This was SO much fun to make! My boys watched me go through every step and loved every minute of it (they are huge pirate fans!). My oldest son helped me tea-stain the paper to make the sails. This cake started as an 11x15 inch sheet cake. I cut it into 3 equal sections... roughly 11" x 5" each. I frosted the tops and stacked them together. I then carved it into the shape of a ship, using the section I cut out of the middle to raise up the back portion (behind the captain). I piped on chocolate frosting using 3 different size basket-weave tips, to add dimension. I used a stop-start-stop motion to try to acheive the look of wooden planks. I also tried to stack them like bricks to make it more apparent that they were wooden planks. The actual plank on the ship is made from chocolate. The masts are 1/4 " dowels. The sails, as mentioned, are made from tea-stained paper to make them look old. I also burned the edges lightly to add to that effect. The pirates are hand-sculpted from marshmallow fondant. I used images from Wilton.com and Cake Central.com as inspiration for the ship and the pirates.
