Elmo Cake Tutorial

I decided to make an Elmo cake for my daughter's 2nd birthday and wanted to try fondant for a nicer look.  I looked on pinterest and google and could not find ANY instructions or photos of what I wanted.  Seriously??  I couldn't believe it.  So here is my tutorial on how to make an easy Elmo marshmallow fondant cake for your child. 

I used a boxed cake mix in white and made two 9" round cakes with it.  I made a buttercream frosting to put in-between the cake layers.  The fondant recipe I got here.

I made 2 batches of fondant for this cake, the recipe makes a lot though, so if you're just gonna use 1 box of cake mix, 1 batch, divided, will do you just fine. 



For your fondant, be sure to use the professional gel food coloring.  You will use an entire container of red food coloring for 1 batch of fondant in the above recipe.  Be sure to get the NO TASTE red or your fondant will taste bitter as the entire cake is draped in the red fondant. 

Note the recipe calls for a 13.5 oz bag of marshmallows.  The bag to your left is a 10 oz bag, yeah, who knew?  Luckily I had 2 bags of marshmallows and a kitchen scale

you DO NOT want to be kneading all that red in, add it to your melted marshmallow mix ahead of time








Real vanilla - do not accept substitutes.  Use a couple cap fulls to flavor your fondant

 Make sure to have a lot of Crisco on hand.  Here is my well crisco'd mixing bowl








I used an entire 2 lb bag of powdered sugar for 1 batch of fondant

I turned my breakfast bar into a work table - just put the Crisco right on it - cleans up well with a wet cloth and some Dawn.  Here is the completed red fondant after kneading. 

Since you'll only use the black for eyes and mouth, it's easiest to knead it into the prepared fondant.  A good way to add in your color is with a toothpick as shown.  You'll use more black than you would think, so make sure you have a 1/4 oz on hand or so. 

Here are my 4 fondant colors for the cake - red, orange, black and white.  

The completed cake.  For the eyes and nose I used a drinking glass to cut 3 equal sized circles, the pupils I used a prescription bottle cap and the mouth was a combination of small pot lid and free-hand paring knife carving.  

I did have to do some patching with the fondant - my first time doing it.  For the writing I used the edible color markers

Baby Girl is 2!!

2 years ago today we welcomed an adorable blue-eyed, brown haired baby girl into our family.  She has grown into an independent, spunky, petite little girl who is full of life, energy and love.  She has an amazing vocabulary and ear for words; she can repeat any word she hears, so watch what you say! ;)

Isabella, you make me smile and every day I thank God for giving you to us.  I love your bouncy, crazy curls but especially the little girl underneath them.  Happy Birthday baby girl!

We Bought A Zoo

I watched We Bought A Zoo last night.  It stars Matt Damon as a widower who is looking for a change of scene 6 months after losing his wife.  He buys a small wild animal park on a whim and moves him and his 14 yr old son and 7 yr old daughter onto the property and starts to renovate the zoo in hopes of opening it up to the public that summer.  When he buys the zoo he inherits the animals and a rag tag team of workers, including Scarlett Johannson as the zookeeper. 

From the previews I thought the movie would be a family comedy.  It is a good family film but has a lot more seriousness than I was expecting.  I cried more than I laughed.  But it is a nice family film of a heartwarming based on true life story. 

The Hypnotist

The Hypnotist by M.J. Rose is a past-life themed suspense mystery.  It is the third in her Reincarnationist series, although the first I've read.  It's about an FBI agent, Lucian Glass, who works on the art crimes team and is investigating a case where a man is destroying priceless pieces of art in an attempt to force the Metropolitan Museum of Art to handover one of it's newest sculptures.  As Lucian delves into the case he realizes that the sculpture in question has powerful ties to his past-lives. 

The novel is full of interesting information on the Met and is a good story.  It's not too heavy on the whole reincarnation as a religion, so you are able to just read it as a good story without getting distracted by that piece.

Pretty Toes

I was feeling summery on Friday and decided to paint my toes.  Of course, baby girl wanted hers done too.  Unfortunately, the don't touch until dry concept eluded her.  But still cute and worthy of capturing in a picture for posterity.

Lilacs

I picked my first lilac bouquet last night, just in time before the rain started.  They are so fragrant and the living room smells divine!

Circus

On May 5th we took the kids to the Shrine circus.  It was William's 2nd time going and Isabella's first.  Isabella didn't enjoy it as much as I thought she would, but it was right over nap time and some of the acts were kinda hard to see.  We'll try again next year and I'm sure she'll get more out of it then.  William's favorites are still the animal acts and this year he was really into the acrobats as well.  Auntie Kelly treated the kids to some cotton candy and Daddy bought the kids light wands, which are still a big hit at home here. 

Auntie Kelly, cousins Zane & Ruby, William