Desserts are a delicious part of cruise ships, especially rich and decadent cakes. But what if that cake IS a cruise ship?
In celebration of Carnival Cruise Line’s fifty-third birthday, renowned cake artist Natalie Sideserf painstakingly recreated Mardi Gras as such a dessert.
Sideserf has been creating hyperrealistic cakes since 2008. Her edible artwork emphasizes the finest details, but Mardi Gras represented one of her biggest challenges ever, in more ways than one.
“Today I’m going to make a 4-foot long cruise ship out of cake!” Sideserf announced as she began what would be much more than a one-day project. “This cake’s going to be insane.”
She used the ship’s deck plans and photos to create her signature accuracy for the design, and the ship was crafted with a variety of edible materials.
Edible paper and ink, Rice Krispie treats, edible clay, dry pasta, fondant, licorice strands, gumballs, and other treats along with Sideserf’s signature bright green buttercream icing are all part of the sculpture. In fact, every part of the ship is edible.
The wooden decks, for example, were crafted from edible paper and clay. The interior of the ship is the actual cake, while extra spacing between decks is Rice Krispie treats.
“One of those restaurants on the real ship is Guy’s Burger Joint, but for this cake it’s Natalie’s Rice Krispie Shack where we’ve got wall-to-wall Rice Krispies,” she joked.
Read Also: How to Make Carnival Cruise Line’s Warm Chocolate Melting Cake
And just how accurate is the cake? Sideserf hand-crafted all 1,467 balconies and her attention to detail is such that she cut out the rounded corners of each balcony partition as well as added the footer rail to each deck.
“There are so many elements to this cake that I have to admit when I first started I felt overwhelmed,” Sideserf admitted. “I will say now that the cake is starting to come together it’s definitely less intimidating. I’m having a lot of fun coming up with ways to make mini versions of all these objects.”
Those objects include deck chairs of different styles and in different positions, umbrellas, the miniature golf course, waterslides, the radar domes, and of course, the Bolt rollercoaster track and the classic whale tail funnel. The pools even got a bit of glaze to be sure the water was sparkling.
In total, it took Sideserf 64 hours to fully craft, assemble, and decorate the amazingly realistic and deliciously decadent Mardi Gras.
See the entire building and assembly process:
Cutting the cake revealed an extra special secret, however. In addition to all her detail crafting the cake’s exterior, the interior also showcased the number “53” in blue sponge cake in honor of the cruise line’s recent birthday.
“This cake was an enormous challenge with so many details and I love the way it turned out,” Sideserf commented.
More Crazy Cruise Ship Sculptures
The 4-foot-long caketastic Mardi Gras, while deliciously impressive, is not the first crazy way cruise ships have been recreated.
Another Carnival Cruise Line Excel-class ship, Carnival Celebration, was a family’s fun contribution for a trunk-or-treat event in October 2024, complete with lifeboats and blue fabric to simulate the water.
The cardboard cruise ship fit over the back of the family’s pickup truck for the holiday event, and they dressed in cruise gear to hand out treats from the “deck.”
Another amazing Carnival ship sculpture was created by Ryder Gray for an annual Bricks Cascade event in March 2024.
Gray built a scale model of Carnival Miracle from LEGO bricks, and has previously crafted the former Tropicale. Perhaps he will recreate his work for the new Excel-class Carnival Tropicale!
