Sushi cake ideas

[SnowyShiloh]

Hi everyone! Okay, so BF Paul's birthday isn't until March, but I want to make him an awesome birthday cake and have already been searching around for ideas. I saw this picture of a sushi roll cake:

http://www.exquisitecake.com/images/Sushi Cake.jpg

It would be perfect! Paul loves sushi and the only sushi place in town recently closed, we had been going to go there for his birthday earlier this year.

My cake wouldn't look anywhere near as cool as the one in the picture, but I think it would be fun to make. I'm thinking I could just make three layers in 8 inch round pans and tint vanilla frosting with green and black gel coloring until I got the right shade for the seaweed for the sides. Plain old vanilla frosting would work fine for the top. But what about the rice? Rice Krispies are too yellow. And what about the bits of veggie and fish in the center, what could I use for that? I think giant wooden knitting needles would make the perfect chop sticks.

Last year, I spent 14 hours making the hugest birthday card ever for him and he actually cried, so I'm sure the awesome cake would be a winner, too.

Thanks for any advice :biggrin2:

 

[seniorcats]

Cool cake! Check your yellow pages and see if there is a cake decorating supply or good cooking/food supply store. They may have large size sprinkles (hindreds-and-thousands, dragees). A good sized grocery store should have them too.

For the bits of fish and vegetables, you can use marzipan or almond paste alsoin the baking section of the grocery. Some times you can get colors but usually it is a cream color. You can divide the paste into small containers and mix in various food coloring. It's very easy to do and you can make all kinds of shapes. It also tastes great covered in dark chocolate.

http://www.baking911.com/decorating/cakes_marzipan.htm

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Thanks, Seniorcats! I was thinking of marzipan or fondant/gum paste, but Paul doesn't like how they taste. I want his cake to taste good to him. Also, I was trying to think up oblong white candies to put on top, and only thought of two... White Tic Tacs and the white candies from Good N Plenty! Gag, both of those would be awful, even if they looked good :craziness I live in a small town, so no cake stores or anything. I guess JoAnn's and Michaels might be worth checking out.

Do you know if you can melt Starburst's and not have them turn into a hard rock? I need something orange for the salmon (going to put white lines of frosting on it with a fork) and was thinking maybe I could melt some orange Starburst's and shape them. Because the sushi roll is so big, everything in it has to be big, too and I can't think of any large orange candy!

Oh and I thought of red or orange Jujubes, sour cherry balls or maybe even jelly beans for the fish eggs!

:cooking:

 

[maherwoman]

I know next to nothing about baking, but when zoomed up on the cake, those rice pieces do look like tic tacs. Odd idea, flavor-wise, though, I agree...unless he LIKES mint, hehe!

And the veggies DO look like starburst...and looks like fruit jam is the stuff the main "meat" portion sits on, though I couldn't figure out what the "meat" was made from, hehe!

Good luck! And show us the final product, ok?

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Ok, been thinking more! Hehe, I'm excited and don't want to wait until March to make it. Maybe I can do a practice run when I go home for Christmas. Nothing says "Christmas dessert" like a big sushi roll, am I right?

Okay, so this is what I'm thinking of doing unless someone comes up with better ideas:
-orange Starbursts, each cut into about 3 slices, for the grated carrot
-green Starbursts with dark green icing on one edge for little cucumber pieces
-red jelly beans for fish eggs
-I'll be using cake mix for the cake itself, and I'll need 2 boxes for all the layers, so I'll bake the leftover batter in a square pan. Cut out a triangular piece and frost it with light green frosting for the avocado, and cut out a rectangular piece and frost it with orange frosting for the salmon. Pipe white frosting in lines across the "salmon"

I still don't know what to do for the rice, other than lots and lots of those long white sprinkles.

Rosie, I was thinking of using strawberry jam, too, but I can't actually think of any sushi that has a red sauce in it! I think the meat is supposed to be fake crab.

If I do a practice run, I will definitely post pictures! I like baking cakes. I used to bake Cinnabun a cake every year for his birthday. He had all kinds of cakes. Probably the weirdest cake I've baked was a giant ding dong cake. You know the snack cakes? It really did look like a huge ding dong, baked in a springform pan and complete with cream filling and hard chocolate coating on the outside. I took pictures of it next to a real one, both whole and with a slice cut out of each! I need to find the pictures...

Here's a picture of someone else's Giant Ding Dong cake, they used the same recipe. Mine looked a lot nicer though and I actually scooped the cake out of the center instead of cutting it through the middle:

http://allrecipes.com/Cooks-Profile/Photo.aspx?photoID=9943

 

[seniorcats]

Wish i could share! I love sushi. The cake looks like great fun to make.

 

[Bo B Bunny]

I know I order decorations sometimes from companies online....

little candies like the white I've seen and ordered similar ones.

countrykitchens


but this is my favorite! They are super nice and quick shipping. I have gotten little white pearls, sugar, all sorts of things that might work. I just don't know what you want to spend.


CKproducts



What about coconut for the rice?

 

[SnowyShiloh]

Bo, I thought of coconut too, but he doesn't like coconut. I'll probably just use white sprinkles. Those web sites are cool! I'll bet shipping to Alaska is a lot, but you can buy a pound of white sprinkles for less than $3! I will look around on them some more. Thanks for the ideas!

 

[Bo B Bunny]

Yep, they have great prices on stuff, but shipping could be pricey. I hate that part! If I was closer to the one, I'd go get the stuff and ship it to you myself (always cheaper if it's a private shipper cause we don't jack up the price!)

I'll look around if I have a chance - we have some big party supply warehouses and sometimes they have stuff that would work.

Also, you could get white chocolate and shave it yourself with a cheese grater or something.