Monday 14 January 2013

Pirate Treasure Chest Cake

So I managed to make a cake that kind of represented a pirate treasure chest.  I didn't take photos of each stage though as the cake was made in a mad rushing frenzy.  So basically, this is what I did:

STEP 1: the cake - I just followed this recipe and doubled all the quantities:
http://www.taste.com.au/recipes/22249/chocolate+mud+cake

the cake turned our perfectly yummy, but the cooking time in my oven was less - more like 50 mins and you do have to be careful not to burn the top, as soon as there was a crust - after about 30 mins, I put aluminium foil loosley on the top.  Also because I doubled the quantities I divided it equally and poured into two 20cm square cake pans.

STEP 2: I cut approximately 1/4 of each cake off.  This gave me two rectangular cakes.  Then I took one cake and used a serated bread knife to carefully carve the lid of the chest.

STEP 3: I made a yummy buttercream and double these quantities from here:

http://savorysweetlife.com/2010/03/buttercream-frosting/

STEP 4: I covered the bottom cake in buttercream.

STEP 5: Find a thin but sturdy piece of cardboard that can be cut to the same size as the bottom cake.  You also need 4 wooden skewers.  Work out how much of an opening you want for the lid of the chest.  Then you need to cut 2 of the skewers that will be placed at the back of the bottom cake to support the hinged end of the lid - so these should just be high enough to stick out of the bottom cake by about 1cm.  Then cut the other two skewers to support the front of the lid - I had about a 4 - 5cm opening.  The skewers can go into bottom cake now. 

STEP 6: This bit is kind of hard and sticky.  So first you need to carefully put buttercream on the cardboard then place lid on top.  Now place lid with cardboard on top of cake so it sits on top of skewers and should start to represent an opened treasure chest.  Now use remaining buttercream to cover all of chest.

STEP 7: I now made chocolate marshmallow fondant using this recipe -
http://cakestylist.wordpress.com/2007/08/22/chocolate-marshmallow-fondant-choco-mmf/

STEP 8: Marshmallow fondant is pretty sticky and can be hard to work with but for this cake you can be a bit messy because we want it to look like old wood, so I actually covered it in smaller sections at a time, then went over the entire thing with a slightly wet paintbrush, then used a knife to make a distressed timber look.  Also choclate MMF can look a bit light brown so to darken it I just got some cocoa and hot water to for a fairly runny paste and then painted the enitre cake until I was happy.

STEP 9: decorations!!!!!! My favourite part!!! All I used was some gold and silver choclate coins, some snakes and some leather straps.  But oopsie - didn't have enough leather straps as you can see from the photo but still turned out OK....



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