Elmo cupcakes

My baby niece turned one this week and her favorite thing is Elmo. My sister had an Elmo themed birthday party for her and I wanted to make her Elmo cupcakes for dessert. I did a lot of research on this topic before I proceeded. I wasn't able to find any tutorials on making Elmo cupcakes, just a lot of pictures on Flickr of Elmo cupcakes.

Then I came across this picture from Cupcakes Takes the Cake and I knew this would be the one I would want to imitate. The next dilemma was to find a vanilla cupcake that would bake up flat and also taste yummy. I ended up choosing a Vanilla cupcake recipe from Amy Sedaris' I like you, hospitality under the influence via 1 tsp love.

As for the frosting, I chose a basic vanilla buttercream frosting from My sweet and saucy. The result? The vanilla cupcakes took no time at all and were very tasty. I thought they were a little bit too sweet, even after I cut down on the sugar, but everyone else thought they were fine. The frosting was tooth-achingly sweet. I think I prefer the taste of swiss buttercream vs. the powdered sugar buttercream. I chose to use the powdered sugar buttercream because they hold up better than the swiss buttercream.

Here are the recipes and also a tutorial for the Elmo cupcakes. Bare with me as this is my first tutorial...

Vanilla cupcakes
from 1 tsp love
makes 20 cupcakes (see note)
total time: 40 minutes

1 1/2 sticks unsalted butter, room temperature
1 1/2 cups sugar (see note)
2 large eggs, room temperature
2 teaspoons vanilla
1/2 teaspoon salt
2 1/2 teaspoons baking powder
2 1/2 cups flour
1 1/4 cups milk

1. Preheat over to 350 degrees.

2. In large bowl, cream together butter and sugar until light and fluffy.

3. Beat in eggs, one at a time until corporated. Then add vanilla, salt and baking powder.

4. Add flour in 3 batches, alternating with milk.

5. Beat at low speed for 30 seconds or until mixture is smooth and satiny.

6. Divide batter evenly among cups (see note). Bake for 18 to 20 minutes or until tops are pale gold and toothpick or skewer inserted into center comes out clean.

7. Cool on wire rack for 45 minutes or until at room temperature.

Note:

• *The original recipe says it makes 16 cupcakes, but I was able to make 20 cupcakes out of the batter.
• *The original recipe calls for 1 3/4 cups of sugar. I brought it down to 1 1/2 cups when I made mine and I thought it was still too sweet. I will use 1 1/4 cups of sugar next time.

Vanilla Buttercream
from My sweet and Saucy
Makes about 2 cups
total time: 30 minutes

4 oz. unsalted softened butter
2 1/2 c. or 10 oz. powdered sugar (see note)
1/2 t. kosher salt
1 T. plus 1 t. whole milk
1 t. pure vanilla extract
1 t. fresh lemon juice

1. In a stand mixer, fitted with a paddle attachment, cream the butter & salt for about 30 seconds and then add half of the powdered sugar and the milk to the butter and beat again until combined. Scrape down the bowl.

2. Add the rest of the powdered sugar, the vanilla, and the lemon juice and beat until combined. Scrape down the bowl again. Beat on high speed for 5-6 minutes or until the frosting is fluffy.

Note:

• *The original recipe calls for 10 oz or 2 1/2 cup of powdered sugar. I only put 2 cups and I thought it was very sweet, but I think you need the sugar for the texture.
  

Now for the Elmo cupcakes

Reserve about 1/2 cup of the frosting before making the red frosting. To make the bright red frosting, I added about 1/2 bottle of Wilton Red (no-taste) icing color. I don't think you actually need 1/2 bottle if you made the frosting ahead of time as the color got darker when you let it sit. With the reserved frosting, combine red and yellow food color until you reach a bright orange color.

Using a grass tip (Wilton tip #233), pipe Elmo's fur. Pipe fur by piping frosting until desire length is reached, then release pressure, and pull to the left or the right. You can rotate pulling left, right, or just straight up to give Elmo's hair that "natural" look. =P

For Elmo's eyes, cut a jumbo marshmallow in half and place them on the cupcakes.

For Elmo's nose, use the orange frosting with a plain circle tip and pipe a circle under the eyes.

For Elmo's eyeballs, melt some dark chocolate and pipe two circles on the marshmallow halves. That's it, you're done!