Pirate Adventure!

Ahoy, me hearties! I be baking up a cake for me wee buccaneer Ben. A bit of pirate booty to brighten up his birthday. Yo-ho-ho! 

You gotta love a little pirate speak :) Well, my baby boy turned four last week, and all he wanted was a treasure chest cake. He is big into pirates these days, and he loves nothing more then to run around the house in his skivvies looking for treasure chests. Of course, his annunciation isn't the best, so it comes out more like "cheser chet." It took my husband and me a good couple of days to figure out what the heck he was asking us. The poor guy was so frustrated... all he wanted to do was find some bloody treasure. Instead, he got mom and dad staring blankly at each other (I can still hear the crickets chirping). I am a little surprised he didn't order us to walk the plank.

To get inspiration for cakes I have never created before, I usually hop on over to Flickr to see examples of what the uber-talented cake artists there have done. I try to never replicate designs from other artists because I like to create my own work, and I respect the creative rights of others. However, there have been instances where I am so blown away by a cake that it becomes hard to think past it and create my own design (if that makes sense). Such was the case for this cake. I came across a perfectly executed treasure chest cake from the fantastically talented Rouvelee's Creations out of Melbourne, Austrailia.  I knew it would be perfect for Ben's cake pretty much as it was. I changed a few minor details, and I tried my hardest to do her design justice. 

The cake didn't turn out as immaculately done as hers, but it was well received by the birthday boy and his guests. You can't really ask for anything more than that.

I should mention that all the elements on this cake are edible including the hand-strung sugar necklace and bracelet. The mock jewels are good old-fashioned rock candy and Ring Pops (one of my childhood favorites).

Unbeknownst to me, the biggest trill for the kids (after getting excited over the cake) were the chocolate coins. I really think Ben and the kids would have just been happy with a bag of coins for dessert, which by the way, I had to search all over town for. Who knew that St. Patrick's Day would completely deplete a town's supply of chocolate coins? I sure didn't.

Anyway, it was a good day of merriment. We ate a little gruel, drank a little grog and had some swashbucklin' fun! Ah, to be a pirate for a day :)