Easy Boat Cake Idea

This quick and easy boat cake idea takes less than an hour to prepare and makes a great easy kids birthday cake for a sea or ocean themed party!

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Today I'm sharing a gorgeous easy boat cake idea and recipe.  This fun sailing boat cake couldn't be simpler to make and is perfect for a child's birthday!

Inspired by the lovely Prince George, who celebrates his second birthday today, former Great British Bake Off contestant and The Pink Whisk blogger Ruth Clemens has teamed up with baking brand Stork to create some quick, easy and beautiful birthday cake recipes which can be made in under an hour and are fit for a Prince! This easy sailing boat cake is one of them - you'll find the recipe below.

New research from Stork shows that nearly 50% of parents spend two and a half working days baking their child's birthday cake, with one in 10 baking well after midnight!

Parents are stressed and tired from spending hours making show-stopping birthday cakes to out-do other mums and dads, with more than eight in 10 parents (84%) finding preparing children’s birthday parties stressful, and almost two thirds (61%) spending more time preparing for birthday parties than for the first day of school.

I think this is such a shame as I firmly believe that, as this sailing boat cake proves, making a creative cake that your child will love really doesn't have to take days, or even hours for that matter!

Easy Sailing Boat Cake

Ingredients

• 250g Stork with Butter
• 250g caster sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 250g self raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder

To decorate

• 6 tbs strawberry jam
• 200g light blue ready to roll fondant icing
• 1 skewer, some coloured paper and scissors

Method

Preheat oven to 180°C (Gas mark 4/350°F).

Grease two 8” (21cm) sandwich cake tins and line the bases with circles of non-stick baking paper.

Place all of the cake ingredients in a large bowl and beat together until the cake mixture is even and well combined.  You could also do this step in a food processor, but take care not to overbeat the mixture.

Divide the cake mixture between the two tins and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes until golden all ove and springy to the touch.

Place the cakes onto a wire rack and leave until completely cool.

Place one of the cakes onto a plate or cake stand.  Spread over half of the jam, then carefully place the second cake on top.  Spread the remaining jam onto the top of the cake.

Lightly dust your work surface with icing sugar and roll out a circle of light blue ready to roll icing which is slightly larger than the top of the cake.  Lift it into position on the top of the cake.  Allow the extra to hang over the side of the cake and shape it into ripples gently with your fingertips.

Cut simple shapes out of the paper to make the boat and sails and secure them to the skewer (I used a little sellotape across the back to hold mine together).  Insert the skewer into the centre of the cake so that the boat sits gently on the top and serve.

I was pleased with how my attempt at the paper boat decoration came out - before making the cake I used kitchen scissors to trim the skewer down a little and painted it with a light coat of blue gel food colouring, and once I'd cut out and put the boat together I added a few gemstones that I found in Small Child's craft stash to decorate it.

As both of my boys have had their birthdays this year (I shared Small Baby's super easy digger cake here on the blog only last week) I actually made this cake to celebrate the end of the school year and the start of the summer holidays - I can always find an excuse to eat cake!

The boat theme was perfect for this and Small Child was hugely impressed with it, uttering a genuinely excited 'WOW!' when he walked into the kitchen and found me putting the finishing touches to the cake. It just goes to show that you really don't have to spend hours in the kitchen to make a cake that your children will love!

The cake itself was light and delicious - after using Stork in homemade cakes for the first time earlier this year (check out this gorgeous Easter nest cupcakes recipe which I made using Stork) I really am a convert!

The cake took less than 10 minutes to prepare, from rummaging in my cupboards to find my cake tins to popping them in the oven, and the all in one bowl method made it really easy.  You can find lots more easy and delicious cake recipes over on the Stork website, including some fantastically easy children's birthday cake ideas.

If you'd like more easy birthday cake ideas, check out these recipes too:

Easy Anti-Gravity Cake

Easy Fondant Rainbow Cake

Pirate Themed Cake

Snake Cake

Or head over to my cakes and cupcakes for kids section for more impressive but easy cake ideas!

Grace

Disclosure: This blog post was commissioned by Stork.  I was compensated for the cost of ingredients and for my time spent recreating and writing about this recipe, however all opinions expressed in this post are my own.

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Easy Sailing Boat Cake

Easiest ever childrens birthday cake idea - make this quick and easy boat cake in less than an hour.

Prep Time15 minutes mins

Cook Time30 minutes mins

Cooling15 minutes mins

Course: Dessert, Party Food

Cuisine: British, Vegetarian

Servings: 1 cake

Author: Grace Hall

Ingredients

• 250 g Stork with Butter
• 250 g caster sugar
• 4 large eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract
• 250 g self raising flour
• 1 tsp baking powder
• 6 tbs strawberry jam
• 200 g light blue ready to roll fondant icing
• 1 skewer, some coloured paper and scissors

Instructions

• Preheat oven to 180°C (Gas mark 4/350°F).
• Grease two 8” (21cm) sandwich cake tins and line the bases with circles of non-stick baking paper.
• Place all of the cake ingredients in a large bowl and beat together until the cake mixture is even and well combined.  You could also do this step in a food processor, but take care not to overbeat the mixture.
• Divide the cake mixture between the two tins and bake in the oven for 25-30 minutes until golden all ove and springy to the touch.
• Place the cakes onto a wire rack and leave until completely cool.
• Place one of the cakes onto a plate or cake stand.  Spread over half of the jam, then carefully place the second cake on top.  Spread the remaining jam onto the top of the cake.
• Lightly dust your work surface with icing sugar and roll out a circle of light blue ready to roll icing which is slightly larger than the top of the cake.  Lift it into position on the top of the cake.  Allow the extra to hang over the side of the cake and shape it into ripples gently with your fingertips.
• Cut simple shapes out of the paper to make the boat and sails and secure them to the skewer (I used a little sellotape across the back to hold mine together).  Insert the skewer into the centre of the cake so that the boat sits gently on the top and serve.