I did a trial 3-D Elmo head yesterday, since I want to incorporate it into the cake for my son's birthday in August. All things considered, it turned out pretty well. It was my first attempt at a cake that wasn't a standard layer or sheet, the first time I made or used fondant, and the first time I ever tried to get red (BC) or black (MMF).

Luckily, in the cake decorating class that I had taken we got red powder food color, and it worked well. But I am almost out, and I have no idea where to get more! I thought maybe I could call a local bakery. Do you think that would be OK? Any other suggestions? Or can I get a good red with another product?

Here's the cake if you want to critique - It's not the best, but it's a start. I used 2 different shaped bowls to bake the cake, so I could see which one had the better shape. The top one is the one I'll go with for both the top and bottom of the head (the bottom of the head looks very "heavy" because of the wider bowl used). And the mouth is a little wonky. Suggestions on how to do it better would be appreciated!

Adorable cake! I have no idea where to get the red powder. I would like to know myself.

Americolor gel colors are great - many cake supply sites have them available online. Super Red and Super Black work great - even starting from white icing.

I ordered some powdered red coloring (and black as well) from Country Kitchen SweetArt a while back.

http://www.countrykitchensa.com/catalog/product.aspx?T=1&productId=618296

Thank you, thank you!

i heard chefmaster red is good too.

I can second the Americolor red. It works gret starting with white buttercream or fondant and is very inexpensive at most local cake supply stores if there are any located near you. For elms mouth, maybe you could ice that area smooth and just apply a mouth shaped from fondat. Or if you really want to carve i out, you could use something with the half moon shape and carve each half separately. HTH- have fun!!

Thanks all for the info.

After cutting into my Elmo head last night, I decided that I DO NOT want to have to deal with the the mess that I will have if I attempt to serve people from a whole 3-D Elmo cake!

I think I'm going to do a half sheet, and then do an Elmo "bust" on top. I can do the shoulders in cake, and then I will do the arms and head in RKT. I'll attempt to make a RKT Elmo next week and see if that's more feasable! In all, elmo will be smaller, but I think I can make him look a little nicer and take some of the attention off of him if he's not just so massive.

I've never tried any carved/shaped cake before, so I don't want to bite off more than I can chew for now! Baby steps...

Sounds like a good idea,ThreeDGirlie. You can do it!!!

Chefmaster is the best color I have found and I have tried them all. You don't have to wait for the color to intensify, You get red instantly.

I am a faithful americolor girl myself. i get very nice and rich colors from it