Girly Nautical Anchor Cake

This Girly Nautical Anchor Cake is a simple, rustic buttercream cake with fondant cabbage roses, a bold striped ribbon border, and a gold anchor cake topper. Perfect for a "girly" sailor or nautical-themed party!

Girly Nautical Anchor Cake

I fell in love with this cake when I made it - way back in April of 2014.  At that time, I hadn't really ever paid much attention to more feminine nautical cakes. So, when my client sent me several pictures for inspiration (and the elements she loved from each), I was really smitten with the idea! I put her ideas altogether to come up with this Girly Nautical Anchor Cake.

The cake itself was simple... a rustic buttercream finished with simple lines. You can see the lined buttercream texture technique here.  But when I added just a few frilly fondant flowers, the topper, and the bold (BIG) ribbon border on the board - the cake really came alive!

For the flowers - the best thing you can do is click here to join Craftsy for only $2.49 for an ENTIRE year, then watch this cake class: Fondant Frills with Maggie Austin.  It'll be available to you instantly when you join Craftsy!

My cabbage roses weren't exactly like hers (and not nearly as perfect), but that's where I got the general idea for them.   I also made some simple ribbon roses - similar to the ones in this tutorial:  How to Make Simple Fondant Ribbon Roses.

How to make an Anchor Cake Topper

For the anchor on top, I printed out a template, then laid it over gum paste and cut it out with an Xacto knife.  I let it dry for a couple of days, then used gold luster dust mixed with lemon extract to paint it.  It was then attached to a lollipop stick with melted candy melts and was pushed into the top of the cake to make it a topper.

As you can see from the picture, I hadn't really mastered painting with luster dust at that time... it was pretty rough up close.  Oh, and next time... I'd just use an anchor cookie cutter instead of hand-cutting.   Live and learn!!

I don't remember how many cake boards I taped together to get the board thick, but it was a lot!  When I had the boards the same height as the width of the ribbon (about 1.5" wide), I covered the top board in gold glitter paper, then used hot glue to attach the navy striped ribbon.  It was such a great addition to this cake!

Tutorial here --> How to Cover a Cake Board with Glitter Paper & Ribbon Border

The basics of the Girly Nautical Anchor Cake... the tiers were 5" and 7" round cakes.  The cake was wedding cake flavor and the frosting was vanilla buttercream.   The anchor was gum paste; the flowers were homemade marshmallow fondant colored with electric pink gel coloring.

That's it... nothing else to share that I can think of!  Do you have any questions about this cake?  Leave me a comment!  Happy Caking!

Here are some other Nautical-themed cakes I've done (links beneath the pictures):

Hexagon Anchors Wedding Cake

Nautical Themed Birthday Cake with Sailboat Topper

Sailboat 1st Birthday Party: Cake, Smash Cake & Cookies

“Anchors Aweigh” Nautical Theme Cake with a Crab Topper