Coolest Pirate Ship Birthday Cake

For my daughter’s 4th birthday, we had a “buccaneer bash” which wouldn’t have been complete without a Pirate Ship Birthday Cake. This was made from dense peanut butter cake with peanut butter & chocolate ganache filling and chocolate buttercream icing, surrounded by vanilla buttercream ocean.

The cake was three 9×9″ pans and one 12×12″ pan. Each 9″ square was divided in half. The 12″ square was cut into a 9×4.5″ rectangle and a 12×4.5″ rectangle. Two cakes (4.5×9″ stacked three high & two 4.5×9″ topped with a 12×4.5″) were created with filling rimmed in by a buttercream dam, then placed end to end. Angles were cut from front and back of ship and the ship contoured slightly along the long sides. The remnants of the angles and 12″ square were used to make elevated portions on deck.

Paper and wooden dowels were used to masts & sails, topped with a Jolly Roger flag, of course. A few decorative toy additions and Rolo cannons + candles (with malted milk-ball cannons on deck), and voila!


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