I have never attempted to "carve" cakes into any shape, just bake and decorate Well my uncle wants something to do with a cruise ship, and I googled and found a few pics that I thought I might could attempt.....but I know nothing about carving at all. Do I fill them first, do I do a crumbcoat first, is it easier if they are straight out the fridge, etc.??? Anything that makes it harder or easier? I assume I just use a serrated knife???
Any tips and hints would be MUCH appreciated!! Thanks so much!

I fill my cakes and then freeze them. It makes carving them much easier. I don't crumbcoat until they are carved, but I think some people crumbcoat and then carve. I just use a serrated knife. I hope this helps!

Crumbcoat after you carve. Make sure the cake is cold or frozen - works better. If you carve them with filling, don't use pudding or anything leaky - stick with buttercream filling.

If you want to fill your cake with something slippy (pastry cream, fruit purees, cirtus curds, etc.) carve and then fill. Don't crumbcoat first it's silly to do so since you are going to carve it off and make plenty of crumbs as you do so. I like to use an electric knife... but a serrated knife is more than adequate. I'll attach a picture of my pirate ship cake before I filled and covered it so you can see the basic shape.

This is what it looked like when done..

http://cakecentral.com/modules.php?name=gallery&file=displayimage&pid=1267820

God that's beautiful Jeanne. All colorful and naked.

Naked???? Maybe it really is cake porn!!

Yeah... I get that a lot Jamie... Bwahahahaha!!!!

Thanks though... I thought the rainbow pirate ship was pretty funky. Though my hubby found it a little silly that Collin wanted a rainbow pirate ship for his cake... pshhhht... dads.