Aaaargh! Ahoy! It be a PIRATE SHIP yo!!!!!!!!! Cake Decoratin': Week 5

What up, me trusty mateys? Last night, at my cake decorating class, I made a PIIIIIIIIIIRATE SHIIIIIIP!!!! And, if I do say so meself, it's Pretty Fierce! ;) For this flag, I couldn't get the frosting dark enough, so I ended up painted the black food coloring on top of the flag using a paintbrush. It makes it extra shiny!  I thought about putting a bow on the skull's head, as it is clearly MY pirate ship, but then decided I would embrace my inner ferocity and just let it stand for what it is: completely badass.

Here is the whole thing in all its glory!!! It's a rather effeminate pirate ship (the sails are ruffles - there's a more detailed shot below, and the outlining icing is more pink, less red than in the picture). The coloring is is a little off in this picture (I was trying to adjust things on Picasa Photo Editor, but I couldn't really get it right. Clearly, it is not my realm of expertise.) I used a toothpick to make the scratches in teh "wood" at the bottom of the boat. I don't know if that made it look a mess, or made it look more interesting, but either way, it made it look something, because it was kinda boring pre-toothpick. I actually forgot the ice the sides of the cake beforehand, so you can see it peeking out all around the bottom, but by the time I got around to realizing that I should git er done, it was like 9 pm and I was majorly sleepy.

RUFFLES!!! They look better In Real Life, but here are the ruffly sails! After attempting to really bring out the ruffle-age while editing the photo, I'm afraid I made the sails look rather dirty. While this may be pirate approved, they're more white than shadowy. So. I was inspired by those Anthropologie shower curtains that are just ruffletastic. I always wondered about those, as a sidenote. They seem like they would get a lot of, I dunno, mold or something in them. ANYWAY, not something I want you to think about while looking at a cake, so moving on!

Here be the portals! Or cannons. Whichever. If' they're portals, they obviously shoot something eviiiil, like balls of pollen that burst into clouds once they are a safe distance from the ship, and give all the baddies with hay fever asthma attacks. Or something else diabolical.

Tippy-top of the cake! By this point, we've obviously climbed up the riggin' to the crow's nest, and there's a miniature skull flag awaitin' ya up there. That one isn't as great as the other one, as it was very small, and squeezing icing out of a very small tip (#1, for those who know/care about that sort of thing) was tricky tricky. I like it anywayz, though, because seeing it, I envision a burly peg-legged First Mate sitting down to do his needlework, while the Captain (that would, appropriately, be me. Or Dulé Hill, in his role of Burton Guster from Psych, because I likes him a lot, and he would have to wear tap shoes at all times) gazes out her/his trusty looking classes towards places unknown. The adventures you can have Using Your Imaginations is not somethin' to be scoffed at, my doveys. (I think that's an affectionate pirate term... go with it.) Why, already this morning, I've raided a merchant ship sailing out of the Ivory coast, and purchased a pirate to sit a top my shoulder. The day is ripe for many more voyages!!!!!!!!!!!!