Pirate Ship Cake

My son wanted a pirate theme for his 5th birthday party. I found instructions online to make this great pirate ship cake. It took a while to make the whole thing, but none of it was too difficult. The actual ship part of the cake is just two 9" round cakes cut in half and then all four pieces are glued together with icing.  The base is a 10" round, and then lots of candy to decorate. One of the favorite parts for all the kids was the "cannon balls" which are just whoppers. They all wanted "cannon balls" with their cake.  My favorite part was the candles coming out of the cannon ports. I thought that looked so cool when they were lit. Needless to say my son loved it.

I used a sturdy orange cake recipe with blue tinted icing on the base, and chocolate icing for the ship. I have made the recipe before as a wedding cake so I knew it would be able to hold up the ship. It is also low fat, moist and tastes fantastic. 

Orange Cake Recipe

2 1/4 cup flour

1 1/8 tsp baking powder

1/4 tsp baking soda

3/4 tsp salt

3 large egg white, room temp

1 1/4 cup granulated sugar

1/3 cup canola oil

1 large egg

1/3 cup nonfat sour cream

1/4 cup unsweetened applesauce

1 Tbs vanilla

1 tsp orange extract

1 Tbs orange zest

1/2 cup orange juice

1. Position a rack in the center of the oven and preheat the oven to 350. Coat one Bundt pan or two loaf pans or round cake pans with cooking spray and then dust with flour.
2. Whisk together flour, baking powder, baking soda, and salt, set aside.
3. In a large grease-free bowl, whip the egg whites on medium speed until foamy. Gradually add ¼ cup of the sugar, whipping until the whites are stiff but not dry. Remove the bowl from the mixer, shake the beaters into the bowl, then return the beaters to the mixer. Set the whites aside.
4. Using the same beaters with another bowl, combine and beat together the oil, remaining 1 cup of sugar, the whole egg, sour cream, applesauce, vanilla and orange extracts, grated orange zest, and orange juice. Gradually beat in the flour mixture in several additions. Scrape down the bowl and beaters. Fold in the whipped whites.
5. Turn the batter into the prepared pans. Bake the Bundt for 40-45 minutes, the loaf pans or rounds for 30-35 minutes, until the cake is golden brown and springy to the touch. Cool the cake in the pans on a wire rack for about 10 minutes, then remove cake from pan and cool completely on the rack.