Boat Cake

by Amanda
(Gloucester, England)

I made this for my dad for his 55th birthday.

I cheated and bought 3 ready made cake mixes and followed instructions on them, poured into a loaf tin and baked as required on packaging.

Once cake cooled, cut peaks at front to form front of ship, hollowed out section near rear for seat then set to work icing it.

It is important to make sure the icing is same thickness all over. Gently drape over cake to ensure size but before applying, soften some apricot jam and add a little water to make an apricot glaze. Paste this over the entire cake to enable the icing to stick.

Gently ease the icing into the seat area to avoid tearing. Once iced, apply licorice laces around ship about 2/3 way down. Put bread stick in as mast, attach rice paper sheets as sails (these stick easily when moistened along edges). Put Polo's/life saver mints around front and wind different colour laces around them for ropes and an aniseed whirl as a light. Run licorice around inner seat area to outline the space and use a sherbet disc as a cushion. Make a mini sail at rear using again bread stick (mini version) and rice paper as before.

For the waves, take some ready made butter icing and whip it together with blue food colouring and paste in peaks on cake board to make your ship look afloat.