Spongebob Pirate Birthday Cake

I was given the theme of “Pirate” for my granddaughter’s birthday this year. I searched all over the place for inspiration and was completely stumped as to what to make her for her birthday cake. Everything that I came across was either too grown up or too easy to make. I had to have something that would hold light to her sister’s Dragonvale cake. At least, it had to seem that way in her eyes. Then it suddenly occurred to me…”what is her most favorite thing in the whole world?”

Who lives in a pineapple under the sea! Yep, the theme song actually rolled through my head. Honestly, I’m not a fan of the annoying little character but, oh, this little girl is head over heels for him. So, I began searching and found a cartoon image of a pirate Spongebob sailing on his best bud, Gary the snail upside down. Yep, some MDF and a little bit of PVC and this cake came together.

Gary is made from a 10” round, two layer, torted cake that was firmed up in the fridge before I carved him down. Spongebob is made from an 11” X 15” sheet cake that was cut down into 3” sections, torted and stacked. The support system consisted of a 16” round MDF fondant covered board. Then an additional MDF fondant covered board that measured, I believe, 4” X 7”. Because Spongebob was only 4” in thick and the cake had to be transported I wanted more support than just a single rod. So, I used two ½” PVC pipes that ran the length of both characters. Each PVC pipe is also covered in plastic wrap so that it doesn’t come into contact with the cake. Gary’s eyes are made from a heavy gauge wire that I covered in floral tape. I shaped each one prior to inserting them into the cake. Starting at the PVC pipe, I ever so gently pushed the wires through the fondant covered cake. Since Spongebob was going to be standing I could leave the wires exposed above the Gary cake. I tightly taped them to the PVC pipe to hold them in place then covered the exposed wire with fondant. Gary’s eyes are just two balls of fondant.

I didn’t use colored fondant because of time and for the sake of killing my wrists. I decided to completely airbrush this cake. I wrapped the bottom half in plastic wrap and worked my way down.

The finishing touch was the water. The last few cakes that I had done have had a water feature of some sort but this time I wanted to create depth. So, I still used piping gel but this time I had clear, sky blue and royal blue. Basically, all I did was cover the cake board with the darkest color first, sky blue second and finally clear. However, a word of caution…the next morning the gel contracted and I had cracks in my water. I’m thinking that it was because the piping gel was far too thick. Fortunately, I still had some clear piping gel in which I used to repair the cracks.

And there ya have it…Pirate Spongebob sailing on the back of Gary the snail! Of course, my granddaughter recognized him. I got greeted with MY Bob Bob cake in between squeals of excited delight. I even got an ARRGGGHHHH! I love it when I can bring that much happiness to someone! Especially my grandchildren!

Happy Caking!