Cherry Blossom Cake

  My parents shared their first "I love you" in a foreign language: Japanese (Kimi o ai shiteru). So this year for my parents' anniversary, I decided to make a mini two-tier Sakura cherry blossom cake. This is definitely one of my favorite cakes that I have ever made and I'm still in awe over how beautiful and elegant it turned out!

Many parts of the world, such as Japan, celebrate cherry blossom festivals as a staple of their culture and attract many tourists. They only bloom for a few weeks, however recently, blooming periods are gradually becoming more unpredictable in various places across the world due to Climate Change, making it harder for visitors to plan their trip to cherry blossom festivals in advance. Long term trends of earlier bloom seasons are a key indicator to the effects of Climate Change on seasonal patterns and ecosystems. 

Sources: 

Cherry Blossoms: A Sure Sign of Spring and Maybe Climate Change | The EPA Blog

Cherry Blossoms’ Peak Bloom Is an Indicator of Climate Change - Eos

To make the cherry blossom flowers, I colored and rolled out some light pink fondant and used a flower cookie cutter to get the basic shape. Then, I used a ball gum paste tool to thin out the petals. In the picture below, you can see the difference between the flowers that were thinned out (middle and right) compared to the ones straight out of the cookie-cutter (far left). I curled each of them and let them dry overnight. I originally tried to make the cherry blossoms with buttercream, however, it didn't become as hard as I wanted after I froze them. I also made some brown twigs and branches, but it took away from the elegance of the cake so I didn't end up using them.

The next day, after the flowers had dried, I worked on the inner detailing of the flower. If you look closely, the inside of a cherry blossom flower is a shade darker, so I wanted to add this to make it look more realistic. I used some edible dark pink metallic paint and used a paintbrush to paint small dots starting from the center and dispersing as they made their way up the petal.

While I set aside the flowers for the paint inside to dry, I made the sugar sheet to cover the sides of the cake. When I made it, the color had turned out a lot brighter and more pigmented than I originally wanted, so I ended up making it again but with less coloring. I'm so glad I did this because the second time, the color turned out absolutely perfect and just how I imagined. After it set, I painted the edges with some edible gold paint.

The last step was to assemble everything. I stacked the cake tiers and wrapped the sugar sheet around both layers. I started adding the flowers at the top and stuck them on the side so they were cascading down, almost like a waterfall. After some finishing touches, it was complete!

Since I had some flowers left, I decided to add them onto the plate and continue the cherry blossom "waterfall" effect. I absolutely adore how it looks with the flowers spilling onto the plate and it completely brings the cake onto another level! Needless to say, my parents were blown away by seeing one of their favorite memories together reflected in this cake.