How to Make a Pirate Ship Cake

I'm back today with step-by-step details on how to create a pirate ship cake exactly like this one!

(I learned how to do this on Pinterest, so check there too for more inspiration 😉)

Supplies

This pirate ship took quite a bit of ingredients.   For the cake I used two Pilsbury chocolate  mixes and  two tubs of chocolate icing.  For the decor I bought round pretzels, large pretzel rods, lifesaver candies, M&Ms and of course, a number 3 candle (for the coordinating mini cake).

Pans & Such

To create the base of the ship I used a small glass casserole dish (it's about half the size of a standard family casserole dish) and then I filled two bread pans about halfway each with batter.  These would allow me the pieces I would need to build up the deck.  I also poured batter into a couple of mini round pans (to create the Little Man's personal cake).  The white platter was the surface I used to display the finished cake.

Side Note:  Yes, this is the exact same platter I used to re-fashion those t-shirts for the Labor Day parade.  (You can click here to read more about that)

Step 1

After all of my cakes had baked and cooled, I spread a good amount of chocolate icing onto the white platter.  This serves as a 'glue' to help keep the cake from shifting around - very helpful when the cake in question is a bit tall 😉

Step 2

I used the cake made in the glass casserole dish as the bottom layer of the cake and gave it a good coat of icing.

Step 3

Next I placed one of the small rectangular cakes (from a loaf pan) on what would be the rear of the ship.  If you look closely, you can see that I did a bit of trimming to make the layers match up perfectly.  This was easy to do with a small, serrated steak knife.  Just gently saw back and forth while pressing down on the top layer (to keep it from sliding around).

Step 4

After cutting another loaf pan rectangle in half length-wise, I placed it at the front of the ship.

Step 5

I trimmed the front layers of the cake into a triangular shape to create the bow of the ship.

Step 6

Remember those large pretzel rods from the supply photo?  I purchased them to create masts for the ship's sails, but they ended up coming in handy during construction as well.

I used a good amount of icing in between the layers, but felt that the top layers were a bit too wobbly.  That was when I decided that the pretzel rod 'masts' could double as dowel rods also.  I measured them against the cake to get an idea of where to cut them, and them chopped them at an angle.

Once cut, I very slowly inserted them into the cake (pointy end first) by twisting them like you would a screw driver.  The angled cut combined with the twisting motion meant that the pretzels could go in easier without a lot of pressure (smashing).

Step 7

After icing the cake I added the decorations right away before the icing set.  The round pretzels were great for deck railing and the ship's 'wheel'.  The M&Ms added fun pops of color and the life savers served as portholes.  I was concerned that the life saver candies would fall off, so I inserted a long pretzel inside of each one to help keep them in place.  A few more stick pretzels at the edges of the decks helped to define the different spaces.  The pretty blue icing around the bottom was leftover from the shark cupcakes, but more on that in an upcoming post 😉

And there you have it! That easy! .........hahahahahaha!!!!  Let. Me. Tell. You.....

I was adding the icing when about a third of the front deck crumbled away and fell off.  

***It may or may not have had something to do with the fact that my sister called and I was trying to gab on the phone at the same time, but who's judging?!?!? 😌😀***

Anyway, remember how I had to cut one of those loaf pan cakes in half earlier?  That meant I had extra cake pieces left over.  I cleaned up the sides of the deck, cut a new piece in the right size and stuck it into place.  Then I quickly used a few more small stick pretzels to anchor that baby into place and covered everything with icing.  Whew!

Now, every good sailor has setbacks, right??? 😌
Once that catastrophe was averted, it was time to move on to the sails.....

Scrapbook Paper & Stickers

I used some scrapbook paper to create sails and decorated them with stickers I picked up at Dollar Tree.

Masts

A bit of hot glue and the sails attached quite nicely to the pretzel rod masts.

Pirates!

On a whim I decided to glue the pirate figure stickers to the small pretzel sticks.  

Every ship needs a crew, right?

Ready to Sail

The cake turned out to be pretty cute.  This was a huge relief to me, because things got a little scary there for a minute!

Tip:  Wait until the day of the party to add the masts and pirates.  For one thing, it was easier to cover and refrigerate the cake without all the added decor.  I was also worried that the moisture of the refrigerator would start to ruin the paper sails and stickers.

Mini Cake

I decorated the personal cake with similar candies and added a touch of blue to keep things coordinated.

(You can click here to read more about these mini cakes)

Dessert Buffet

  And here you can see everything all together for the party.  My Little Man was really happy once all of his goodies were assembled and on display.
Totally worth the effort 😀

(You can click here if you would like to see the rest of the party decor)

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I hope you enjoyed this how-to post, thanks for stopping by!

-Jennifer

© Jennifer Adams Flowers 2017