So, yesterday it was my son’s 2nd birthday and we had a pretty great party. We rented a room at DramaZone (the venue at which we are currently holding our classes) and I ordered a ton of Elmo Plates and assorted sundries pretty reasonably priced from the Oriental Trading Company. We had my son’s Music Together teacher, Danny, come to entertain the restless natives for a bit…many mini bagels and other finger foods were consumed by all–and then it was time for the piece de resistance–the Elmo cake that I had been icing at 3am the night before instead of getting some much-needed beauty sleep.

Though a small part of me wished that I had been able to convince myself to go the store bought cake route–it is extremely satisfying (and generally cheaper and much yummier) to make and decorate your birthday cakes at home.

I was nervous that the Wilton Elmo Face Cake Pan that I had bought a few days before wouldn’t be enough to serve everybody, so I borrowed a sheet cake pan from my mom to make a second cake on which to stack the Elmo.

In order to make enough icing in all of the colors that I needed to cover and decorate both layers of the cake, I made four (!) batches of Buttercream Frosting and used a ton of somewhat toxic food coloring (I debated going the natural food coloring root–but a recognizable Elmo red just isn’t a color found in nature!)

Here is the recipe for frosting that I used (basically a version of the one on any Confectioners Sugar Package.)

Buttercream Frosting

1 lb box of Confectioner Sugar

1/2 cup (I stick) butter, softened

a splash of vanilla (though I didn’t take my own advice, you’d be better off using clear vanilla instead of having to fight to cover up the brown color with more food coloring)

a few tbsp of milk or water (depends on what thickness you desire from your frosting)

Combine gently in a large bowl (preferably using a stand mixer because by hand will take forever and not be as fluffy.)  Speed up the mixer (or use more elbow grease) for a couple more minutes until the frosting is super creamy. If you want your frosting thinner,  add more more milk and mix again.

Heeeeeeeeeere’s Elmo! (needless to say, my 2 year old was floored!)