The only decorating that was needed was the eyes. So these Cookie Monster cupcakes are pretty fool-proof!
For the homemade Elmo cupcakes, I took almost the exact same steps as the Cookie Monster cupcakes listed above: I baked the cupcakes large so they would have a dome, iced the top, and then dunked them into a bowl of red sprinkles.
I then used the icing tubes to draw on the face. A little more skill was required for Elmo's nose, eyes, and mouth (compared to just Cookie's eyes), and I was tired from baking all day – but they still turned out pretty nice.
Listed below are all of the materials for the Elmo cake. I had 50+ people coming, so I wanted to have plenty of Sesame Street desserts to go around.
Large Round Cake Pan – I used a 12″ cake pan, found on Amazon. It came in a set of four cake pans for $26, as it included a 6″, 8″, 10″, and a 12." I figured if I was going to undertake this Elmo cake endeavor this year that I was sure to use the other sizes in future endeavors (maybe a tiered cake next year?). I also compared prices at Michaels, AC Moore, and Joann, and even with a coupon, this was the best deal.
Cardboard Cake Circle – I hemmed and hawed about purchasing these 14″ cake circles, and I'm so glad I did because in hindsight, I wouldn't have pulled off this cake without them. Not only did they make taking the cake out of the pan so easy, but I also used them to hold the cake while in the fridge, and they easily allowed me to place the cake right on top of the cake holder. With a cake this big, cookie sheets and regular round plates would not have been a help at all.
Double Recipe of Icing – I used a chocolate recipe that my mom makes for every family birthday. It's quite simple but results in a lot of taste-testing for the correct balance of sugar and chocolate.
Extra icing or icing tubes for decorating – I used the leftover orange icing tube from the Elmo cupcakes to write on the cake, and also I used the leftover chocolate icing to do borders on the cake.
Red sprinkles – These are for the sides of the cake – to make Elmo red. I found a great bag of red sprinkles on Amazon that I used on the cupcakes and the cake, and I still have leftovers.
So my plan was to make red icing from beets to give the Elmo cake his red color.
I know that sounds crazy, but I didn't feel like dumping a whole bunch of red dye into the icing that I knew my son would be eating by the spoonful.
I read that beets can be used for red icing, so why not try and make an MSG-free alternative?!
Well, in short, tampering with the beets was a waste of time the day before having a huge party at your house. The beets turned the icing hot pink.
Too bad I wasn't making an Abby Cadabby cake.
The teacher in me thought that I could still use the hot pink beet icing to ice the cake, and then put the red sprinkles over the side to make Elmo.
Well, that idea sunk when the cake started looking like Valentine's Day with the hot pink and the bright red.
I laugh now, but oh was I frustrated!
So, how did we get the Elmo cake red?!
We sent Ash out to the store for more powdered sugar, and my sister, who is the icing master, made another huge batch of icing in chocolate.
Our altered plan was to ice the Elmo cake with chocolate frosting and then use the red sprinkles for the sides.
It worked out well, and we absolutely loved the way the Elmo cake looked!
The most time-consuming part, beets aside, was getting the sprinkles to stick to the sides of the cake.
My quick google search showed me there was no good strategy, other than tilting, and I was not tilting a two-layer 12″ cake.
So, I grabbed a handful of sprinkles and pressed them up to the icing to make it stick. It took a while, but it was worth it in the end. I absolutely love the way the Elmo cake turned out.
This was actually the easiest part of making the homemade Elmo cake.
First, I made a half batch of my mom's cut-out cookies. You can make these a day early and leave the dough refrigerated overnight.
I used circle cookie cutters to get Elmo's eyes right, overlapping the circles a little. Then, I made two different sizes – a smaller and a larger, so that I could pick the better of the two after they baked.
I made about a half dozen of each version – just to have extras.
For Elmo's nose, I used a large oval cookie cutter to go with the larger eyes.
Since I didn't have a smaller oval cookie cutter, I set the large one down in the dough as a guide and used a knife to cut a smaller oval. I made about two or three of each size nose.
As a visual guide, I had an Elmo party hat in front of me that I used on the party decorations. This was helpful to look at as I worked.
After the Elmo face cookies had baked and cooled, I picked from the two sizes I had made. I actually chose the smaller size, and then I got started on the decorating.
I used candy melts in white and black (see materials above).
For the whites of the Elmo's eyes, I melted the candy melts and half dipped/half iced it onto the cookie.
Then, I simply took two chocolate morsels from the black candy melt bag and stuck them on for Elmo's pupils.
For the orange, I thought I bought orange candy melts, but I hadn't. Ugh!
I wasn't making another trip to the store, so I had to improvise and use a little of the orange icing tube that was for nose on the Elmo cupcakes.
If you haven't used candy melts before, the trick with these (or melting any kind of chocolate in the microwave) is to microwave the morsels for 30 seconds at a time.
After 30 seconds, stir the chocolate up really well. Continue this pattern until the chocolate is all melted.
​When you are heating it up in 30 second increments and giving it a good stir in between, you don't run the risk of burning the chocolate.
For Abby's Magical Wands, I simply bought pretzel sticks and dipped them in hot pink candy melts.
After dipping, I placed them on a cookie sheet lined with wax paper. This contains the drips and sprinkles. I also used some of the white candy melts to drizzle on them too, after the pink had set.
I was so pleased with how the Elmo and Cookie Monster cakes and Abby's wands turned out. It was definitely my best cake ever.
Last year, I tried to draw on a bear that looked more like a blob….
The homemade Elmo and Cookie Monster cupcakes totally impressed my party guests and myself. These simple tutorials show you exactly how you can make your own party desserts.
The homeamde Elmo and Cookie Monster cupcakes were a big hit among the kids! And, the adults loved the cake.
When you enjoy baking and creating something totally awesome, the time spent was absolutely worth it.
And, it was all in a day's work!
These are adorable and its fantastic that you can make them without a bunch of fancy gadgets.
Awh, your Elmo cake turned out great in the end. I had a similar problem a few years ago getting a good red for my sons spiderman cake. I did go for a shop brought good quality red in the end and just spread it a little thinner than I would normally and crossed my fingers it would be ok. I like your 'sprinkle on the top' solution.
Too cute! I'll be smiling the rest of the day. And, they look delicious, too!
Those turned out so cute!!
Oh gosh…these are so cute!
Such a great idea to use cut out cookies for the cake decorating!
Adorable desserts. Thanks for sharing your wonderful posts at Over The Moon Party.
My one-year-old is going nuts looking at the pictures of your Elmo cake! So sorry to hear that your natural icing didn't work out, but the final result is adorable. Thanks so much for sharing at the #happynowlinkup!
Hooray for sprinkles!! I love this way of adding color to the cake and cookies. Great video and step by step instructions. Thank you for sharing with us this week at Celebrate Your Story, and have a great weekend.
These are the cutest treats ever. I am old enough to be a grandma but I still love Elmo, and I even grew up with the cookie monster. Some things never go out of style!
These are so cute. My son is currently obsessed with Elmo – if that continues, we'll be having an Elmo-themed birthday party for him, and these tutorials will come in handy.
You did a great job with your Elmo and Cookie Monster cakes. They are so cute! I love how you use the chocolate chip cookie in the cupcakes. Thank you for linking up with us at the #HomeMattersParty this week.
Thanks Nicole! They really were so easy!
Oh, these are so cute!!! Thanks for sharing at the #InspirationSpotlight party @DearCreatives Pinned & shared.
Hahaa! Have a great week!
These are so cute! Thanks so much for sharing!