Jake and the Neverland Pirates Birthday Cake

I have to say that after 3 girls in a row, my husband and I had just about given up hope of having any boys.  My mom, who is quite the ambassador for large families, would always tell my husband that if we kept trying that eventually we would have a boy, and I guess she was right because the 4th time around we got our little Jaxon.  People always say that boys are different that girls, but wow, boys are different than girls!!  From the start of my pregnancy and throughout this cute little boy's life, I keep being thrown out of my predictable, pink comfort zone.

That being said, throwing some blue and green in there every once in a while is a refreshing change of scenery.  Just when I feel like I can't watch My Little Pony one more time, my cute little boy asks for Jake and the Neverland Pirates.  It's his favorite show, and I think it's absolutely adorable.

My cake decorating is amateur at best (I've never taken a class), but I try to make something fun and personal for my kiddo's birthdays.  Of course that means a Jake and the Neverland Pirates Cake for my 3-year-old birthday boy.

Here's how I did it.

Step 1: Bake two 9 x 13 pans of chocolate cake and let them cool.  Draw the base of your ship on a piece of white paper.  Using the paper drawing as your guide, cut two bases of the ship.  Stack them on top of each other with a layer of Chocolate Buttercream frosting in between.  Then using the same drawing, cut two more pieces of the back 1/3 of the base and stack them (using the buttercream between layers) for the upper back deck of the ship.  Cut 1 piece of the front 1/3 of the base to use for the bow of the ship.

Step 2:  Apply a thin layer of Chocolate Buttercream frosting to the entire outside of the ship.  This will prevent crumbs falling off and will help you attach the fondant.

Step 3:  Roll out brown fondant into a 1/8 inch thickness.  Cut out rectangular sections to use as your planks.  If you want the wood grain design you can purchase a fondant mat with the wood grain pattern.  I didn't order one early enough so I used a knife to scratch in my own wood grain lines.  Take your fondant planks, and after applying a thin layer of buttercream to the back, tile them onto the outside of your cake.  Make sure to stagger the planks so they don't all end in the same places.

Step 4:  I wanted a bit more wood texture so I added some deeper brown color into some of the wood.  You could do this with a brown dusting powder and a paint brush, or I used a brown icing glaze.  To make the glaze just use a bit of Powdered sugar, water and brown food coloring.  You want the glaze fairly runny so that it will tint but not frost and cover your fondant.  Then using a brush I spread a thin layer over the planks and gently rubbed it in with my finger where necessary.  I loved the glazed look when I was done!

Step 5: Pipe over the corners to make for a neater edge.  For this cake I used a yellow icing to match the Jake and the Neverland Pirates boat, but if I were making a traditional pirate cake I would probably go brown or black. 

Optional:  If you want a railing you can roll fondant and attach with toothpicks to support the posts in an upright direction.  Mine looked pretty good until my son, who was helping me with his cake, grabbed a chunk of the railing and pulled it right off.  I tried to patch it, but as you can see from the picture, it was never the same:(

And there you have it - and adorable or scary Pirate cake.

Happy Baking everyone!!