Aussie mum turns Coles products into sushi cake for son's birthday: 'Wowsers'

When a child has a passion, birthdays become all about it. But creating a cake that reflects their latest interest can be a challenge.

When a birthday loomed for Gemma's sushi-loving son, she knew what the cake had to be!

"Sushi cake for my sushi-loving son's 5th birthday," Gemma shared on the Woolies/Coles Mudcake Hacks Facebook page.

An overhead view of a cake, made to look like a giant slice of round sushi. It is decorated with white jelly beans to represent grains of rice.
Gemma's cake was a Coles rainbow cake she made to look like a sushi roll. Photo: Supplied

"Coles rainbow cake, white fondant (coloured by me), white mini jelly beans and sherbet fizz sticks," Gemma said.

"I also made a lolly sushi platter out of mini jam rolls, Coles mini cupcakes and LCM bars decorated with Swedish fish, liquorice, berry lollies, orange sprinkles, sour straps, fondant and more sherbet fizz sticks."

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Followers of the page were impressed.

"I recently saw a sushi roll-themed cake picture on a professional decorator's page. He did a good job, but this one is superior in my opinion. Congratulations," one wrote.

"The cake is great, but I absolutely love the mini Swiss roll/lolly sushi plates!!" another wrote.

"I cannot get over how freakin' cool and creative this is!!!! Wow, well done Gemma!" a third commented, while another added: "Wowser. Well done. What an effort, but definitely paid off."

Mini cakes made to look like a platter of sushi, complete with lolly fish, sitting on a rectangular white dish on a dark table protector.
Gemma also created smaller cakes to look like a platter of sushi. Photo: Supplied

However, despite how brilliant the cake and mini cake platter looked, Gemma revealed they were actually quite easy to make.

"Honestly, it took maybe an hour, all up, for both cake and platter," she replied.

"My five-year-old loves sushi, so that’s where the inspiration comes from," the mum-of-two from the Sunshine Coast tells Yahoo Lifestyle.

"I had the overall idea and then just looked for inspiration from Pinterest."

Home cook on a roll

While she used white jelly beans for the rice, she had to be a little more creative with the sushi filling on the main cake.

"It’s fondant, which I coloured to look like salmon and avocado; I also used fizz sticks for the green and yellow veggies," she said.

"Everybody loved it, especially the birthday boy.

"It’s a bit surreal how much attention the cake is getting.

"I honestly didn’t expect that level of interest.

"It was easy and I added it thinking others might like some inspiration."

But she does have advice for those who want to recreate the cake.

"Buy ready coloured black fondant, as mine turned out grey (I coloured white fondant with black food colouring), and have everything cut up and laid out ready to use, so as to make a production line."

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