Coolest Sushi Birthday Cake
by Megan Konieczny
(Homewood, Illinois, USA)
Whole Cake (side view)
Sushi Rolls (close-up)
This cake is perfect for a sushi lover’s birthday! Begin by baking a rectangular or square shaped cake (I believe I used a 9X9 inch cake pan). After the cake cools, cut a 2 inch strip of the cake off one side and save it for making the sushi decorations. Then, ice the cake with a solid color. I chose the color tan to make the cake look like a sushi plate, but other colors like green or blue would also look great. After icing the cake you are ready to make the sushi!
To make the maki sushi rolls:
1. Cut a 1 inch wide piece of the reserved cake and ice it using white icing.
2. Use food coloring to dye a few ounces of fondant black. Roll out the black fondant very thin and cut it in a strip to wrap around the iced piece of cake. Using your fingers, shape the fondant to make it look like a round sushi roll.
3. Color a small amount of fondant green and pink. Roll the pink fondant and cut off a small piece to put on top of the sushi roll to represent the fish. Then add some cut green pieces of fondant for the vegetables in the sushi.
4. Using white fondant, use your fingers to roll tiny pieces to look like grains of rice. Making the rice can seem tedious, but it looks great on the cake when it is done and will be worth it! Put the rice around the fish and vegetables at the top of the sushi roll. Then repeat to make two more sushi rolls.
To make the nigri sushi:1. Cut a 1 inch piece of the reserved cake and ice it with white icing.
2. Using the pink colored fondant, cut out a piece in the shape of a chunk of fish and lay it on top of the iced cake piece.
3. Then, make more grains of rice to stick to the sides and under the piece of fish. Repeat the same procedure to make a total of two nigri sushi pieces.
To make a side of wasabi and ginger:1. Roll a bit of the green fondant and put it on the corner of the cake.
2. Roll some of the pink fondant very thin and cut it into small pieces.
3. Pile the pieces on top of each other loosely to make ginger beside the wasabi.
Finally, make the chopsticks. Roll out long pieces of black fondant like a snake. Cut one edge for the top end of the chopstick. Then, using your fingers, form the bottom end of the chopsticks into a point. Lay them across the cake diagonally and write Happy Birthday on them.
Your cake is finished and your birthday party guest is ready to enjoy some sushi!