Food and Fandom: Nyan Cat Cake

So. I don’t know if you know this, but a couple years ago, there was this silly thing that went viral on YouTube, because well, a Pop-Tart cat shitting out rainbows with a synthesized Japanese pop song blaring out in the background. I mean. Is there really anything else to say about it other than the fact that it obviously would become one of those internet memes?

Honestly, I forgot about this video up until I started thinking about my sister’s birthday cake. That’s when I remembered the cupcakes I made her when Nyan Cat exploded onto the interwebs. The cupcakes I’d done back then were vanilla cupcakes with a lemon frosting, topped with a strawberry Pop-Tart, inspired by the same damn cat that popped up during that year.

Suffice to say that  I wanted to update this inspiration and take it to the next level. Which meant actually making a Nyan Cat cake.

Unlike my rainbow cupcakes, though, I decided NOT to rainbowify the interior of the cake, mostly because it was a time consuming process, and I had already decided I was making most of everything from scratch (including the fondant). All in all, the entire cake process took me three days, two of which were mostly short bursts of prep-time (baking the cake, making the fondant, etc.). The bulk of my actual work started on Monday morning with the decorating.

I’m not the neatest decorator ever, and my sister is probably a gazillion times more of the artist than I am, but I make do with what I’ve got, and at least I could at least make the cake presentable AND taste good at the same time! Hah.

So anyway, the cake itself…

I’ve actually used this marshmallow-based fondant recipe a few times now, and I’ve got to say, it’s not bad. I’m not a big fan of fondant, and I never really eat it, so for me to say that this stuff can actually BE edible is a big deal. That said, I still found myself peeling the fondant away because I’m still not a fan. It is, IMO, much better than store-bought fondant. It is also a much cheaper approach, considering fondant does tend to be on the pricier side of the baking spectrum.

Making fondant, however, is also an extra step and a time-consuming process. So if you’d rather just focus on straight-up decorating the cake without the hassle of making fondant from scratch, I’d say just go for the store-bought stuff.

Matcha Cake with Matcha Frosting

The cake recipe is one I got from Karen @ Honestly Yum, though I didn’t do the white chocolate frosting because I wanted to use the vanilla frosting I already had in store. That said, the frosting got an extra dose of matcha powder in the mix, which gave it that green tea kick I liked for this particular cake. (I didn’t make any alterations on the recipe minus taking out the white chocolate chips and the heavy cream, so click the link to Karen’s for the actual recipe–and her pictures are beautiful, so I do recommend it!)

I do think I could have whisked the egg whites a bit longer than what I did. Or maybe I deflated the mixture somewhat. In any case, the cake was soft, but not as filled with a light moisture I’d expected from a recipe that called for a lot more eggs than usual. That said, it was pretty good!

As for the frosting itself…I used a pre-made white frosting and mixed a tablespoon of matcha powder in it.

Putting things together was the bulk of the work, believe it or not. The baking and fondant process didn’t take long, and most of the baking time was me sitting around playing video games while the cake baked in the oven. Once that was over with, I went and put the cake in the freezer to harden it up a bit so I can cut into it without risking breakage. I also had to refrigerate the fondant overnight, etc. At any rate, working the fondant was a pain in the rear, especially when you’re one person trying NOT to eff up placing it on top of a roughly frosted cake.

I separated a few pieces of fondant and colored them a bit. There’s some marbling effect happening on the rainbow strips, but I actually liked how they turned out, albeit it wasn’t on purpose. Also, gold dust stars. Yeah…

Verdict: We may have ended up dancing to the remixed version of the Nyan Cat video. In the middle of the dining room table. Because that’s what happens when you make a Nyan Cat cake.