Pirate Treasure Chest Cake

This is the second cake of this type I have made... the first one I made was for my oldest son  a few years ago.  This one is about twice the size, but came together well for me, after having practiced it that first time.  These are a little tricky to make, considering the top of the cake sits at an upward angle to make it appear that the chest is open slightly, click below to read how I did it.


I will try to be thorough with my instructions, because I did not think to take pictures as I was making the cake.  If you want to try this and have questions, please feel free to email me and I will be glad to try to help.  I baked two 11"x15" sheet cakes.  Cut them in half to form four 11"x7.5" sheet cakes.  Frosted the tops of two cakes and stacked them in pairs to form two 11"x7.5"x4" cakes.  I placed one cake on the foil covered cake board (with a little frosting under it to hold it in place).  I placed the other cake on a board cut to the same size as the cake, with slightly rounded corners so they would not show-- this one is the top of the treasure chest, and was also carved into a rounded shape on top.  I cut a guide out of paper to place on the sides of the cake- it looked sort of like a semi-circle, just so I could carve it evenly on each side.  I frosted the cakes in buttercream and covered them in chocolate marshmallow fondant (I tried a new recipe for this.  One that I found on cakecentral.com.  It must be made right before using, otherwise it dries out and cracks, so I made the fondant right before frosting the cakes.  I have added this recipe to the recipe section on the main page of my blog.).

I wanted the chest to look like it was really made out of wood, so I used a ruler to ensure straight lines and gently rolled a pizza cutter across the fondant at 1-inch intervals... very very gently...I only wanted to create the illusion of wooden planks, not cut through the fondant.  I then used a rounded toothpick to gently carve/scratch wood grain into the planks.  This wasn't difficult... I just scratched a few random wavy lines into the "planks" so it would look like wood.

I wanted to make the wood-grain stand out and look even more realistic, so I painted the fondant with a mixture of vodka and brown and black icing color.  I did not take much... just about 2 tsp. vodka and I dipped a toothpick in brown icing and a toothpick in black icing and mixed them all together. I used a natural bristle paintbrush and painted all over the chest, taking care to let the color settle into the woodgrain and edges of the planks so they would stand out.  This technique adds a slight sheen to fondant, which, to me, made the it look like finished wood.  I also used this technique on the house on top of the Wizard of Oz cake.  The vodka dries very quickly and does not make the fondant sticky like water can.

I added the brass trim to the edges by mixing mmf with brown and golden yellow colorings to achieve the right shade.  I rolled it out thin and cut it into strips about 1-inch in width for the bottom edges of each cake.  I used strips about 1/2 inch in width for the top edge of the bottom of the chest.  For the corner edges, the strips were almost 2 inches wide.  I added the strips across the middle of the top of the cake LAST.... after the cake was assembled... you can cut those and set them aside for now.

To assemble the cake:
I made a wedge of cardboard for the top of the chest to sit on, so it would be raised up in front.  It was a piece of cardboard approximately 7 inches wide by 9 inches long.  I folded the longer side twice... until it formed a wedge shape about 4-inches x 7-inches and 1-inch high.  I taped it together and covered it in wax paper.... taping the wax paper to the top of the wedge... the tape would only touch the underside (cake board) of the top of the chest.  I pressed this wedge onto the center on top of the chest bottom to mark where it would sit.  I lifted it and added 4 dowels near the corner marks.  I also added 4 dowels across the back of the chest bottom, about 1 inch in from the back edge... where the weight of the chest top would likely rest.  I put the wedge back into place on top of the chest bottom.  I carefully lifted the chest top and set it exactly on top of the chest bottom.  I then hammered two sharpened dowels straight through the top of the chest all the way down through the base, the wedge, the chest bottom and the cake board to keep the entire cake intact.  These were placed exactly centered and one-third of the way in from each side.  I then added the 1/2-inch strips of brass colored fondant across the top of the chest, to cover the holes (which is why those strips were added last).  At this point, I also added 1/2 inch strips of brass mmf to the chest bottom to match those across the chest top.  I added the key hole, which was cut from brass mmf with a layer of black mmf behind it.  I wanted to make the brass trim "pop" so I painted it with a mixture of vodka and silver shimmer dust (Wilton brand).  I wanted it to look like coins were spilling out of the chest, so, to keep the plastic coins in place and off the fondant (for fear of lead content... you just never know these days!)  I cut a piece of wax paper in a long U-shape to just fit on the front of the cake around the wedge... it was about 1-inch in width.  I hotglued the plastic coins to the wax paper and each other to make a solid section of coins.  I just slid this into place inside the cake.  I added graham cracker sand and plastic coins around the cake, as well as a handmade mmf skeleton key, and a happy birthday treasure map I printed on tea-stained paper with burned edges.  Yes, I stained and burned the paper myself... little miss overachiever... but it is so much fun to get crafty sometimes!  Okay, I think that is it from start to finish.  If I ever make another I will be sure to take pictures during assembly!  Thanks for reading if you made it this far.