I need help with finding a cake tin (and then baking the cake)

[queenoftheslatterns]

I am planning on making ds's birthday cake myself for his pirate theme 5th birthday party. the cake I want to make is a treasure chest.

what size tin will I need (about 30 children) and any tips/recipes gratefully recieved

How about a pirate ship instead? I can link you to a picture?

For a treasure chest I would just bake 2 oblong cakes, freeze one and then shape it to make the lid.

HTH - have to run now but will pop back later.

I would think that an 8" square pan should suffice. Bake 2 x Madeira cakes.

If you level off one, add some filling/buttercream and then put the other on top, that should provide something you could work with. You could cut a 2" strip off the front of the assembled cake, then carve the top to chamfer it (make it treasure chest shape).

Then ice it.

The madeira cakes are the easy bits:
Each cake :
4 medium eggs, 8 ozs SR Flour, 4 ozs Plain Flour, 8 ozs Butter, 8 ozs Caster Sugar, zest of 4 lemons and 4 tsp lemon juice.
Cream the butter & sugar, beat eggs and add slowly, mixing thoroughly. Add zest & lemon juice, then fold in flour. Spoon the mix in to a greased and floured pan and put in a pre-heated oven at Gas 3 (160deg.C) for 45 - 50 mins.

If you can get a pan the divides to two 8" x 6" sections, then you could reduce the mix by 25% for each cake and bake at the same time. That would remove the need to cut of the 2" strip. You could get that from Lakeland or your nearest good cookshop.

I can't help you with the icing, save to suggest googling "Fondant Icing". Renshaw are very good at that sort of thing, or Squires Kitchen.

thank you! im pretty much a novice in the kitchen but have rediscovered baking and will obviously have a couple of dry runs first. i just want to give it a go really!

here is a treasure chest

and a pirate ship

lots of chocolate coins and sweet bracelets / necklaces are the key to a successful treasure chest cake, I think. And chocolate sugarpaste / buttercream.

SS, Im getting that stuff tomorrow the treasure chest one looks more achievable for me tbh.

I have seen a very sucessful treasure chest carried out by the least domesticated mother I know, so I am sure you will be fine (don't take that the wrong way - I am too tired to find a better way to phrase it )

There is a treasure chest in Jane Asher's Cakes For Fun, I have it from the library at the moment
Will have a look for you

OK, so Jane Asher says:

• Make a 25cm square sponge cake
• Cut in two vertically
• Cut a slope at the top of one half
• Cut a wedge at the front for the opening
• Cut the unwedged half in two horizontally
• Sandwich the three pieces together with buttercream, wedge on top
• Ice all over with a thin layer of buttercream
• Cover with brown roll out icing
• Make straps and a lock from yellow icing and sitck on using water
• Decorate with gold coins, necklaces and sweets

It looks pretty good.

Another vote for treasure chest. I have seen a few mums do it very successfully, just need a 20cm square cake tin, slather in chocolate buttercream icing and then get lots of gold chocolate coins to spill out and over.