Category Archives: birthday cakes

The Modern Enjoli Woman

birthday cakes
So how have I been spending my time lately?
Well, first there was this:




And then there was this:
Now, do any of you remember this?
Do they even still sell Enjoli?!
  So maybe I didn’t bring home the bacon and fry it up in a pan, but baby I laid the tile and baked the cake in the same day.  That has to count for something!
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How to Make a Kid’s Pirate Ship Cake

birthday cakes, birthdays, food




Apparently, baking a cake is some kind of parenting novelty these days.  I guess getting a big, tasty cake from Costco does have certain advantages!  But I thank all of you who sent me kind e-mails complementing my very amateur cake decorating efforts.  If you’re going to throw a kids’ pirate birthday party, you definitely need a cake.
So, how do you make a kids’ pirate ship cake? 
Here’s what you need: 
  • Cake
  • Icing
  • Very thin dowels rods or straws
  • Pepperidge Farms pirouette cookies
  • Malted milk balls
  • Rolos individually wrapped with gold wrapper
  • Root beer barrels (candy) or Lego-type barrels
  • Pirate guy
  • Long wooden skewers
  • Construction paper
  • Mini-flags (either Playmobile-type or made w/ toothpicks and paper)
Getting started:
Start with the cake part, of course!  Bake 2 round pans, from scratch or Betty Crocker, whichever you prefer.  Oh, you thought Betty Crocker was scratch?  Close enough—that works.  Just bake 2 round cakes and let them cool.  I think I used 9-inch pans.

The ship:
Cut each cake in half.  Slice a sliver off of the rounded bottom of each piece to make a more sturdy ship bottom.  With the rounded sides all facing the same direction, stack them together with a thin layer of icing between each piece. Now stand the cake halves on their rounded ends, all 4 pieces together.  You can hold them together with icing (and who doesn’t like more icing?), but unless your icing is extremely glue-like, you’re going to need a little more help.  I’d either use a couple of very thin dowel rods (you can get them at Michaels) or a couple of straws to hold them together.
The masts:
Use chocolate icing, either homemade or from a can—you know who you are!—to thoroughly cover the cake halves.  Drag a toothpick or knife around the edges to make lines in the side of the ship.  Whew, that’s hard work.  Take a break now, and put your cake in the fridge for an hour or so to let the icing set.
When you’re rested up, get busy on the sails.  Just cut some out of construction paper and slide them onto the skewers.  Voila, you’ve got masts!  I made two and placed them side by side.
The rest:
Decorating the deck is really personal preference.  I put the pirouette cookies around the edges for a railing.  Then, I used malted milk balls for the cannon balls and Rolos in their gold wrappers for stacked gold.  We had some Playmobil pirate guys and flags, so I finished it off with those.  You could make the flags with paper and toothpicks though, similar to the masts.
The candles:
Be careful not to torch the place with the masts!  I stuck the candles into extra (unwrapped) Rolos and put them on the side of the cake.  But I still stood nearby, just in case.


Ahoy, Matey.  Have fun! 


Please note:  I got this Pirate Cake idea from Family Fun Magazine, which has lots of great party ideas.  As you can clearly see, however, the above photo is from my son’s birthday party.  This cake was cute, but not nearly as picture perfect as the one in the magazine!

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How to Host a Kid’s Pirate Party on a Budget

birthday cakes, birthdays, summer

My son has a summer birthday, which has its advantages and disadvantages.  On the plus side, the weather usually cooperates and we can be outside.  With a slew of boys, this is always good.  On the other hand, he never gets to hear his class sing “Happy Birthday,” a fact he learned to capitalize on quite early.

Perhaps because his birthday isn’t celebrated at school, we always have a party.  However, we haven’t always had the funds—or the inclination—to turn the celebration of another year of life into a pricey affair complete with a scary clown and the moon bounce.  Nonetheless, we want his parties to be fun, and memorable.

To this end, when he turned 5 we sent his friends invitations to a treasure hunt.  Ahoy, Matey, there’s treasure involved! 

The inexpensive fun included:

  • A tattoo for everyone upon arrival
  • A pirate hat (homemade, with construction paper)
  • The homemade cake you see above
  • Games:
    • Hot “treasure” (hot potato, with a bag of “gold”) My husband still mocks this game.
    • Pirate-Pirate-Gold (duck duck goose) Okay, he mocks this one, too.
    • Pirate tag (tag)
    • Walk the plank (basically, a very low balance beam made from some wood in our garage) 

If these sound completely lame, think again.  That’s because you’re all grown up.  The kids totally loved this!  

But they especially enjoyed finding the clues that led to the treasure—a big gold box (thanks to the magic of spray paint) filled with their goody bags. 

After the cake and ice cream, they went after the bad guy (dad) with their balloon swords, sugared up and full of energy just in time for their parents to take them home.

Now that’s what I call a successful party, on a family-friendly budget.  Ahoy, indeed!

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