Sushi Inspired Birthday Cake

     Today I wanted to show you a birthday cake that my son created for his girlfriend Lisa's 21st birthday this week. I had previously shared some photos of a cake that he made for Lisa's dad, which you can see here. This newest cake was inspired by Lisa's love of sushi. David decided to make her and her family a sushi dinner and wanted a cake that would match the theme. Some of you know that my husband is a baker for a supermarket, and while he is very good at what he does, decorating cakes has never been his favorite thing. Luckily he has some coworkers that have a true talent and love for this. That being said, I think our son's talent for creating these masterpiece cakes comes from his artistic abilities, not from the fact that he grew up with a dad who is a baker. In fact, the cake itself was from a simple cake mix and store bought  ready made frosting and fondant. Nothing fancy at all. The decorating is where the cake really stands out, but clay, wood and paint are still his art mediums of choice rather than fondant, frosting and food coloring.
     First the fondant had to be colored with food coloring in the various shades that the design would require. It was then kneaded by hand until it was soft enough to work with and then rolled with a rolling pin, cut, and then molded into the designs that would resemble sushi.

                                                                                                                                                             

The pieces were attached to the cake with more frosting. The small dish was filled with Nutella to resemble soy sauce and the 'seaweed wraps' were filled with shredded coconut to resemble rice. He molded a fortune cookie and fortune strip out of more fondant. Bamboo strips were created to decorate and trim the bottom of the cake.

     The cake decorator then asked his sister to help write the Happy Birthday wish with special edible frosting 'markers' we had purchased, while he finished up by adding some fondant bamboo leaves to the trim and added some candles that were Lisa's favorite color.

The final cake turned out nicely and completed a fun birthday party theme!

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