I carved 3 9x13 cakes using a pirate ship template I created. I layered the cake with chocolate buttercream & covered the cake in a crumb coat. I then covered the cake in chocolate fondant cut into "wooden planks" & rolled over gently with a fondant roller. A round icing tip was used to create what looked like nail holes on either side of the planks. The sails were made of gum paste decorated with food writers & the dowel rods were painted with brown food color. The rope was a mixture of chocolate fondant & gumpaste.