Coolest Homemade 3rd Birthday Pirate Cake

Ivy insisted she wanted a Pirate Cake and as I love a challenge. I decided to fulfill her wish, lol. I have never done anything like this before so I did a Google search for pirate cakes and picked out a few I liked. The cake I ended up doing was a mix of several cakes I liked. I started making all the add on bits earlier in the week as I’ve learned they have to dry properly. Then I made the cakes. Two home made chocolate vanilla butter cakes to make up the sea and two more vanilla butter cakes for the ship. Once the cakes were cooled I actually froze them till I needed them.

When it was time for the construction of the cakes I pulled them out and let them defrost enough for me to handle them for cutting. To put the cake together I used ganache and then I crumb coated the boat with the same ganache. For the timber I used chocolate and white fondant (mixed). I rolled it out then used a sharp instrument to score the fondant, cut them into panels and placed it on the ship, starting from the bottom up. I used a toothpick to make the look alike nail holes. I made the sail posts out of skewers and kitchen twine and used gum paste for the sails.

I attached the sails using a brush and small amount of water to the skewers and on the white one I made it bellow like it was wind. The brown sail was a little bit last minute because the original white sail failed because I used the wrong fondant, so I used left over brown from the wooden planks. I had made the skulls from molds that I did at the beginning and glued them on with a little bit of water. I made the wheel at the helm with gum paste (it actually spun around, lol). I bought the little figures from Cake Bitz in Bundall (Gold Coast) because I have a bad record with model people, haha. I used black and yellow circles to make the portholes and the windows at the back of the ship. I used candles as the cannons .. the kids loved this bit when the ‘cannons’ were let.

I covered the ocean and island with Whip ‘N’ Ice bought from Cake Bitz, using blue and yellow paste and used a brush with white Whip ‘n’Ice for the white tips with same product. The treasure chest was also made with gum paste and formed the same way as the ship. Gum paste was also used for the palm trees.

I have probably made no sense, haha, but all I can say, it took me some time to achieve this cake, as I am such a newbie at this. I had blue and yellow all over the place but I had a huge smile at the reaction the cake was unveiled. It made all the swearing and frustrating bits worthwhile. I am also pleased to note that the cake itself was a huge hit so my butter cake mixture is improving each time I cook it.

Related cakes: