Saturday, April 14, 2012

A Pirate's {50th} Birthday Cake

First, this has been a very crazy and exhausting day! My mom woke me up at 3:15 this morning because she had to take my dad to the hospital for chest pain and the shakes. Thankfully, so far all of his tests have come back clear and the doctors don't believe it's his heart. My dad is an associate pastor, father of four daughters, and a full-time team leader at Lockheed Martin in their computer department. The man has A LOT on his plate! We think that this was a wake up call for him to slow down and not try to do so much. Prayers are appreciated for his full recovery and continued good health! God isn't finished with him yet!!

Now on to the cake...

I had a fun last minute cake order come in last week and I'm so excited to share it with you today! The cake was for a 50th birthday party and the theme was pirates. Really cool.


Pirate themed birthday cake 



Anyway, they wanted a cake that would appeal to everyone so for the flavors they chose chocolate for one tier and vanilla for the other. The whole thing was iced in white chocolate buttercream. My favorite part is the decorations. I'm not much of a fondant fan. I don't like the way it tastes and I'm not particularly fond of working with it. However, the cake picture they showed me had a lot of fondant work and I wanted to find a way to make the cake they wanted without having to deal with it. So, I went to my favorite store for creativity and looked around. Did you know that Wilton makes sugar sheets? Literally sheets of edible "paper" made out of sugar and in lots of different colors! I love this stuff!! Cut or punch the shapes you want and voila! Done and done. So easy and exactly the look I wanted.


Photo courtesy of wilton.com



For the cakes I used these recipes:

Chocolate Cake (adapted from here)


  • 1-3/4 cups all-purpose flour
  • 2 cups sugar
  • 1-1/2 teaspoons baking powder
  • 1-1/2 teaspoons baking soda
  • 1 teaspoon salt
  • eggs
  • 1 cup milk
  • 1/2 cup vegetable oil
  • 2 teaspoons vanilla extract

  • 1 cup boiling water







      3/4 cup cocoa



Stir together sugar, flour, cocoa, baking powder, baking soda and salt in large bowl. Add eggs, milk, oil and vanilla; beat on medium speed of electric mixer 2 minutes. Stir in boiling water (batter will be thin). Pour batter into prepared liners and bake at 350 for about 30-35 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in middle of cake comes out clean. This recipe makes approximately two 2" x 8" layers.



For the vanilla cake I used the recipe for my almond cake and left the almond extract out. You can find the recipe in my post on almond cupcakes here. For the icing I used my favorite go to - the Wilton white chocolate buttercream icing. LOVE this combination! The clients were very pleased when I delivered the cake and I hope they had fun at their party. 

Close up of the top :)


Next week I'll be sharing a classic favorite - PB&J cupcakes - and a new flavor - Strawberry Rhubarb Pie cupcakes! Until then, happy reading and, more importantly, happy cupcake-ing!!




27 comments:

  1. Awesome job! I love how you did the pirate skull!

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  2. This is a great cake, you did a super job! I have never tried those sugar sheets, but I might be brave enough to now that I see what you did with them. It looks really good! I don't like the taste of fondant either.

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    1. Thanks much! I really love the sugar sheets. Definitely give them a try!

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  3. You did an amazing job! I never heard of the sugar sheets, but I'll keep my eye out for them now! Thanks so much for sharing at Mix it up Monday :)

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  4. Very nice!! I followed you from Homemade by You. Here is my offering this week: http://likemamalikedaughter.blogspot.com/2012/04/keep-calm-and-craft-on.html

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  5. So cute. We will try this one for our little pirate! We are so glad that you linked up to our “Strut Your Stuff Saturday.” We hope you’ll be back soon! -The Sisters

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  6. Would it be bad to just sit down and eat a sugar sheet? lol Your cake turned out fabulous - thanks so much for sharing it at our party this week.

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    1. LOL, Terry! I don't think I'd recommend it :) Thanks for hosting another great party!

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  7. Hi,

    I followed you over from Mix it up Monday and this cake is amazing! We love Pirates!

    I would love to invite you to share this, and any other posts you would like to, at my Creative Thursday Link Party at www.michellestastycreations.blogspot.com.

    Have a great day,
    Michelle

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  8. Love this! We just posted our Kitchen Fun and Crafty Friday link party and would love for you to share this!
    http://kitchenfunwithmy3sons.blogspot.com/2012/04/kitchen-fun-and-crafty-friday-link_19.html

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  9. Amazing job! Turned out GREAT!
    I didn't like to use fondant before I made my own, I made marshmallow fondant for a friends cake but now its not so bad!
    found you through the Thursday Link up! and so glad I did!
    http://mommamadeit.blogspot.ca

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    1. I've heard that before about marshmallow fondant but haven't ever taken the time to find out!

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  10. What a fun cake!! I never knew about those sugar sheets until I saw your post. I definitely want to try them out. Thanks for sharing at my party! Have a great weekend :)

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  11. That looks terrific! Thanks for linking up for Flash Blog Friday :-)

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  12. You are so talented! Thanks again for linking up to the Pomp Party!

    Jill @ Create.Craft.Love.

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