Last night was one of my dearest friend's birthday, and I offered to bake the birthday cake for the party. This was only my second attempt at creating a fondant cake, and boy am I glad the restaurant was dimly lit! Under bright light you could definitely tell that I am by no means a professional. She loves the Hermes store, so I created a big Hermes gift box. Everything is edible. I drew the Hermes logo freehand with edible black marker.
I put my son to work in the kitchen, by helping knead and roll the fondant. It is a fun thing for kids (and grown-ups) to do, because it feels just like Play Doh. Except that you can eat this dough!
The finished product. The "cocktail napkin" was placed out of necessity really, to hide a mangled corner. But it ended up being the perfect way to include the birthday message. The "purse" was made from 2 9" cake rounds, and I cut the bottom off and trimmed the sides. My other son decided at the last minute it would be fun to deconstruct the purse handle with his little fingers. But that just adds to the home-made charm of the cake! Right?
This was the first cake I did, at the beginning of the year. It is my attempt at a Sushi Cake. I do think it turned out pretty well, and I had a really good time making this one. It is just a sheet cake ( I made carrot cake with cream cheese icing. Ok, boxed carrot cake.) I placed fondant over it and painted it with food coloring to make it look like a wood board.
I made the sashimi out of rice krispie treats that I molded into shapes with my hands. The wasabi is fondant colored green, and the ginger is dried apricot slices. The shrimp is just fondant and I brushed on watered down food coloring to give it the color.
To make these rolls I sliced Twinkies and then used green fruit roll-ups around them as the seaweed wrap. I put on icing, topped with white shredded coconut as the rice. The roe is just gel icing piped into dots, and the wasabi is green colored fondant.
Although I had a fun time trying to perfect my cake decorating skills, I think I only have maybe one cake left in me. Ever. And my other dear friend called it, so in 2 years, I'll be doing my last one for her birthday! For my own birthday, I want ice cream. And not home-made ice cream.
