Sailboat Bon Voyage Cake

A friend of mine is moving in the next few weeks so I decided to make her a cake! 

Searching for ideas, I stumbled onto this amazing Bakery in Australia “A Piece of Cake”
and I fell in love with the sailboat birthday cake…. So I decided to give it a try!

First I melted white chocolate chips in the microwave for 60 seconds
Then stir and stir and stir – and eventually all the lumps melted!

Lay a piece of wax paper on the counter (I used a cookie sheet so I could move it)
Grease it with Crisco and spread your melted chocolate into a large rectangle.

Make ripples by pressing your spatula into the chocolate and “cut” them into strips before it cools.
I let them sit over night – and they lifted up perfectly.

I made butter cream icing for the first time (it is SOOO good!)
and started dying with wilton gel colors…

I was so excited to put the white chocolate sides on!!!
(See my toothpick sketch lines? It always helps me to practice first.)

But then I realized I need to take one off so I could get my spatula in there to make the mountains…

Next was tackling the marshmallow fondant (recipe and how-to can be found via Bake at 350)

I rolled it out by greasing the counter with Crisco – but when I tried to lift the pieces…
They were STUCK!  (Note to self: roll out with powdered sugar on the counter)

Soooooo they were a little stretched out when I placed them on the cake…
I’ll just call it a “Limo Sailboat”…. no one will notice right?

After a quick trim with the scissors… Time to add the ocean waves…

It was at this very moment that I RAN OUT OF ICING!!!
So I had to make another batch for the lettering!
(Note #2 to self: Always make a double batch of icing)

Here is a close up view of my favorite part – the ocean waves!

What have you been baking lately?

Do you have any traditions for saying goodbye to friends when they move?

PS – While searching for ideas I also stumbled onto the “Cake Journal“.
And Wow – the THINGS she does with fondant!!!!!!