Saturday, September 28, 2013

Bucky the Pirate Ship Cake: Jake and the Neverland Pirates Birthday Party

My 4-year-old is currently on a "Jake and the Neverland Pirates" kick and wanted his 4th birthday party centered around Jake and his crew. After I'd started pinning cakes and party supply ideas on Pinterest, a friend of mine messaged me from a garage sale where they were selling unopened Jake and the Neverland Pirate party supplies for 16 people...for $6. Yes, please! With the plates, napkins, tablecloth, party blowers, and even a birthday badge taken care of, all we were in need of was a cake! I ended up taking an afternoon off from work to work on this beast but the look on Ryan's face was totally worth it! Here is a little info on the whole piratey process.

I started with two 9x13 chocolate cakes. I used the "Super Moist Chocolate Cake" recipe from Cake Mix Doctor
and baked them the night before, then cooled, wrapped in plastic wrap and put in freezer. Frozen cake is easier to cut and shape and keeps the crumbs out of the icing. I also prepared the cake board by wrapping it with blue plastic tablecloth and laying out waxed paper strips to set the cake on (easily pull them out after you're finished frosting the sides.) 

The next day, I narrowed the bottom cake by cutting a few inch strip from one end, then rounded the front end. The second cake was narrowed, then sliced into 3 parts- a rectangle for the back deck, a skinny rectangle for the top deck, and a front deck with a rounded front.  I used blue tinted buttercream frosting to stick these together, which made a pretty layered look when the cake was cut open.
Next, I frosted the entire cake with Fluffy Chocolate Frosting (again from Cake Mix Doctor). I used an angled spreader to make smooth lines. I also used a serrated knife to round off the corners of a graham cracker and stuck it in the back for the back part of the ship. From there, it was just a lot of piping. I used a flat frosting tip to pipe chocolate "boards" around the outside of the ship, but this wasn't very noticeable. I used yellow and blue buttercream and leftover chocolate to pipe the following: yellow pip edging, bell, sword and scroll emblem, windows on the side, a door in the center, and portholes in the ship. I also added white and blue candles so Ryan had something to blow out. 


 I used mini Kit-Kats cut in half for the posts and Keebler Fudge Sticks for the railings on the front and back decks. The sail is just plain paper that I printed and stuck on a wooden skewer (for kabobs).  Ryan wanted an island for Captain Hook and Smee, so I laid down some yellow frosting and pressed crushed graham cracker crumbs into it. The waves were just piped with a double leaf tip and I added Ryan's name on a map with frosting.

The characters were purchased on Amazon as part of his birthday present.

When Ryan came back from grandma's and saw the final result, he said it was "Awesome!"

 I was happy to make him even more excited for his party. Here's a little preview of the party decor with the cake as a centerpiece:





33 comments:

  1. Wow! That's all I can say about that cake.

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  2. I love the cake! I am using your cake as a guide for my daughter's birthday cake. What size board did you use? And where did you find the paper for the sail? Any help would be awesome!!

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  3. Same question as above, would love to know where you printed the paper from? Any other info would be great. I am going to do a practice run this weekend, hopefully it will turn out half as good as yours :)

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  4. Hi everyone! The printed paper is just something I made in Microsoft word by drawing long blue rectangles for the stripes. That's it! I printed it it and cut it to size. The gold medallion was just a Google Image search for gold doubloon--I think it was from Disney's website where they have some crafts to go along with Jake. I printed the gold doubloon separately and then just cut it out and glued it on.

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  5. I'm not sure of the dimensions of the board. I'd guess 18"x13"? You could cut it out of heavy cardboard if you want.

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  6. how long would you say it took you from layering to piping?

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    1. Three hours from layering until the cake was done, including making the frosting.

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  7. Did you just use icing to make captain hook and Mr smee stand up?

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  8. Captain Hook and Smee are just setting on top of the crumbs so we just placed them once the cake was on the table. There is frosting under the crumbs so we kind of settled them in to make them flat

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  9. Your cake looks wonderful! I am planning on making this for my sons birthday. Do you know what size tips you used for the piping? Thanks for the help!

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  10. Thank you for the detailed tutorial. I'm throwing my son Ryan a 4th birthday that is Jake themed per his request. How many people did this cake serve, and how did you cut it? Single layer for some pieces? Double for others?

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    1. Yes, we cut single square pieces and for the double layer, just cut them narrower.

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  11. Hi, awesome cake, ty for the post. I have been looking for those very small Jake figures (Jake, capt hook, smee, etc...) where did you get those from? the ones i find are expensive, please let me know. Thanks again!

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    1. I got them on Amazon and they weren't super cheap but we counted them as one of his presents- he's played with them a lot.

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  12. I found the figurines on Amazon for $19.99....

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  13. Hi! I'm doing this cake for my son's bday party this weekend and you said that you had printed the sail online but I can not find anywhere online to print it would u be able to supply me with a site that u used to print the sail please?

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  14. I has to make the sail. I just opened a new Microsoft Word document and drew blue rectangles on it the width I wanted. I think I found the gold doubloon image in disney junior.com by doing a google image search for Jake gold doubloon. I resized it in Word, printed it out, cut around it, and glued it on the blue and white striped paper

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  15. I did a Google search for printable blue and white pirate flag and a site comes up

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  16. hello and i love your detailed instruction i have been researching this cake for months and your is the first that looks great and explained well. now i am making this cake for my grand kids b-day that is on Saturday at 3pm do you think it would be okay to make the cake on Thursday evening freeze it and decorate it on friday afternoon put in fridge and serve it on Saturday at 3pm

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    Replies
    1. Yes, those are the days I did each step also.

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  17. I LOVE this cake, thank you for all of the detailed instructions! I have been eyeing those characters & now I have a good excuse to buy them :)

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  18. hi my name is Addyson Merrill. I love Jake and the Neverland Pirates, and I found this cake on Pinterest. I am going to make it one day with my mommy.

    Thank you,
    Addy Merrill and her mommy Crystal

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  19. I'm planning on making this cake for my son's birthday and was curious if you let the cake thaw before you frosted. Thanks!

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    1. No, I took it straight out of the freezer and frosted it. But, I was not planning to serve it right away. I frosted on Friday and served on Saturday. Not sure how long exactly it takes to thaw.

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  20. I made this cake last year for my son's birthday. It was such a hit! Thank you for the tutorial

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  21. How did u make the scroll wit Ryan name on it

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  22. How did u make the scroll wit Ryan name on it

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  23. How many people did this cake serve? I need to serve 45.

    Thanks! :o)

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  24. This served about 20 ppl with some leftover. It totally depends how you cut it. I think you would struggle to get 45 pcs out of it. Maybe just make an extra 9x13 cake with blue frosting or something and cut that in 20 pcs?

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  25. Great job on the cake! I am featuring this on my Birthday Parties roundup if you don't mind.

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