Toffee & Choc Chip Pirate Ship Bundt...

On Saturday my lovely friend Emma invited a few of us round to her gaff for a little relaxed soiree... After a week of feeling lousy, it was just the tonic I needed. So... I decided to make a cake to take with me. 
Now. Emma has a little boy called Sam. He's an excitable fellow, so I knew a plain old chocolate cake (as requested...) just wouldn't cut it. I decided to make a pirate ship! I've had the tin for a while, and knew just how to bring that bad boy to life (A-Level in Art & Design not wasted after-all... Mr Vance would be so... erm.. furious!)

Fancy making your own pirate ship? Of course you do! You will need the following:

• 1 ship-shaped tin. Mine is Nordic Ware.
• One batch of vanilla buttercream, dyed blue
• 1 pack of blue sugar paste, dyed blue
• Your choice of decorations, icings etc.
• A 14 inch square cake board
• Three wooden skewers
• 2 sheets of card
• Coloured paper
• A marker pen

So, first to the cake...

Ingredients:

• 225g butter
• 450g golden caster sugar
• 4 medium eggs
• 350g plain flour
• 1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
• 1/2 tsp salt
• 250ml toffee yogurt (I used Muller)
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 150g of milk chocolate chips

Method:

1. Preheat the oven to gas 3/160 c
2. Cream the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy.
3. Add the eggs one at a time, beating well after each addition. You'll see the mix get noticeably fluffier.
4. In a separate bowl, measure out the flour, bicarbonate of soda and salt.
5. Pour the yoghurt and the extract into the creamed ingredients and mix well.
6. Sift in the flour in two halves. Mix this slowly until all the flour has disappeared. Over-mixing at this stage will make a dense cake and may cause air channels. This can ruin the shape of a decorative bundt.
7. Give a quick mix on a medium speed for about 10 seconds.
8. Stir in the chocolate chips, ensuring even distribution.
9. Pour the mix into a greased and floured tin. Push into any nooks and crannies!
10. Bake in the centre of the oven for about 1 hour 15 minutes or until a skewer comes out clean. It's stable from about an hour in if you want to check or turn it around.
11. Leave the cake to cool fully before removing from the tin.

Now the Decorating...

• To make your sails cut out three different sized rectangles from your card. 
• Draw something decorative on the front one, whether it be a skull and crossbones or otherwise...
• Pierce a hole at the top and bottom of each sail using the skewers, and push each piece of card so it curves slightly.
• Make the flags by cutting your desired flag shape with a mirror image out of the coloured paper. Cover it in glue then wrap it round the top of the skewers so it adheres to itself - see pic...
• Roll your sugar paste directly onto the cake board then trim the edges.
• Place the cooled cake on the covered board.
• Pipe detail onto the cake using royal icing or pre-made gel pens and stick on your desired fancy things e.g. stars at the end of 'blasting' cannons!
• Finally, using a star nozzle, pipe the sea round the bottom of the cake. My ship was having a particularly bumpy ride... 
• I finished the sea off with edible blue fish!
• Finally, just before revealing, pop your masts into the cake for the full 'pieces of eight' experience!
• Tip: the best way to transport this cake is sans sails and in a cardboard cake box the same size as the cake board. Snugly does it. I got mine from a cake decorating shop.

It was a really fun little project, and the recipient loved it!

Bloggers: Please respect the fact I am sharing my own ideas and recipe. Blood, sweat and many tears have gone into getting this right, so you may enjoy a perfect bundt. If you wish to re-blog a recipe from these variations, please credit my blog and link to this original post rather than pasting the recipe on your own page. 

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