Celebrate with Shipmates Cake

Step 1

In advance: Make candies. Use melted candy to mold 18 skull and crossbones candies. Tap to settle; chill until firm. Cut off pick areas. Also: Prepare base board. Tint fondant: 120 oz. blue, 24 oz. black. Roll out 1/8 in. thick as needed. Cover board with blue fondant. Cut 1 3/4 in. wide black strips; use damp brush to attach for border.

Step 2

Bake and cool 1-layer cake (bake 9 in. round just 1 in. high). Position Soccer Ball on board for head. Cut Wonder Mold in half vertically; position half for upper body. Cut 9 in. round into 2 semi-circles; stack with icing and attach cut side down under Wonder Mold for lower body. Insert 2 pillars for legs, leaving 4 in. exposed; insert 2 pillars for arms, leaving 3 1/2 in. exposed.

Step 3

Use patterns to mold fondant hands 1 in. thick and shoes 1 1/4 in. thick (flip patterns for opposite side). For parchment, tint 4 oz. fondant ivory (leave color slightly marbleized). Roll out 1/8 in. thick. Cut a 6 x 4 in. section with irregular edges, slight tears and ripples.

Step 4

Push shoes and hands onto dowel rods; position parchment in 1 hand and fold fingers over. For bandana tie, roll out fondant 1/2 in. thick, cut 2 leaves using largest Cut-Out and 1 round using medium Cut-Out; attach to board using damp brush.

Step 5

For ear, cut 1 round using medium Cut-Out; trim to fit curve of head and attach to board. Use medium round cutter to mark dots on scarf. Use pattern and tip 3 to outline and fill in eye patch; smooth with fingertip. Use tip 3 to outline and fill in eye and pupil; pat smooth. Pipe tip 3 outline mouth, eye patch string, shirt neckline and scarf edge.

Step 6

Cover cake and features with tip 16 stars. Overpipe nose and belt with tip 16 stars for dimension. Use FoodWriter to print message. Attach candies to border using dots of melted candy.

* Combine Christmas Red with Red-Red for red shown.
* Combine Leaf Green with Lemon Yellow for green shown.
* Combine Violet with Rose for violet shown.