Birthday preparations!

My second little boy, Oliver, will be four tomorrow and I've spent most of the last two days making his birthday cake.  He loves pirates and is having a pirate themed party on Sunday, so I really wanted to make him a pirate ship birthday cake.  I baked three large rectangular chocolate cakes in a baking tray, and stacked them with layers of chocolate buttercream.  I then cut bits off to make a boat shape and used the offcuts to build up different layers.  The back did need propping up a bit as the cakes started to fall apart because they were so soft.

I left it to settle overnight and this morning I covered it in chocolate buttercream, "dirty icing" it ready for covering it in fondant.  Then I made fondant planks of wood and covered the cake in these planks, trying to stagger them slightly.

Then came the masts, which were actually heavy duty drinking straws sellotaped together and covered in fondant using more buttercream to stick it in place.

Then I started adding detail, like the sail (ok, I cheated and used paper!) and the balustrade made out of fondant and took forever!  Add a few woody details and the cannons and Mr Smee (Hook and crocodile to come later) and this was the result by about 5pm:

 I'm halfway through making Hook to sit on the top by the wheel, and I have a crocodile to go in the water on the cake board which I'm going to pipe with blue buttercream.

So I looked at this cake and, not meaning to be full of it, I was really happy.  I think it is the best cake I have ever made, and I knew Olly would absolutely love it.  A few finishing touches and it was done and there wasn't going to be that last minute panic at 2am the night before the party trying to finish it.  I was relieved, happy and quite to be honest, quite proud of myself.

It's now about nine pm.  I just went back into the kitchen.  The mast has fallen down and the entire cake has collapsed.  The chocolate cakes were just too soft, and the warmth of the house has probably melted the buttercream in the middle.  Smee fell into the middle of the ship and is covered in buttercream.  I've put in the fridge and propped it up, but to honest, I don't think it can be saved.  Needless to say, I'm fairly devastated.  Tomorrow I will see if I can save it, but I won't be able to work on it secretly as Olly will not be at school, so it won't be a surprise anymore.  Gutted.

On a more cheerful happy note, Olly decided today that Hannah should be a doctor.   I turned around to find her like this: