Jake and the Neverland Pirate Cake
I made this for my daughter's fifth birthday. I think this is the simplest cake I have done.
The cake: I didn't have time to do the fondant palm tree and other fondant decorations (as several assignments were due) so I decided that an Oreo and Arnott's Arrowroot biscuit crumb for sand, some birthday bunting (made from black card stock paper, red stripy twine and red straws for posts) along with (well-washed) toy characters would do fine. I did add gold sanding sugar crystals and gold cachous over the top of the crumb to give it sparkle and richness and added a few gold encrusted chocolate fondant balls here and there. The water was created using piping gel that was tinged blue and rippled after being plopped onto white fondant. My daughter was super happy she could keep the toys afterwards and despite it being a simple cake (as compared to last years) she loved it all the same. I had ordered printed icing sheets (not rice wafers) for the cupcake toppers which made it easy to put together with piped frosting. A little gold sugar crystals added a golden touch.
Party Food: The 'pops' in the background are actually marshmallows skewered onto a lollipop stick and then dipped into melted candy melts. In this case, I used chocolate candy melts. My daughter then sprinkled them with gold sugar crystals. Once the marshmallow pops had hardened, I brushed them with some Antique Gold food grade petal dust to give them fantastic lustre. I think we called them gold canons! For the pirates cookies, I used ready made frosting (that crusted over well) to cover the un-iced side of store bought 100 and 1000's sprinkle cookies and then dipped them into a mix of red and gold sugar crystals before sticking on some ready made pirate themed decorations. As much as I love making biscuits from scratch (because they do taste so much better) I have to admit, the kids do not really care and were happy to devour them. And if they got wasted I felt a lot less pain! Jelly cups have become a standard at parties now- kids love jelly! That is all that needs to be said. Lots of sugary snacks (I say its a party and by all means provide fruit and water but its only a day). My friends helped put together fairy bread and sandwiches for the kids too. As the party was between 11 and 2 pm, sandwiches (salmon or roasted vege and brie) and a pasta and gluten free quinoa salad were provided for grown ups (and kids if they wanted to).
Decorations: I picked up the cute jelly cups and little silver spoons from The Reject Shop along with the gold coins, skull and parrot cutouts. My daughter painted and glittered them up. It has become a tradition that she helps to do some of the decoration for her (and sister's) party. She loves to be involved and I am happy for it. The cake table cover is just wrapping paper stuck to it whilst a red plastic tablecloth adorns the main table with all the party food. The other table decorations were picked up from different dollar shops.The other table decorations were picked up from different dollar shops.