True example of my type-A-ness

I know I am a bit meticulous...obviously, given that it's part of my blog name...but this might be a bit much. Baby turns one next month, and we're having an Elmo/Sesame Street party for him with our family and friends. I decided a while back that I wanted to bake his cake from scratch, rather than buy one from a bakery, but on a recent trip to Jo-Ann Fabrics, I found an Elmo cake mold that I couldn't pass up, especially since I had a 40% off coupon. I didn't stop there, though. I decided I had to make a test cake - I'd never baked a shaped cake before, just simple rounds and squares and rectangles. So I made a test cake, using a recipe from my favorite source - Cook's Illustrated/America's Test Kitchen. A simple yellow cake, nothing gourmet. It was the decorating that was insane.

I've never been a cake decorator. I don't mind frosting a cake, but I've never been very good at being creative with a cake. Fortunately, the Elmo mold came with explicit instructions, and I've always been good at following instructions. So here is a snap of my attempt. I'm pretty pleased with how it came out, but I must say that in person, Elmo's red fur was nowhere near red enough!