Jake and the Neverland Pirates Cake

My "baby" just turned five, and he requested a Jake and the Neverland Pirates party.  I love making special cakes for my boys on their birthdays, but because I have never taken a cake decorating course, I am always looking for easy ways to make adorable cakes. Here's what I came up with this year:


Fun, right?  Can you believe this is a cake mix and pre-made frosting?  I started with 2 Duncan Hines mixes (chocolate for the boat and white for the island... but I cut the oil in half and subtracted 2 tbsp of water to make the cake a little more dense and easy to work with.

I found a lot of pirate cake inspiration on Pinterest and in books from the library, but here is how you can make one like mine:

First, you'll need to construct the cakes:


1) Make one 9 X 13 chocolate cake and two 8" round white cakes.  The rectangle cake is for the ship, and the round cakes are for the island.

2) Allow to cool completely, and then trim the chocolate cake to make a perfect rectangle.

3) Use a serrated knife to cut the top off the cake.

4)  Cut the rectangle in half (lengthwise), and then cut 2-3 inches off the top.

5) Assemble the ship by placing the two long rectangles on top of each other and the smaller rectangles at either end.  (Use icing in between the layers to secure.)

6) Cut a triangle shape out of the front of the boat.

7)  Lay one of the round cakes on top of the other (with icing in between), and then cover both the "boat cake" and the "island cake" (gently) with "crumb coats" of icing.  Refrigerate until the icing is solid and easy to decorate.


Then, you can decorate the cakes:


To make Jake's boat (Bucky):

1) Frost the cake with chocolate icing, and use a knife to carve "planks" into the cake.

2) Trim the boat with yellow icing, and add a red lifesaver steering wheel and yellow lifesaver windows.

3) Finished the boat by adding a paper sail on a dowel and some little plastic toys.



To make Captain Hook's Island:

1) Frost half the cake with blue icing and create little waves with the knife.

2) Cover the other half of the cake with graham cracker crumbs.

3) Finish the island by added some little plastic toys.

Finally, to finish off the masterpiece, cover the cake board with blue icing, and create tons of waves with your knife.

That's it!  There are quite few steps, but nothing too complicated, and the result is totally worth the effort.  My little guy could not have been more pleased with his cake!

If you make a version of this Jake and the Neverland Pirates cake, please let me know.  I'd love to hear how it turned out.


Gina (aka East Coast Mommy)



You can find more Pirate Party ideas here.


11 comments:

  1. That looks awesome! It turned out so well. I really wish I had any baking skills at all. I've favourited this page so that if I get brave or I magically learn how to bake, I can give it a go. Thanks.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. It really isn't that bad. It takes some time... but there is nothing difficult about it. I have never taken a cake decorating course, and I managed. Give it a go!

      Delete
  2. This comment has been removed by the author.

    ReplyDelete
  3. It turned out great :) I have a cute little friend who will love this. I might give a shot :)
    Roopini

    ReplyDelete
  4. Hi! I'm making just the ship. How much icing did you need for that part?

    Thanks!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I can't remember exactly. I think 2 containers would do it.

      Delete
  5. Hi,this looks so beautiful! I want to make the ship. What recipe did you use to crumb coat the cake? And to frost the cake, you used a store bought chocolate frosting, you mean from a can? I'm afraid the chocolate would slip from the crumb coat, since the frostings are sometimes very soft...or because May in my country is veeery hot and rainy. Thank you!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I used frosting in a can... but if you are worried about dripping, you could use something thicker.

      Delete
  6. Where did you find the plastic toys

    ReplyDelete

Don't miss any of the fun....