Sushi Cake!

I don't normally like to say I'm particularly good at baking, but I'm going to make an exception. This is epic...unless you don't know what sushi is.

But for those who do, well, hello world, I have arrived ;)

I was trying to think how long this took me compared to my meringue brownie cake, but then I decided I couldn't compare them. This is bigger. This was better. And it was definitely not blander.

Oh, and if you really don't know what sushi is (?!?!), then head over here for some good old rice lovin' and here for sushi photos!

So yesterday, when I decided to do this little project, I embarked on a quick trip to Sainsbury's and stocked up...you know, just to cover all bases:

I did use the majority of them in the cake, and have discovered a new found love for strawberry pencils :D 

Also because I had a £2 off voucher if I spent over £20, so I got the jaffa cakes and squares things to make that amount. And then when I scanned the coupon it told me that it expired the day before. 

As well as being dense because I can't read the small print on French websites, clearly I am also blind.

BUT ANYWAY, I woke up this morning, and spent the two 5 hours in the kitchen. This is how the magic happened...

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I used an adapted version of a madeira cake recipe from my Great British Cookbook. And then I went a bit crazy with the filling, mostly because I didn't think the cake would be big enough so wanted to bulk it up a bit, and had to use whatever was in my fridge, which was...

Raspberry jam...

...marzipan grapes bananas marshmallows and oranges!

And then I topped it up, iced it and began the sushi platter.

First thing was bourbon biscuits as the wooden tray thingy. Glued together with chocolate icing, obviously :)

The salmon nigiri (is that right?) is two bits of marshmallow stuck together with icing suger, a pink wafer stuck on top and all rolled in dessicated coconut. Then I piped some white icing on it. 

The maki (is that right?) is more marshmallow, more dessicated coconut and, of course, JELLY TOTS! I got so excited about this, I had to eat some to calm myself down.

Feeding myself with extra sugar didn't really do the trick. But this is the psychology of a Cambridge student, so you have to be nice.

The california rolls are the product of: strawberry laces, green jelly tots, yellow rolled icing, black rolled icing, marshmallow, all rolled in desiccated coconut with bits of cut up butter fudge for the sesame bits.

Almost done! I then rolled blue icing with white icing (to lighten it up a bit, but it just ended up staining my fingers blue), to make the soy sauce bowl, which I filled with melted chocolate.

I made the grass (why they have this on sushi plates is beyond me) but rolling out green icing and painstakingly cutting it. Yes, this did take me ages. But by this point I was so hyped up on fudge and chocolate and marshmallow I was just surprised I didn't cut myself ;)

And then I assembled!!!!! I assembled like I have never assembled before!

Oh, and the ginger bits are the orange jelly cut off the middle of the jaffa cake:

And the wasabi is made from the creme from my green-ice-cream-oreos (that I bought from China...therefore you probably shouldn't eat that because it's been in my drawer for about a month).

Annnnnddd...

WE ARE DONE!

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Recipe to come tomorrow, but for now, more photos :)

I also tried to write Pudding Pie Lane on my mikado-come-chopsticks, but my writing pen kind of exploded halfway and now it looks a bit like dripping blood. Not the look I was going for, but hey ho, you can't have everything ;)

I would love to hear from you if you have also made something similar!

Lesson learned today: I love sushi. I love love love love love love sushi.

Sushi Cake Takes 5 hours at least. Serves about...20? Cake base: Maderia cake 375g plain flour 2 teaspoons baking powder 300g butter, at room termperature 300g caster sugar 4 eggs, beaten Pre-heat the oven to 180C/350F/Gas 4. Grease an 23cm round cake tin, line the base with greaseproof paper and grease the paper. Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating the mixture well between each one and adding a tablespoon of the flour with the last egg to prevent the mixture curdling. Sift in the remaining flour into the mix and using a large metal spoon, gently fold the ingredients together. When thoroughly combined, with no visible streaks of flour, transfer the mixture to the prepared tin and spread it out evenly. Gently bang the tin down on the work surface to dislodge any air pockets, and bake in the preheated oven for 50 mins to an hour, or until golden-brown on top and a skewer inserted into the centre comes out clean. Remove from the oven and set aside to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn it out on to a wire rack and leave to cool completely. Cut in half, and fill with strawberry jam, marzipan (rolled out into a circle) and various fruits. Topping and decorations This is a rough guide, you can improvise with whatever sweets you find! What I used was: (Sushi type – cake replacement) Rice – two bits of white marshmallow stuck together with made up icing, with some more icing smeared on the outside of the marshmallow and rolled in desiccated coconut Salmon – Pink wafer Egg – yellow ready to roll icing Cucumber – green jelly tots Carrots and fish roe – strawberry pencils/lances Black/white seasame seeds – Chopped up chocolate chips and chopped up butter fudge Nori seaweed – black ready to roll icing Wasabi – the cream filling from green tea ice cream oreos Ginger – the orange jelly from jaffa cakes Sushi board – chocolate bourbon biscuits Soy sauce bowl – light blue ready to roll icing Soy sauce – melted dark chocolate Chopsticks – milk chocolate pocky sticks Grass - green ready to roll icing