Pirate Ship Cake

Well since Pirate's are all the rage right now and my son loves them we did a Pirate theme for his birthday this year. As I was looking on how to make a pirate ship cake I noticed there weren't to many detailed instructions on how to do this, just pictures of the finished cake. So I put this together to help inspire people to get creative with their cakes!!! Have fun and I hope you enjoy this instructable as much as I did doing it!

First of all you always want to make sure you have enough cake to make your idea come to life. For this cake I baked a 9x13 cake, a 8x8 square cake and a 8" oval cake. The right cake plate is a big part of your cake also, it makes for the perfect presentation. OOh Ahh factor, so for this cake I used a silver platter I had that is actually for a turkey or ham, it was perfect! Then I proceeded to place the pieces, cut where necessary and form the shape of the cake. On this cake I used a chocolate buttercream frosting and made chocolate mousse for the filling between layers.

Basically I started visualizing how I wanted the cake to look and went from there. The birthday boy was very happy about his cake!!!

Now you just frost and add some jewels and finishing touches. For the jewels I used M&Ms. For the rails of the ship I used cereal straws since they are cheaper then Pirouettes.

Well the finishing touches are usually the best part of the cake. That's when the creative juices start flowing. I used the pirates and cannon from an Imaginex Pirate Ship and used an Oreo for the ship's wheel. The ship's sails were fun to make. I used black construction paper and cut out the shape I wanted, which had a slight circle shape cut into the sides. Then I crumpled the paper and cut holes. On the skull and crossbones I printed it up off the internet and glued it on. Quick note make sure to glue it on before you crumple your paper. Next I added them to the skewer. For the front I put one skewer at an angle and ran fishing line to the next one to put that sail at an angle.

Well here is the table when all was said and done. We had the token skull and a fabulous pirate chest which we filled with the loot for the kids. For a unique touch we took a silver candle holder and put a foam ball on top with floral tape and covered it with moss and stuck skewers of dino nuggets in it and I had a jeweled tray I filled with fruit to add to the festivities. I sprinkled gold (plastic) coins and skulls and bones over the table.

We had so much fun!!! I can't wait for the next birthday party!