Sunday, November 29, 2009

Sushi Cupcakes



Sunday Morning Baking: Sushi Cupcakes! Or maybe this is more of a petit four? Well, they are adorable, whatever they are.

I found some gorgeous coal black, coarse sanding sugar at my local baking supply store this weekend and I knew what I had to do... make sushi from cake!

Usually I would use fondant or fruit leather to make the nori but as soon as I saw this sugar, I knew had to test out its seaweed-replicating powers. The sugar grains have a really interesting shape, they are broader and flatter than other coarse sugars I have.

To make these I took a basic sheet cake and cut out the appropriate shapes with a knife and a small biscuit cutter. However, next time I attempt to do frosted nori I'll use a denser cake, perhaps a pound cake (maybe even brownies) as frosting nearly the entire surface of such tiny, fluffy nuggets of cake was not very easy.

Anyway, I made up some butter cream, divided it and tinted it dark green, red and reserved some white to do the rice. To make the nori, I coated the sides of the rolls in the dark green butter cream and then rolled them in my black sugar. The rice is created by frosting the roll with white butter cream and pressing it into a plate of white sprinkles. I made the flying fish roe in the same manner, with red nonpareils and red-orange butter cream.

The shrimp and fillings are made from tinted and painted fondant, coated with a little piping gel to make them look fresh and glossy.

I wouldn't try to make dozens of these, but they really required less effort than I expected.

I'm probably going to head back to the kitchen now and make some more sashimi out of fondant just for fun. I think I may need to go find a little dark green fruit leather to wrap up some tamago too...

35 comments:

  1. I love these. You did a great job! I wouldn't even attempt such a thing.LOL!

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  2. Holy cow... I love sushi and cannot wait to try my hand at these! How do you come UP with these?

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  3. Sushi cupcakes have been done by various bakers before me, so I can't take any credit for the idea. I originally saw photos of cupcakes topped to look like sushi a year or so ago. I love sushi, so I knew I had to try to make my own sushi cakes someday.

    There are lots of ways to craft the various elements of the sushi and no matter what form they take, they are always extremely cute.

    I will say that I prefer making the nori wrapper with fondant, even given how great the black sugar/green butter cream turned out. It is just so much easier to work with.

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  4. Two points: 1. If I made these, I would never eat them. I would set them out on the table (in my theoretical world where I have a pretty table and not two galumphing boys) and stare at them and flirt with them with lots of winking (if you can flirt with food)(YOU CAN).
    2. You are mailing these out to faithful readers, correct? With perhaps a side of potato rolls? *extends out SASE manila envelope*

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  5. *LOVE*

    They look amazing! I've never had sushi but these appeal to me much more than the real thing!

    Beautiful food and photography, as always! I can't wait to see what you come up with next! :)

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  6. Wow! Looks just like the real thing! Very nice!

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  7. those are INCREDIBLE! awesome job!

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  8. oh my. I really think these are amazing! what a fantastic replication of sushi in cake form! I love it!

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  9. Adorable and delicious! I honestly did think they were sushi at first glance :D

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  10. Superb. You really do have an eye for the unusual when it comes to desserts!

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  11. Genius!! I love. Your nifty baked creations rock!

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  12. I can't wait to test them out..awesome!

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  13. Absolutely fantastic!! You should do a book of all these wonderful recipes! It would have to be a "how to" book, because only a creative mind can do these.

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  14. omg these are amazing!!!! you have such creativity and talent!! i'm gonna try to make some now!

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  15. Wow this is such a creative idea! :O
    I don't think I'd be able to eat them after seeing this end result. :)

    Love the idea :D

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  16. soooooooooooooooo cuteeeeeeeeeeeeeeeee!

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  17. Holy crap! Words fail me! This is so amazing I really don't know what to say!!! OMG!

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  18. I've done something similar with rice krispies treats

    http://farm4.static.flickr.com/3251/2391737548_c448c23210.jpg

    Nobody wanted to eat them! lol

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  19. WOW this is really AmaZing!!!! they look so detailed too!!!
    Love it!! *:D

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  20. This is amazing - much of the work you do is quite inspiring. It is great how you think way out of the box and create these different cupcakes.

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  21. wow! I love it, Cupcakes + Sushi = booomb!! :P

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  22. When I saw the sushi and read the title I giggled like a little kid. They look great! Two of my favorite things. Great job!

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  23. Oh I love them. I want them. I wonder what Japanese would say if I prepared one of these ... they Literally eat with their eyes... I wonder how would they feel....

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  24. Ps. I hope you don't Mind a little publicity in my blog.

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  25. Now this is the kind of sushi a pregnant lady can eat!!!!!

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  26. Not so fast.... pregnant women should stay away from chocolate, sweets and other stufff... some may cause alergies...and they can get gestational diabetes. Some women get it only because of fruit! During pregnancy diet is a sensitive issue... but one bite at Ms Humble's dishes won't hurt I guess.

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  27. I've made so many sushis before, but this looks so cool.
    gotta go try it out

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  28. This is ...A-MAZING!

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  29. I love the coloring on the shrimp - so detailed! I just made some sushi cupcakes too and would love if you checked them out!

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