Sushi Cakes

I'm not a professional baker but I trick people into thinking I'm the Cake Boss! I'm half Japanese but I swear that has nothing to do with my ability to make things look like sushi. (Though that'd be a wicked super power.) These cakes are THAT simple to put together. Use a boxed cake mix if you'd like to cut some corners, then gather some materials from the candy section at the shops. A little rolling pin action and BOOM! Beautifully tasty cakes that look like huge pieces of sushi. And the crowd goes wild!

For these cakes, you will need:

Ingredients

• 1 box of cake mix, prepared as directed (or your own batter recipe equivalent)
• 16 oz white frosting
• Starburst candies
• 1 green apple
• 1 lemon
• 1 lb black fondant
• 1 pack orange ball candy
• marshmallow bits (found in the hot cocoa section)
• white decorating gel
• neon green gummy bears

Tools

• 3 mini springform pans (4.4" diameter x 1.8" height)
• serrated knife
• cake scraper or dough cutter (something with a straight edge)
• measuring tape
• rolling pin
• small round cutter

Preheat oven to 350. Lightly grease the baking pans, pour batter in and gently shake to even out. Bake for about 30 minutes, until a toothpick poked in the center comes out clear. Let cool for 15 minutes, then transfer to a rack and cool all the way. Use a serrated knife to remove the tops of the cakes to make them level by using the top of the pan as the level guide. Carefully remove the cakes from pans.

Spread frosting on the tops and sides of the cakes. I propped mine up on my big sugar jar so I could evenly coat the sides and bottom. Pop them in the freezer for 10 minutes so frosting can set up. Remove from freezer then fill in any holes around the cakes with frosting. Use a scraper to go around the cake to get a sharp edge on it. This will look the cake look super pro! Set them aside.

To make the cucumber decor, cut up some green apple into mini wedges, then coat in lemon juice. Allow to dry on a paper towel while you work on the other decorations. Use a rolling pin to flatten Starburst candies to make sushi ingredients (pink for salmon, yellow for egg, and green for avocado). To make a tuna cucumber roll, shape a dark pink Starburst into a circular blob, then place green apple pieces next to it.

To make the seaweed, knead the black fondant so it's pliable, then roll it out with a rolling pin until it's about 1/4" thick. Measure your baking pans with a tape measurer. You'll want your fondant cuts to be as long as the circumference of the pan and the width to be 1/4" longer than the height of the frosted cakes. Cut the fondant accordingly with nice, straight edges. Transfer the cakes to your serving platter, then wrap them with the black fondant. The fondant should be a bit higher than the cake.

To make fish roe sushi, place a small round cutter on the center of a cake and fill with orange ball candies. For the sushi rice, pour marshmallow bits around the outside of the cutter. Press them into the frosting, then remove the cutter.

Place marshmallow bits on the tops of the other cakes, around the molded candies. Use the white icing pen to draw lines on the salmon for texture, then drop a few orange balls around the avocado piece.

To make the wasabi, chop up a bunch of neon green gummies, then squish them back together to form a ball. To make the pickled ginger, flatten out light pink Starburst with the rolling pin, then pull on them to turn them into long strips. Place ginger next to wasabi on your platter.

VOILA! Errr... 出来上がり! (Me serving cakes not included.) Now go and make these!