Cakes for Charity ... Pirate Ship Cake

My first cake for Birthday Dreams was a Pirate Ship Cake for a homeless kid.  I saw this cake on a blog hop from Suburban Wife City Life a few days before I volunteered and guess what cake the little boy wanted yup a Pirate Cake.  Perfect and it was really pretty easy to make, love when God leads me that way. 

Supplies Needed:  

3- boxes of cake mix (I made my own cake mix see link below)

3- containers of icing (I made my own frosting see link below)

Cardboard (Alexis Note- I used a Large Cake Board)

Chocolate chips (Alexis Note - I used Wilton Candy Melts in Yellow and Brown)

1- Dowel rod

Making the Cake:

We mixed 2 cake mixes together and used a 9 x 13 and filled it with 3/4 of the mix.  Then filled a loaf pan with the remaining batter.  We used an additional mix for a 9 inch round pan.  Splitting 1/2 and 1/2.  Note:  Make the cakes earlier in the day so they have time to cool.  

ALEXIS NOTES: I'm not a fan of box cake so I made my favorite Yellow Cake.

Cutting the Cake:

Take your rectangle cake and make cut to make the shape of the bow of the ship.  I used the round cake and cut it into a triangle for the front of the ship.  For the back of the ship I took the loaf pan shape and trimmed to fit.  Frost the whole cake, now I used frosting so I didn't put a lot of frosting on.  I used my Sturdy Buttercream Frosting and my Rolled Buttercream Fondant.  I made the fondant black using AmeriColor Black Food Gel.  I rolled it out and covered the 3 cakes. 

Chocolate Railing and back:
We heated up in a double boiler (a bottom pot with water and a top pot with the chocolate) some chocolate chips, with a little vegetable oil to thin it out.
We measured where the railings would be so we would know exactly how tall and long we would need.

Place the chocolate in a plastic baggie, snip one corner and pipe out the railings and back.   

ALEXIS NOTES: For the chocolate I took chocolate melts and melted them in the microwave.  I used a tape measure to measure how long I would need each strip and railings, made a marks on a piece of wax paper.  For the back I Made a half Circle.  After you let it dry then you can add it to the cake.  Since I used Fondant I had to use a little frosting to attach.  I used a wood dowel and printed off some pirate flags from Paging Supermom. I added a little personal touch's like some chocolate Bones and Skulls.  I then cut a hole in the center and added some gold coins to look like a pirate chest in the cake.  Don't worry if your cake breaks like mine did use a little frosting like glue :).

Not bad for my first big cake.  
Next time It will be cleaner but I thought it turned out cute.

You don't have to bake to help Birthday Dreams, please check them out.

Don't forget to see the parties I link up to HERE.