Pirate Ship Cake

by Rachel
(San Marcos, Texas)

My son wanted a pirate birthday party for his fourth birthday, and my husband decided to make a cake in the shape of a pirate ship. I thought he was nuts, but it actually turned out spectacularly.

Edible Decorations

I did a lot of searching to find edible items to use for treasure and other ship parts, and most of the decorations were edible. We used black licorice for the railings, Whoppers for cannon balls, mini M&Ms and mini Chicklets for treasure, gummy sharks in the water, and the sandy beach was made with cinnamon sugar over the icing (which tasted great by the way).

We had a bag of gold bubble gum as well. Lifesavers for rafts/portholes on the side of the ship...he loved it, especially when we let him cut it up himself using his pirate sword to hack at it :)

Used Sheet Cake Pan

We used a half sheet cake pan for the base, iced it blue for the ocean and added the island, and then made the ship out of pieces cut from another half sheet cake with skewers through it for support. We did 2 layers the shape of the bottom of the ship and then added pieces in the front and back for the bow and stern.

I used regular boxed cake mix, but the icing was a recipe of my friends who makes great buttercream icing.