Brett's "Okami" Birthday Cake

For Brett's cake this year, I had a few ideas, but by far the coolest was an Okami cake.  Okami is a video game that we got for Christmas (thanks again TKOM!) that we have been obsessed with.  We've played it for hours...I could tell you exactly how many, but I must say it's an embarrassingly high number.  In the game you are a god in the form of a white wolf fighting evil and restoring beauty to Japan.  New skills called brush strokes are conferred upon you by other gods throughout the game.  One of the first techniques you learn is blooming cherry trees.

I drew out my design and, as I always do, I took it with a grain of salt.  Usually the actual cake barely resembles the sketch.

I iced the strawberry cake (always Brett's request) and got it as smooth as I could.  This is obviously a skill I have not mastered. Then I drew my design into the icing using a toothpick so I wouldn't have to freehand the piping.  This was a new technique for me, and at first I was a little heavy handed (around the ear) but for the most part this really helped with the overall success of the cake.

Then I set about piping over the lines and filling in some of the bigger portions.  Okami is supposed to look like a Japanese painting, so I bought a stiff, flat paintbrush and went over some of the thicker parts so it wouldn't look like a bunch of rows of piped icing.

I wanted the writing on the cake to resemble brush strokes, which I achieved, however, it came out crooked and with strange spacing.  I also put six of the actual brushstrokes from the game around the side of the cake.

Next I made some pink icing.  Now I know you are thinking, "Why is she putting pink flowers on her husband's awesome wolf cake?!" Well, the cherry trees play a huge role in the video game and I thought it would be pretty.  I also wanted to practice piping with the tiniest writing tip in the world!  My hand was stiff after about 1/3 of the flowers, but they turned out really cute. I was briefly reminded of my 3rd grade soccer team called "The Carnivorous Carnations."  We were gray and pink, and absolutely terrible!

The cake exceeded my expectations.  It turned out almost exactly as I had envisioned!  And most importantly, the birthday boy was pleased.