Elmo 2nd Birthday Cake

Sometimes it's difficult to get my creative juices flowing and always come up with a new design for the plethora of themes I'm always asked to make, especially ones I've done a few times.  I always want to challenge myself to come up with a new design.  One of my most useful methods of getting inspiration is to ask my clients to send me images of all their party decor, including their invitation, wall/table decor, favors, toys, gifts, and baby's outfit.  I love to pull patterns, graphics, colors, and other details from the party details and use it on the cake to create a cohesive and complimentary design.

This past weekend's cake was a perfect example of this technique.  I was asked to create a girly Elmo cake with pinks and reds.  My client didn't want a typical Sesame Street themed cake and I was very glad to accommodate her request.  My client sent me these fabulous images of her theme related items and inspiration for the dessert table: 

 

I used the frilly table cloth,  hearts/polka dots, and red/pinks/turquoise to create this sketch: 

My client was very happy with it but we changed a few things. I added the turquoise accents and a banner on top and added a 2 to the center of the top tier. Elmo is hand made out of fondant.  The name banner was created on edible image frosting paper and applied to a fondant backing and left to dry a few days so it can stiffen up.  The ruffles are made by rolling fondant through a pasta machine to a level 6, circles are cut out, frilled, and folded randomly and applied to the cake one by one.  I'm a little obsessed with these frills and put them everywhere I can lately!  The end result was absolutely adorable and my wonderful client was very pleased!