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    Home » Kid Friendly

    Easy Pirate Birthday Cake

    Published: May 16, 2014 · Modified: Nov 24, 2023 by burntapple · This post may contain affiliate links · 5 Comments

    Impress your little pirate with a homemade birthday cake! This guide provides simple instructions and tips for creating a fun and easy pirate birthday cake that will be the hit of the party.

    Ahoy, mateys! It's time to set sail for a swashbuckling good time with an easy pirate birthday party!
    Jump to:
    • DIY Easy Pirate Birthday Cake: A Step-by-Step Guide
    • Gather Your Supplies and Ingredients
    • Bake and Assemble the Cake
    • Decorate the Cake with Pirate-Themed Details
    • Add the Finishing Touches and Enjoy the Celebration!

    DIY Easy Pirate Birthday Cake: A Step-by-Step Guide

    Ahoy, matey! If you're planning a pirate-themed birthday party for your little one, you'll want to make sure your cake is a showstopper. But don't worry, you don't need to be a professional baker to create a fun and easy pirate cake that will impress your guests. Follow these simple instructions and tips to make a cake that will have everyone saying "Arrrr!"

    A pirate birthday cake with a pirate ship on top of it. The ship is made of chocolate cake and is decorated with white frosting and candy. The sails of the ship are made of blue and white candy sails, and the flag is made of a red candy flag with a skull and crossbones on it. The ship is sitting on a blue frosting sea with white frosting waves. The cake is also decorated with candy cannons, candy anchors, and candy treasure chests.

    Gather Your Supplies and Ingredients

    Before you start baking, make sure you have all the necessary supplies and ingredients. You'll need a cake mix (or ingredients to make a cake from scratch), frosting, food coloring, a cake pan, and various decorations like candy, sprinkles, and plastic pirate figurines. Make sure to read the instructions on the cake mix or recipe carefully and have all the necessary tools, like measuring cups and mixing bowls, on hand. You can also use a gluten free cake mix

    You will also need:

    • buttercream frosting
    • chocolate frosting
    • graham cracker crumbs
    • Jake and the Neverland Pirates Hook's Battle Boat (or similar)
    • Black licorice pieces
    • Plastic beads, gold coins and treasure chests
    
The image shows a pirate birthday cake with a toy pirate ship on top. The cake is decorated with blue and white frosting, and the ship is decorated with a red and black Jolly Roger flag. There are also candy coins and jewels scattered around the cake.

    Bake and Assemble the Cake

    Once you have all your supplies and ingredients ready, it's time to start baking! Follow the instructions on your cake mix or recipe to make the cake batter. Pour the batter into your cake pan and bake according to the instructions. Once the cake is done, let it cool completely before removing it from the pan. Make and spread the chocolate frosting around the sides and on the top of the cake.

    The image shows a chocolate cake with a pirate figurine on top of it. The cake is decorated with a red cross and a treasure chest.

    Decorate the Cake with Pirate-Themed Details

    X Marks the Spot

    Separate the frosting into two small bowls. Tint the one bowl with red food coloring and the other bowl with blue. Make sure the red food coloring is fully mixed and even. Coarsely fold in the blue food coloring, but do not fully blend it to allow for a more textured look when making the waves.

    Sprinkle the graham cracker crumbs over ¼ of the cake, using a stencil if needed to keep stray graham cracker crumbs from spreading.

    Draw a large red "X" with your buttercream on an area of the sand. (You may need to dust away some of the loose graham crackers to get the buttercream to adhere.

    Making the Water of the Cake

    On a corner of the cake opposite the graham cracker sand, roughly spread the blue frosting across the corner moving towards the center of the cake on a diagonal. To make waves, take your frosting spreader and move in small upward strokes and swirls to resemble water. Place the pirate ship on the frosting water to measure if needed.

    Place the pirate ship on the water and the treasure chest with beads on the sand, close to the "X."

    Use the red buttercream and cut black licorice pieces to make a border. Use large pieces of black licorice to lead from the pirate ship to the treasure.

    Add the Finishing Touches and Enjoy the Celebration!

    To finish, you can arrange your pirate ship, treasure chests and other trinkets on your cake. Once you’ve added all the fun and creative details to your pirate birthday cake, it’s time to enjoy your party!

    our little pirate was so excited with his homemade cake. My daughter showed her cousin how to eat the cake with just your hands!

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    1. Kristina & Millie

      May 17, 2014 at 7:34 pm

      Cool cake! I love how you decorated it and the treasure! Stop by our Snickerdoodle Sunday sometime and link up 🙂 Bring the cake! lol

      Reply
    2. T'onna Peters (Navy Wifey Peters)

      May 18, 2014 at 3:56 pm

      Such a cool pirate cake!

      Navy Wifey Peters @ Submarine Sunday Link Party

      Reply
    3. Rebecca @ Little Monkeys Crochet

      May 19, 2014 at 9:43 am

      I am so glad I stumbled across this! My son is really into Jake and the Neverland Pirates and his birthday is coming up in July. This cake looks very doable. I’d love for you to come link up at this week’s Off the Hook!

      Reply
    4. Diana Rambles

      May 22, 2014 at 1:22 pm

      Congratulations! This post is going to be featured over at Diana Rambles tomorrow and has been pinned in the Featured at Diana Rambles board at Pinterest, Tweeted, and Recommended on G+. Please grab a featured button off my sidebar or via the link under the features. Thanks for sharing this awesome idea!

      Reply
      • burntapple

        May 22, 2014 at 4:10 pm

        Thank you so much Diana. I love coming to your site each week. I know it's no small task to set the weekly features and parties up and I appreciate all you do. Love your site, Traci

        Reply

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