My little friend Oliver is turning TWO, and I had the privilege of making a pirate ship birthday cake to go with his pirate themed birthday party! I’d been looking forward to making this cake for so long, I’m excited to finally share the pictures with you! The “ocean” is yellow cake with buttercream, and the pirate ship is chocolate cake with chocolate buttercream. Everything is edible except the mast and sail. The railings are made from pretzel sticks that I covered in chocolate, the barrels are made from two rollos stuck together (my husband’s brilliant idea!), the captain’s wheel is a combination of rollos and chocolate covered pretzels, and the “treasure map” scroll with the birthday greeting is made from marshmallow fondant.
The Birthday Boy with the cake:
I think he liked it 
.
I love your cake!!! I found your link when it showed up automatically on mine. We just did a pirate birthday party for my 5-year-old. It was a blast!
Our cake is very similar to yours: http://dressesandmesses.wordpress.com/2009/08/25/pirate-party-part-2/
But, I love how you did the barrels!! So cute!
I had one problem. How did you frost it without getting all the crumbs? I’m obviously not a professional, by all means, so I ran into the problem of it being too crumbly. I would love some hints.
Thanx! And again, so adorable (my son told me to tell you that he loves yours, too!)!
Thanks a lot! Your cake is very cute, too!
I used the reverse side of a basket weave tip to make the lines on the side of the ship. That way there were no crumbs and it gave it the wood plank look I wanted. I’ve also learned the hard way that crumb coating (putting a thin layer of frosting on and letting it set before you put on the final layer) goes a long way in keeping crumbs out of icing. It takes a little longer, but if you really need a good finish, it’s worth it.
I hope that helps!