Pirate Island Cake with Treasure Chest

This Pirate Island Cake is one of the cakes that I made for my son's joint third birthday with his cousin. The other cake was a Pirate Ship Cake - you can make them both as a pair from two round sponge cakes. 

Full instructions and template below. 

If you are making both the Pirate Ship Cake and the Pirate Island Cake then you will be making this cake from the pieces you have left over from the Pirate Ship Cake. 

The cake is made from a basic 4 egg sponge cake recipe. (I guess you could use a packet cake mix instead.)

Otherwise please cut the cake according to the template above and use all the pieces for the Pirate Island. 

Put the rectangle of cake marked Treasure Chest to one side. Do not use this in the island!

Take one of the long arcs of cake and stand it up vertically on a round cake board. Take the other long arc and cut out a piece from the center so you can arrange it vertically to make a cross with the arc you already places. 

Add jelly (jam) in all the joins. At this point you will have a cross. The cross will show through in the final island if you look carefully. (X marks the spot!)

Cut up the rest of the cake (not the treasure chest) and fill in the gaps to make an island. Add jelly to stick the pieces together (and it tastes good too!)

Pretty much everyone in our family loves Marzipan (almond paste) so I always look for an excuse to use it in a cake!

Take around 12oz of yellow or golden marzipan. (Leave some from the pack over for decorating this cake and the pirate ship cake if you are making it.)

Roll the marzipan into a rough circle and place it on top of the cake. Push it down gently and trim edges and fill in any gaps. You should be able to see the outline of a cross. 

Now dust the cake with cocoa powder dirt. Add a teaspoon at a time and sprinkle it over the cake. Now use a pastry brush (I use a silicon one) to spread the cocoa powder around the island, getting into all the gaps. 

If you're like me, you'll probably get cocoa powder everywhere in this step! This is where my big fondant work mat comes in very handy! I just brush the excess back onto the cake. 

Take the rectangle of cake that you saved to make the treasure chest. Cut it to the same length as a chocolate finger. 

Melt 2oz of chocolate in the microwave and pour it over the treasure chest, spreading with a palette knife. (Or you could use chocolate fondant.) 

Poke 2 chocolate coins into the top of the treasure chest so they are sticking out. 

Stack up chocolate fingers on top of the treasure chest to make the lid. The pop it in the fridge to cool. 

Once the chocolate has set, make marzipan straps and a lock and add those the the treasure chest. 

Mount the treasure chest on top of the island using two food picks (cocktail sticks) to hold it in place.