Texas Cowboy Hat Cake

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1 3/4 lbs Gum Paste
Icing Sugar
Vegetable Shortening
4 lbs Yo’s Ultimate Vanilla Cake
1 x container Wilton Christmas Red
½ Container of Wilton Red Red
Simple Syrup
Italian Meringue Buttercream
1 1/2 lbs Blue Fondant
Wilton Cornflower Blue Icing Color
Wilton Black Icing Color
1 lb White Fondant
1 lb Red Fondant

Item Name:	Availability:
Rolling Pin
Oval Template
Pins
Paring Knife
2 x Square Cake Pans
Foam or Paper Towel
2 x 8” Round Cake Pans
7” Round Cake Pan
Serrated Knife
Ruler
Small Serrated Knife
Small Icing Spatula	Add to Cart -
Small Offset Spatula	Add to Cart -
Rolling Pin
Fondant Smoother
Paring Knife
#805 Round Piping Tip
#12 Round Piping Tip
Clear Piping Gel
Brush
MAKIN'S PROFESSIONAL® ULTIMATE CLAY EXTRUDER®	Add to Cart -
Overstitch Wheel
Star Cutter Set
Fabric Measuring Tape
Simple Syrup Squeeze Bottle	Add to Cart -

Preparation

Roll Out Gumpaste

Roll out your gum paste to slightly thinner than ¼ inch thick. I made a template by tracing the brim of a cowboy hat onto a parchment paper. I laid the template onto my gumpaste and held it in place with some pins. Cut out with a sharp paring knife.

Prepare Hat Brim

To get the brim to fold up accurately, I greased the sides of two square cake pans, gently curved up both sides of the brim, and let it rest between them.

Note: I highly recommend making this component at least a week ahead, as it takes quite a long time to set. I let mine set for a week, and the bottom still never got fully dry.

Prepare Vanilla Cakes

Prepare your vanilla cake batter according to my recipe here. Pour 1 ½ lbs into a 8” round pan. Dye the remaining batter red, and divide 1 ½ lbs into your second 8” pan, and 1 lb into your 7” cake pan. Bake for 350 degrees or until a toothpick comes out clean. Allow cakes to cool completely in their pans.

Level Cakes

Remove all of your cakes from their pans. Level them and remove caramelization from the bottom. Cut both 8” round cakes in half horizontally, and cut one layer from the 7” round cake.

Soak Cakes

Give all of your cakes a simple syrup shower, allowing the syrup to soak in completely.

Layer and Fill Cakes

Fill your cakes with buttercream, alternating cake layer colours as you stack: red, vanilla, red, vanilla, red. Chill for 10 minutes to allow the buttercream to set.

Carve Cake into Hat Shape

Once chilled, carve your cake stack into a cowboy hat shape. Make templates by tracing the head hole of a cowboy hat onto parchment paper. Trace the top of the hat, making marks where the indents will go.

Shape Cake

Carve the top of the hat, and using a small serrated knife and template for the oval on top. Using a real hat (or a photo) as a guide, carve cake away from the sides. This also helps to remove the caramelization from the sides of your cake. Once happy with your shape, go back and carve the indents on the top of the hat, and taper it gently toward the back.

Crumb Coat and Chill

Give your cake a crumb coat, and chill it to set the buttercream. Ice, then chill again.

Knead Fondant

Knead some Wilton Cornflower Blue and Wilton Black Icing Color into your blue fondant to deepen the colour. Roll your fondant out to ⅛ inch thick, and ensuring that you are rolling a slab large enough to cover your hat cake.

Cover the Cake

Drape your fondant over your cake quickly and carefully. As you’re smoothing your fondant onto your cake, you may trap some air in the indents. Have a pin ready to release any air, and smooth out the bubbles down away from the indents.

Roll Out Red and White Fondant

Roll out a slab of red fondant, and a slab of white fondant. Cut them into ¾ inch strips. Brush some clear piping gel into the hat brim, and alternate the stripes. Starting in the centre, and working your way out on either side, apply your stripes.

Add Stripes to Brim

Add stripes to the visible part of the underside of my brim, and line them up with the stripes on the top.

Cut Fondant Stars

Cut some stars out of white fondant in two sizes. Alternate them along the bottom of the hat, again applying with a little bit of piping gel.

Add Hat Details

Put blue fondant through my clue extruder with a big, half moon faceplate. Attach this to the brim with a bit of piping gel, with the flat side of the half moon to the brim. Use your overstitch wheel along the inside top of the brim.

Assemble Hat

Carefully pick up your cake, and place it onto the brim. Try to centre it as best you can.

Create Fondant Rope

To make a little rope for your hat, prepare your clay extruder with a small round faceplate. Run your red, white, and blue fondant through the extruder to create three thin tubes. Glue the tubes together in a triangle formation with a bit of piping gel, and then twist it into a rope.

Prepare Grommets

Roll out yellow gum paste, and used a round cutter and piping tip to cut the interior and exterior circles. Brush them with a little bit of vegetable shortening, and then with gold luster. Place your grommets onto the brim of the hat.

Assemble Ropes

Take your rope, and string it from grommet to grommet, as if it’s entering the grommet hole. Add another two ropes where the rope would have been coming out from under the hat.

Congratulations!

If all went well, you should see something that looks like this...

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