Sukuna’s Fingers Cake

My niece and I are big fans of Jujutsu Kaisen. For her birthday, she wanted a cake based on the roll of Sukuna fingers that Jogo unrolls during the Shibuya Incident.

The cake is chocolate with cardamom ginger swiss meringue buttercream filling and white chocolate ganache on the outside. The top is a raspberry glaze. The scroll around the outside is a white chocolate collar with details hand painted with cocoa butter. Sukuna’s eyes are fondant and the straps on the scroll are gum paste.

The fingers are dark chocolate, filled with raspberry sauce. I was hoping that you could pour blood out of them onto the cake, but I made the sauce too thick so it didn’t really pour out.

In order to make the fingers I had to make my own molds. So I bought my own vacuform machine and now I can make molds of anything! I bought 3d models of the fingers and my sister printed them out for me. Then I cut them in half and vacuformed two part molds.

Holiday Candy 2024

This year’s candy: hot honey sunflower butter cups, orange ginger clove white chocolate ganache, cranberry sage walnut marzipan, licorice cardamom ganache with dried cherry, turmeric white pepper white chocolate ganache, coriander black pepper marshmallow with candied fennel seeds, lemon saffron marshmallow with smoked salt, bay leaf caramel ganache. and juniper berry ganache with candied lemon peel.

Fancy 18th Birthday Entremets

For their 18th birthday, instead of a cake, my niece requested a triple layer (dark chocolate, milk chocolate, white chocolate) mousse that I sometimes make, but fancy enough to celebrate such an important birthday. This is what I came up with.

Inside, there is almond genoise, dark chocolate marquise, milk chocolate mousse, and white chocolate mousse. The outside is mirror glaze, with colors inspired by Acheron, a new character in Honkai: Star Rail that my niece is excited about. The decorations are a caramel almond, a candied orange rind heart, and a gold leafed maraschino cherry.

I served them on a custom two-tier heart-shaped stand, designed to fit 18 entremets for 18 years. It looked nice, but I should have made it slightly less sloped because I got scared that they would slip off so I used double-stick tape to hold them in place.

Holiday Candy 2023

This year’s candy included lapsang souchong ganache and caramel, wasabi marshmallow and ginger ganache, ras el hanout walnut marzipan, tequila marshmallow and jalapeños lime ganache, balsamic vinegar marshmallow and strawberry ganache, and pernod marshmallow and sage ganache.

Fundraiser Candy

I’m on the Board of Director of a fantastic little theater company called Teatro Visión. For our annual fundraiser this year, I made candies as a thank you to our donors. Flavors were habañero lime white chocolate ganache, coffee dark chocolate & hazelnut milk chocolate ganache, chipotle pecan brittle, and ube marshmallow with candied ginger on top.

Koraidon Cake

Koraidon is a Pokémon from the new Pokémon Scarlet game. My nephew wanted him in his battle form for his birthday cake.

The cake is chocolate with chocolate ganache. The tire in his chest is chocolate cast in a donut mold, covered with gum paste. The feathers and horns are wafer paper. The eyes are isomalt with wafer paper pupils.

As usual, I made about four times as much cake as the occasion required, so we only got through the head at the party.

Holiday Candy 2022

This year’s candy included anise black pepper marshmallows, coffee nutmeg marshmallows, spiced cinnamon ganache, paprika cinnamon toasted almond brittle, tarragon ganache with candied grapefruit peel, ginger caramel ganache, and coconut curry black sesame ganache.

Julia’s Cake

The book I got this from, Alice Medrich’s Bittersweet, calls this Julia’s Cake. It’s chocolate genoise, soaked with Chambord, with chocolate crème fraîche, vanilla crème fraîche, and fresh raspberries inside, with a chocolate glaze, decorated with more fresh raspberries and ruby chocolate hearts. I made it for my dad’s birthday.

Sushi Pusheen Cake

My nephew loves sushi and he loves Pusheen, so his request for his birthday cake was Pusheen wrapped up in a California roll (otherwise known as Susheen).

The rice is marshmallow piped over top of a chocolate cookie structure. I made the Pusheen cake separately, inserted it into the middle of the rice tube, then filled in the space between the rice and the Pusheen with marzipan krab and avocado and fondant cucumber. The nori is fruit leather, painted with green food coloring. The wasabi is also marzipan and the ginger is just thinly sliced candied ginger. The base is covered with royal icing and is supposed to look like a slate serving tray.

When I made my Rainbow Unicorn Pusheen Cake and my Valkyr Pusheen Cake, they were rainbow colored inside, but the layers of the cake were still flat. This time I decided to make the inside rainbow shaped as well as rainbow colored.

Walnut Chocolates

I made these for a dear friend who was recently diagnosed with prostate cancer. The filling is a brandy ganache with carmelized walnuts and a piece of spiced brandied maraschino cherry.

Holiday Candy 2021

This year, I made toasted almond cherry marzipan, pecan chipotle brittle, peppermint marshmallows, port wine marzipan, amaretto ganache, habañero dark chocolate ganache with mango white chocolate ganache, and carmelized walnuts. They all turned out well, especially the pecan chipotle brittle. I forgot I was scaling the recipe when I added the chipotle, so it was about 4 times as chipotle-y as it was supposed to be, but I think it was fortuitous because ultimately my mistake made it a more powerful eating experience.

Holiday Candy 2020

Cocao Nib Panna Cotta

I have never made a panna cotta before, so I’m pretty happy with how this turned out. The blackberries are sugared with sage sugar because my mom has an overproducing sage plant so I’ve been adding sage to everything.

Big Time Bake

I’m back on the Food Network! You can watch me in the “Fantasy” episode of Big Time Bake.

Tribute Cake

The recipe for this cake is from Alice Medrich’s Bittersweet. It’s chocolate cake with whipped chocolate ganache filling, chocolate glaze, and chocolate decor. My nephew and I made it together.

Rainbow Unicorn Brownies

Rainbow unicorn brownies for my rainbow unicorn angel!

Ana Northstar Cake

My niece has made up a marvelous imagined universe that centers around the mythical heroine Ana Northstar. For her birthday, she asked for a cake featuring Ana Northstar's wings. Here's the cake I came up with, along with the inspiration drawing of Ana Northstar.

The outside of the cake is chocolate jaconde. Inside is mango mousse with a jaconde rainbow heart inside, which represents Ana Northstar's soul.

The hearts are fresh lime gummies. The orange wings are white chocolate. The green and purple wings are modeling chocolate. The blue webbing on the green wings is homemade pineapple fruit leather.

Spike Roller Cake

This very pink monster is a mini-boss from Legend of Zelda: Link's Awakening. It's chocolate cake with milk chocolate ganache icing. The spike roller itself is a tube of dark chocolate with white chocolate chip spikes and milk chocolate mousse inside.

Holiday Candy 2019

Most years, I make candies to send to friends and family over the holidays. This year, I got a new great new book called Spice, so I tried a bunch of new spice combinations. Starting with the pink marshmallows in the upper left and moving down and then to the right, the flavors are: mulled wine marshmallows, tamarind garam masala marshmallows, cardamom sesame brittle, rice pudding white chocolate ganache, spiced apple caramel, spiced milk chocolate ganache, and dark chocolate mole bark.

Brain Chocolates

My friend was having brain surgery. My way of showing support was to send her brain-shaped chocolates.