Pirate Cake

I met the sweet and delightful Clarisse through my friend, Cela. Her beautiful daughter, Nia was turning 4 and having a pirate-themed birthday party.

I baked a dark chocolate sheet cake for the water base, a cupcake for the treasure chest, and used a casserole dish for the boat. After chilling the cakes, I then carved the shapes of the chest and the boat, and covered everything in vanilla buttercream.


I covered the treasure chest in a layer of dark brown fondant, then went over it with paler pieces of fondant that I used a toothpick on to add the texture of wood. Then I placed some dragee balls and yellow sparkle sugar in it for the treasure.




The boat is covered with fondant - again I used a toothpick to create a wood grain and plank look. I added fondant cannons and a steering wheel. I thought it was too brown overall, so I added a little fondant bird to cheer things up, some yellow portholes, as well as Nia's name in bright red on the side.


For the pirate girl figure, Clarisse sent me a photo of Nia with her pirate costume, and I tried my best to replicate it with fondant. I think it ended up looking pretty cute...although the scale with the boat was way off. Oops! (Huge treasure chest and pirate...little mini boat...um...I was trying to add perspective? haha!)

The sails were made with wood chopsticks and fondant squares that I affixed with fondant and toothpicks, and left in the fridge to dry (with chopsticks behind them to add a slight curve).

Lastly, I used various shades of blue buttercream to make the water. I think it turned out pretty cute!