Sushi Cupcakes

Ingredients:

• 1 half recipe White Cupcakes (use this recipe or any)
• 1 1/2 cups sour cream
• 3/4 teaspoon vanilla
• 4 1/2 cups shredded coconut
• 3/4 cup powdered sugar, sifted
• 8 green fruit roll-ups (see note)
• Gummy candies of your choice
• Dried fruit in cubes, your choice

Instructions:

Let me start by saying that this recipe is a really fun effect, but it is a lot of work. :)

Also, I made some changes for my own version. The recipe recommends shredded coconut to put into the icing. I do not like coconut. However, it makes the best consistency for the icing to add it, so that the icing looks like the sushi's rice, so if you and the people who are eating it do like it, I recommend adding it. Without (as pictured), it does not look as realistic, but it's still good. You may choose to drop the sour cream, coconut, and sugar icing and just opt for marshmallow cream if you want something that is not as runny or messy.

That said, I also did not use green fruit roll-ups for my sushi "seaweed"; I used "apple wraps" that I got at the candy store. You'll probably be able to find them. In any case, get something sweet that can be wrapped around and resemble (reasonably) the outside sushi wrap.

The dried fruit in cubes is the sushi's "fish" and "vegetables"--I got a tropical blend of dried fruit featuring pineapple, mango, and papaya. It looks cool and has a nice variety of colors. You may substitute anything or gummy snacks cut in cubes for whatever you want. I also have some other kinds of sushi pictured there with gummy fish on the top (they're actually "Swedish fish"). It's best to go shopping in a candy store for these so you can buy the quantity you want of the colors you want from bulk bins and not have to get full packages of stuff you'll only use a few of.

Basically the instructions of this recipe are to make cupcakes--I made them in mini muffin cups so that they would look more like a sushi size, so I suggest doing that (and make sure you grease your pan!!)--and then just be creative in using the cupcakes, icing (made by mixing the sour cream, vanilla, coconut, and powdered sugar together), and add-ons to make them look like sushi! I accomplished this for the traditional sushi by wrapping each mini-cupcake with an apple wrap, icing the top, implanting the dried fruit cubes, and placing them in larger-sized cupcake wrappers so they would stay together. The other ones that imitate sushi with rice on the bottom are a cupcake with its bottom and sides cut off (they were ones that broke when I was trying to remove them from the pan!), iced, with a Swedish fish on top and draped with an apple wrap to look like seaweed.

As a finishing touch (since this IS all about effect), make sure you add "ginger" and "wasabi"--you can just take some of your icing or marshmallow cream, dye it green with food coloring, and put it in a dish or cupcake holder on the side, while cutting up an orange or pink fruit roll up and layering it in sheets like they do with ginger. If you want you can even put some chopsticks on there to be a giant dork.

Sushi freaks will LOVE this. And even though it is all about effect, they really do taste good too!