Let me show you how to make a colorful and beautiful Chirashi Sushi Cake! Impress your guests with this modern festive sushi at your next DIY sushi party or on March 3rd for Japanese Girls’ Day (Hinamatsuri).
Every year on March 3rd, the Japanese celebrate Girls’ Day or Hinamatsuri (雛祭り, Dolls’ Festival) to wish for the health and happiness of their young daughters and granddaughters. During this time, we display Empress and Emperor dolls called hinaningyo at home and host parties with festive foods, including Chirashi Sushi Cake.
When my daughter was almost 4 years old, my Japanese mommy friend gave me the idea of making this sushi cake out of Chirashi Sushi ingredients. My young daughter loved anything pretty, so the cake made her Girls’ Day a little more special! Let me show you how easy it is to make this colorful and adorable sushi creation for any party or special occasion.
What is Chirashi Sushi Cake?
Chirashi Sushi Cake is a modern take on traditional chirashizushi (scattered sushi). We mold the seasoned sushi rice like a round or square cake. Then we add colorful tiers of pink, white, and green ingredients to represent the traditional spring colors of Girls’ Day. The more colorful, the better!
Ingredients You’ll Need
You can customize this dish with your favorite sushi toppings and ingredients. For today’s recipe, here’s what you’ll need:
- Japanese short-grain rice – white rice works best for making sushi rice
- chirashi sushi mix – a packaged powdered seasoning mix to make sushi rice; it’s faster than making homemade sushi vinegar with rice vinegar, salt, and sugar
- sakura denbu – pink-colored fish flakes to make the pink rice
- salmon sashimi – about 10–12 salmon slices; you can use your favorite sashimi like hamachi (yellowtail) or maguro (tuna); or try smoked salmon
- shrimp
- ikura (salmon roe)
- kinshi tamago (shredded egg crepe) – see how to make it using my recipe
- Japanese or Persian cucumbers
- snow peas – or use small pieces of avocado, shiso leaves, or another colorful vegetable
How To Make Chirashi Sushi Cake
- Cook and season the sushi rice. Mix some of the cooked rice with the sakura denbu to make it pink. Then, mix the rest with the chirashi sushi mix. Slice through the rice with a rice paddle to separate and season the grains.
- Make the shredded egg crepe. See how with my Kinshi Tamago recipe.
- Assemble the sushi cake. Use a square or round container, either big or small. Then layer the kinshi tamago, pink rice, and white sushi rice. Fan out the sliced cucumber around the edge between the rice and container.
- Flip it onto a plate and decorate with a sashimi rose, ikura, and cucumber slices on top. Scatter boiled shrimp around the plate. You can serve it with optional shoyu, wasabi, and shredded nori on the side.
With the leftover ingredients, I made Temari Sushi using thin egg crepes. You can see my Temari Sushi recipe for other beautiful toppings you can use.
I hope you give this beautiful Chirashi Sushi Cake a try. It makes a sweet and adorable personal-size sushi for a birthday party, bridal shower, and Mother’s Day. Or, let your guests make their own at your next DIY sushi party!
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Chirashi Sushi Cake and Temari Sushi
Ingredients
- 4 servings cooked Japanese short-grain rice (2 rice cooker cups, 360 ml of uncooked rice yields roughly 4 servings or 3½ US cups cooked; see how to cook short-grain rice with a rice cooker, pot over the stove, Instant Pot, or donabe)
- 1 package chirashi sushi mix (I used Sushi Taro brand)
- sakura denbu (seasoned cod fish flakes)
- kinshi tamago ((shredded) thin egg crepe)
- 1 Japanese or Persian cucumber (cut in half, thinly sliced)
For Sushi Cake Decoration
- 10–12 slices sashimi-grade salmon
- 12 shrimp (boiled)
- ⅓–½ cup ikura (salmon roe)
- 2–3 snow peas (blanched, cut in half diagonally)
Instructions
To Make Chirashi Sushi
- When rice is finished cooking, take out some rice into a small bowl, and mix with Sakura Denbu to make pink colored rice.
- Place the rest of rice into a large bowl and add one packet of Chirashi Sushi Mix while the rice is still hot. Fold everything together with the rice using a rice paddle. Gently slice through the rice to separate the grains. Cover with moist towel so it will not dry out.
- Make thin egg crepe. Save 1 egg crepe to make 2 Temari Sushi and cut the rest of egg crepes into thin julienne strips.
To Assemble Chirashi Sushi Cake
- Prepare a container of your choice (round/square, small/big). First place shredded egg crepe garnish on the bottom. Make sure there is no space between. Then add ½ inch (1.3 cm) layer of pink rice, then finally put Chirashi Sushi on top. Between rice and container, place the sliced cucumber around the bowl so when you flip it upside down it will nicely decorate the bottom trim.
- Flip on a plate and decorate as you wish. To make sashimi rose, you overlap half a piece of sashimi with the next one and roll them up.
Bonus: To Make Temari Sushi
- Cut the thin egg crepe into half and place it on a sheet of plastic wrap. Put about 1-2 Tbsp of Chirashi Sushi on top of the egg crepe and wrap it tightly. Keep it wrapped until you are ready to serve.
- When you are ready to serve, unwrap the Temari Sushi and place it on a plate. Garnish with snow pea, half of sliced shrimp, and ikura on top.
To Store
- Rice gets hard when refrigerated; therefore, it's best to cover with plastic and a thick kitchen towel to store in the refrigerator. For sushi cake (without sashimi-grade fish), you can store it at a cool place for a few hours without refrigeration.
