I made this pirate ship cake of The Black Pearl from Pirates of the Caribbean for my daughter Cara for her 14th birthday.
For this cake I used two 9" x 13" cakes. I stacked one on the other and carved the basic body of the ship. I used pieces that I cut off to build up other parts of the ship. I crumb coated the body of the ship and then iced it with chocolate icing.
I put all the railings, stairs, cannon doors, and the figurehead, which were all made from white fondant, on the cake next. I used a paring knife to make the lines in the icing to look like the wooden planks of the ship. The vertical masts are wooden dowels cut to size, and for the diagonal mast above the figure head I used a long white lollipop stick.
I airbrushed the cake and everything on it at this point with black food coloring. Then I placed the cannons, cannon balls, and steering wheel on the cake. These were made from black fondant.
I used some thin wire and fondant to attach some white lollipop sticks to the wooden masts. I made the sails from black fondant that I rolled very thin. I tore and stretched the fondant sails to make them look ragged and old. I draped the fondant sails on the masts and pulled some pieces off them to put some finishing ragged touches on them. I airbrushed (or painted, I can't remember) the exposed parts of the lollipop sticks that the sails were draped on.
The pirate flag was made from black fondant. I painted the skull and swords on it with white food coloring; then I attached it to the mast.
Although I didn't get everything on the cake that I would've liked (ropes, windows, lamps, etc.) I was really happy with the way the cake turned out. Cara loved it, yay! :)
(I created my animated name at this site.)
