Chocolate Mad Hatter Cake!

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2 x 8lb portion of Yo's Ultimate Chocolate Cake
Chocolate Ganache (using 2 lbs Semi Sweet Chocolate & 2 lbs Whipping Cream)
Simple Syrup
Clear Piping Gel
Royal Icing
Icing Sugar
Vegetable Shortening
Clear Piping Gel
5 1/2 lbs Chocolate Fondant
1 lb Pink Fondant
1 oz Gumpaste
Copper Lustre Dust
Raspberry Luster Dust
Brown Colour Dust
Black Colour Dust
Food Grade Alcohol
Pink Lustre Dust
Matte Black Colour Dust
Silver Luster Dust
Gold Luster Dust
Wilton Buttercup Yellow

Item Name:	Availability:
10" Round Cake Pan
2 x 9" Round Cake Pans
2 x 8" Round Cake Pans
7" Round Cake Pan
Rubber Spatula
Ruler
Serrated Knife
Offset Spatula	Add to Cart -
Small Offset Spatula	Add to Cart -
7" Round Cake Board
8" Round Cake Board
6 x 1/4" Wooden Cake Dowels
Paring Knife
1 1/4" Wooden Dowel
14" round Plastic Serving Platter
Rolling Pin
Pointed Sculpting Tool
Clay Extruder	Add to Cart -
Paint Brush
3 x Bamboo Skewers
Carnation Cutter
Leaf Cutters
Caylx Cutter

Prepare Ganache

Begin by making your ganache one day ahead.

Prepare Chocolate Cake

Prepare the 8lb portion of Yos Ultimate Chocolate Cake. Pour the batter into the prepared cake pans as follows:

4 lbs in the 10" pan

3 lbs in each 9" pan

2 lbs in each 8" pan

2 lbs in the 7" pan

Bake you cakes at 350 for 45 minutes to an hour. Remember to test each cake with the toothpick method. Let cool.

Level Cakes

Remove all all six of your chocolate cakes from their pans, and level them.

Prepare Simple Syrup

Prepare the simple syrup, and soak all of the chocolate cakes.

Stack and Fill Cakes

Build the hat cake in two sections. Stack and fill the first cake with ganache as follows:

8" cake, ganache, 8" cake, ganache, 7" cake

Stack the second cake as follows

10" cake, ganache, 9" cake, ganache, 9" cake

Chill Cakes

Let both cakes chill for 20 minutes until the ganache is firm.

Shape the Hat

Shape the hat in two sections as well. Beginning with the smaller cake, carve all the way around the cake creating a curve. The top layer should remain 7" round, but curve down toward the outer edge of the bottom 8" round cake.

Continue Shaping the Hat

Carve the larger cake in the same way, but rest the 8" round cake board on top of the 9" top cake layer. Use the cake board as a guide. Flip the smaller cake over, placing it onto the 7" round cake board.

Trim and Prepare Dowels and Cake Board

Trim 6 dowels into 12 dowels that are the exact height of the cake. Place the 8" round cake board on top. Glue it down with ganache, and place a thin layer of ganache on top of the board.

Crumb Coat and Chill

Flip the second cake over and place it on top. Crumb coat the entire cake and chill for 20 minutes. Ice the entire hat again with ganache. Flip the whole cake over before icing. Let chill.

Measure and Prepare Fondant

Cover the cake by rolling out one large sheet of chocolate fondant and wrapping it around the circumference of the cake. Measure the circumference of the cake at the top and bottom, and the height.

Cover Cakes

Flip the cake over and insert one sharpened dowel in the center.Roll a circle of fondant to cover the top. Trim any excess.

Prepare Hat Brim

Roll a circle of fondant and cover the bottom of the plastic serving platter. Brush clear piping gel onto the surface of the bottom of the platter as glue. Let dry for one week.

Glue Brim

Cover the top of the platter in the same fashion. You don't necessarily have to use a platter at all. Alternatively, make the brim one or two weeks in advance by rolling a fondant circle and letting it set on top of the platter. The harder it is, the better. Add CMC to the fondant first, or making the brim from gumpaste. Sprinkle a generous amount of icing sugar onto the top of the platter so it will not stick. Once the Mad Hatter's Hat Cake is complete you can carefully pick it up and glue it to your brim with royal icing.

Create Hat Threads

Soften the leftover chocolate fondant by kneading in vegetable shortening, and push it through a clay extruder fitted with a grass face plate. Separate all threads of fondant and use them to make stitching all around the outer edge of the brim. Use a pointed sculpting tool to make little indents at either end of each thread.

Create Fabric Patch

Roll out a small piece of fondant and cut a square to create a patch for the top right side of the hat. Use the same stitch technique with the clay extruder and pointed sculpting tool to stitch the hat on.

Paint Hat

Mix bronze, burgundy, brown and black colour dust to darken the hue. Then paint the entire hat and brim.

Roll out Pink Fondant

Once dry, thinly roll out the pink fondant to a length that is long enough to fit the circumference of the hat base.

Prepare Fondant Sash

Lay the entire piece of fondant onto some long 1/2dowels. Press the fondant gently over the dowels and pull the dowels together to create gathers in the fondant.

Add Fondant Sash

Wrap the fondant sash around the base of the hat, securing it with a little water. Paint with pink lustre to make it shimmer slightly.

Prepare Arrows

Use a few gumpaste cutters to create 3 different decorative ends of the arrows. Dye the gumpaste a deep yellow, roll it thin and cut out the shapes. Glue each shape to the end of a skewer with clear piping gel. Brush vegetable shortening onto the gumpaste and along the skewer.

Pain Arrows

Brush on gold lustre dust to create three gold arrows and insert into the sash of the hat.

Create Pocket Watch

Shape 1 oz of gumpaste in a 2D round disc. Rolla a thin piece of gumpaste and press it into the pocket watch, that Walt Disney Studios Canada so kindly lent to me. Cut the embossed piece of gumpaste into a circle and glued it to the gumpaste disc with a little water.

Create Watch Chain

Recreate the chain of the watch by pressing the chain into gum paste and trimming the sides. Cut the holes from the chain with a small piping tip. Paint the pocket watch with silver lustre dust and matte black colour dust and lay it on top of the Hat Cake.