I made this cake for our son’s birthday as part of a Sesame Street-themed party. It was actually his “smush cake” — his own cake for grabbing and devouring and making a mess. The blue frosting got all over his hands and mouth and cheeks, which we all found fun and messy!

For the cake, I used this white cake in a 6-inch round pan. I also used one batch of buttercream frosting, tinted with numerous drops of blue food coloring (I lost count of how many drops I used, but it was around 20).

What I did first was make Cookie Monster’s eyes. I used a Wilton Sugar Sheet in black. It’s edible decorating paper and comes in all sorts of colors. You can punch out designs or make your own, then simply peel them off and stick it onto frosting.

I punched out two large dots of the sugar sheet using the wide circular end of a decorating tip for a frosting bag. I placed each dot on the bottom of a paper baking cup, peeled side up, right at the edge. Then I poured melted white chocolate on top, just enough to reach the edges of the cup, and let it cool. I used about 2 oz. of the chocolate, melted in the microwave for 30 seconds and then stirred by hand until it was fully melted.

After frosting the cake blue, I made Cookie Monster’s mouth with the black sugar sheet. I drew the mouth shape first on paper, then cut out the shape and put it over the cake to test what it looked like. I made several different cutouts until I got the shape and size I wanted. I put the paper on the sugar sheet and used the tip of a paring knife to cut around the paper. Then I carefully peeled the mouth shape off of the backing and laid it on top of the frosting. (Tip: Make a very large mouth. If it looks too large once it’s on the cake, you can always make it smaller by covering the edges with frosting.)

I then covered the cake in blue-tinted coconut flakes, sprinkling them over and lightly pressing them into the frosting. I left clear some space at the top for the eyes, so they could adhere to the frosting. I attached the now-hardened white chocolate eyes at the top edge, leaving part of them sticking out over the edge of the cake. I turned the black parts of the eyes in different directions to achieve Cookie Monster’s googly-eyed look.

Lastly, I put a “bitten” chocolate chip cookie on top of the black mouth. I used a knife to cut out a “bite” from the cookie, then laid the bitten cookie at the edge of the mouth and the bite of cookie inside the black to look like Cookie Monster was in the process of eating it. I had baked the cookies with Toll House pre-made cookie dough to save time. Whatever cookie you use, make sure the diameter of the cookie roughly matches the diameter of the eyes, or is even a tiny bit bigger, for the best dimensions.

To make the colored coconut flakes, put 1/2 cup of flakes in a zippered plastic bag. Dissolve a couple of drops of food coloring in 1/2 tsp. water, then add that to the bag, seal, and mash it around with your fingers until the coconut is evenly colored.

COOKIE MONSTER CUPCAKES

I also made cupcakes for everyone else at the party to eat while our son demolished his cake. The difference between these and the cake is that these use sliced large marshmallows for the eyes and just half a cookie for the mouth, rather than using the sugar sheet.

To slice the marshmallows, I dipped a sharp knife in water and made four slices. I tossed aside the edges so I was left with only the two middle slices, which I used because both sides are sticky. Because the diameter of the marshmallows was still a bit big for the cupcakes, I used the round nozzle of a very large funnel, dipped in water, to punch out a slightly smaller shape from the marshmallow slices.

I again punched out dots from the black sugar sheet, but this time I made smaller dots with a thinner decorating tip. I stuck the dots onto the marshmallows, right at the edges, and then stuck the eyes onto the cupcakes, again in different directions for googly eyes.

For the mouth, I simply cut smallish chocolate chip cookies in half and stuck them where his mouth would be.