Really quick blog! I wanted to show you how I put together my baby’s Elmo cake. To get started, I read and studied a blog by Cakes by Carrie-Ann for her Taddy Bear. You can find that here: http://www.cakesbycarrieanne.com/2016/07/11/tatty-teddy-cake-tutorial/#more-241

For a cake like this, you need a lot of supports to make sure it doesn’t sink into eachother. If it was traveling, it would be even more important.

For this cake, I made a double batch of spice cake. I baked that into two 6″ pans, and torted them. I also used 2 cups of that batter for half of a 6″ dome for the top of his torso.

I also baked up a batch of chocolate cake and made two 6″ domes plus a 4″ cake.

First step: fill three layers of the 6″ cakes and add 4 dowel rods. Do not put in a center rod. That’s for later.

Next step: place a 6″ board on the top and put on a little icing.

Next, put your fourth 6″ layer , a layer of icing, and the top of your dome. Be sure to make a flat surface at the top of your dome for the head to rest on. And ice the top.

 

Place in three dowel rods in a triangle shape. These will support the head.

Ice the top of the flat piece. Slice off the bottom of the dome of the head. Put a 4″ round cake circle, cut down to size, on the flat top and place the bottom of the head on top of it.

Then fill it and place the top of the dome on top.

Next, crumb coat the entire thing. Using a circle cutter, I GENTLY made Elmo’s mouth. This really makes it more delicate, so this is absolutely optional.

I filled this in with some black fondant right away to help hold everything all together.

 

Next, and very importantly, I sharpened a dowel rod at the right size and pounded it through the middle.

Elmo is smaller at the top of his torso and round at the bottom, so I tried to carve out that shape. Then I cut off the excess board on the bottom with my X-Acto knife.

I added him to a 12″ cake board, which I covered in white fondant and decorated. After that was just a matter of making his legs and arms with pre-made Wilton red fondant and covering with red buttercream. Then I added simple eyes and a nose. I had also made a fondant hat — simply cover a funnel with wax paper and let your fondant dry on it. Since this is a family cake, I let my older daughter help a bit :). I also very quickly covered that extra 4″ cake and gave it to Elmo. 🙂