My Pirate Ship Instructions -- Finally
Decorating By karensue Updated 21 Jul 2011 , 5:19pm by ReesieT
So many of you have requested instructions for my pirate ship cake and I wasn't sure about the best way to get them to you, so thought I'd try this route. I hope it reaches all of you who were interested.
1. I actually used Debbie Browns instructions for her Sunken Treasure ship cake as my basis. This helped me a lot with the basics. If you have the book, its probably all youll need. If you really want to make the cake, its probably worth buying if you dont have it.
2. I used two 12 cake layers rather than the 10 suggested in the book. This gave me the additional cake I needed for the size I wanted. Because I wasnt sure how tall the finished ship would be, I made a styrofoam base about 2 high. This also helped me with the shape when carving. My overall dimensions was 15 ½ long by 7 ½ wide. It was shaped like a bullet or an iron pointed on one end and flat on the other. I also tapered the base to make it narrower at the bottom.
3. I used the Styrofoam (after I wrapped it in press and seal wrap) base to carve my layers. I cut and pieced the cake together. You could probably use sheet cake pans if you dont want to piece as much. I used two layers for the main part of the ship and then used the leftover to build up the back and stairs. These were placed on the Styrofoam base. I also tapered the layers to continue the narrowing at the bottom. I used buttercream between layers and didnt use any boards or dowels and everything held together well. I then crumbcoated the whole ship in buttercream.
4. I used a combination of SatinIce Dark Chocolate fondant and my homemade fondant for the wood plank covering. I cut strips about 3/8 wide, no longer than 3-4 inches long. They were fairly thin, maybe 1/8. I then used a pointed tool, not sharp, to scratch in the wood grain. It was very simple. I then attached each plank with a simple sugar glue. I did this for both the wood on the outside of the ship and the wooden floors. For the floors, I lightened the fondant and cut the strips narrower and ran them the width of the ship.
5. For the railing, I rolled one inch logs of fondant, probably ¼ thick. I broke a toothpick in half and inserted the cut edge into log. I stuck logs into Styrofoam to dry. When dry, I placed along edge of ship by inserting pointed end of toothpick into cake. For the top railing, I used a mixture of black fondant and gumpaste and again cut long strips, added the grain, and laid over the top of the logs.
6. The sails were made of gumpaste that I cut into the shape and size I wanted and dried over the Wilton plastic flower former strips. I poked a small hole on the top and bottom of each sail before drying to insert the cookie stick masts. I made an edible image of the birthday boy and the words. The name of the ship was done with the SugarVeil system.
7. The board was covered in a marbled fondant and same fondant was used to cut waves. The sharks were made out of gumpaste. I used "rolos" for the cannons, but found they didn't hold the candles very well when I was ready to place them. I'd probably make them out of gumpaste next time.
I hope this helps you with your cakes. If you have any questions, dont hesitate to PM me. Again, thanks for all your encouraging comments and interest. I'm sorry it took me SO LONG to put something together for you.
Karen
This is a great tutorial. You might also want to submit it to the articles section so even more people see it?
Thanks a bunch! I just made a pirate ship last weekend. I used your cake for guidance, but the finished product wasn't half as good. The woman who ordered it said it was the hit of the party! Thanks a bunch for the instructions so I can perfect my next pirate ship cake!
1. I actually used s instructions for her Sunken Treasure ship cake as my basis.
Karen
hi karen,
which book was this in? i have two of them on order...
Moonlightschild .. it was in her "Enchanted Cakes" book.
Leily .. I couldn't figure out how to submit it as an article.
Thanks, I am attempting to make a pirate ship for my sons 7th birthday. What a big help!
thanks for posting these instructions - now I have to find a little boy to make it for!! Shouldn't be too hard - who could down down pirate cake?!
thank you i have been wanting to make a pirate ship cake now i have the instructions i just need a reason!
Must say I just looked at your photos and you do marvelous work! Some of my very favorite cakes here on CC are yours! Love the pirate ship cake....I've seen other pirate ship cakes that claimed to have followed the Debbie Brown book....and although they were good, were nowhere close to your cake! Awesome job!
karensue, thanks so much for your tutorial, I'm making a Pirate Ship in March for my nephew and have been trying to plan for a while.....this is just what I need!!!! Your work is fantastic , you really are very talented, thanks again
Thank you so much for posting instructions. That cake has been sitting in my favorites and I can't wait to finally take a go at it!
Your instructions are great and your cake Stunning!
Could you please tell me how you attached the gumpast sails to the wooden dowels? Are there any hints you would give on that after having done it? I am afraid they will fall or slide. How thick would you say yours are? I can't decide if thicker is better for sturdiness or if thinner is better for being light.....
Thanks again!
Julia
Thank you for this! Your pirate ship cake looks amazing and I'm so grateful that you're sharing how you did it with all of us
Your ship looks amazing!! I hope that mine will look at least a little bit like that. lol Do you have any closer up pictures of your cake so I can look at the detail work you did on it?
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