How to Make a Lady Hat Cake Topper or Cake

I made this Lady Hat Cake Topper for my Lady with a Hat birthday cake. It’s a simple but elegant hat made out of cake, covered with gum paste and decorated with fresh flowers. The hat brim should be at least 5 cm (2 inches) more in diameter than the cake you are making this hat topper for. For example, I made a 24 cm (9.5 inch) hat brim for an 18 cm (7 inch) round cake.

While I used this as a cake topper, if you want to make a Hat Cake, bigger than my topper, you can use the same technique. You can simply bake a bigger dome cake, add filling as well and make the hat brim wider. You can use the cake recipe from my Spider Cake to bake a bigger dome cake and fill it . Then, just follow the steps below to make the brim, cover the hat crown with gum paste etc..

Note that the hat brim should be made out of gum paste so that it dries out faster… and rock hard. If you don’t have gum paste, you can also use regular fondant mixed with a bit of Tylose or CMC powder. The hat crown can be covered with regular fondant or gum paste.

Ingredients/Tools

a dome cake baked in a 14 cm diameter x 6.5 cm depth (5.5 inch x 2.5 inch) hemisphere pan or oven-proof bowl; you can make this vanilla cake out of 1 egg only
a 12 cm (5 inches) round cake board
a few tablespoons of frosting – chocolate ganache or buttercream-based frosting
900 g (2 lbs) white gum paste or fondant mixed with 3.5 teaspoons Tylose or CMC Powder
rolling pin
corn starch or powdered sugar for dusting
X-acto knife or a very sharp knife
gel food colour of your choice to colour a bit of fondant to make the ribbon – for a burgundy colour mix two drops of red with 1 drop of blue
fresh flowers
plastic straws and/or extra large boba/bubble tea straws if the flower stems are thicker

Use a 14 cm diameter x 6.5 cm depth (5.5 inch x 2.5 inch) hemisphere pan or oven-proof bowl greased with butter and coated with a bit of flour.

Directions

You can watch this video tutorial to learn how to make the hat cake topper or read the detailed instructions below.

Making the Hat Brim

Make this at least 4-5 days in advance so that the gum paste / fondant has time to dry out. If it’s still a bit soft, it will bend or crack once you place the hat on the cake.

Knead 2/3 of your gum paste or fondant mixed with tylose powder until it has a workable consistency and it doesn’t feel and look dry.

Dust your working surface with cornstarch and roll the gum paste around 4 mm (1/6 inches) thick and 25 cm (10 inches) in diameter. Cut out a circle that’s 25 cm (10 inches) in diameter. To cut a perfect circle, you can place a 23-24 cm (9-9.5 inch) cake pan, face down, on top of the gum paste and slightly press it down to mark the circle. Then, cut along the marked line with a sharp knife. The hat brim should be at least 5 cm (2 inches) more in diameter than the cake you are making this hat topper for. For example, I made a 24 cm (9.5 inch) hat brim for an 18 cm (7 inch) round cake.

Place the hat brim you just made on a cake board, cutting board or some other flat surface and let it dry out for a few days.

Cut out a circle that’s 25 cm (10 inches) in diameter.

Making the Hat Crown

Place the dome cake on a 12 cm (5 inch) round cake board. Apply a thin layer of frosting and smooth it out with a spatula.

Refrigerate the cake for 1 hour. Apply a second layer of frosting and smooth it out as much as you can with a spatula or a flexible plastic dough scraper or something similar. It doesn’t have to be perfect as we will cover the cake with gum paste.

Knead the remaining gum paste / fondant. Dust your work surface with cornstarch and roll the gum paste around 3.5 mm ( 1/8 inches) thick and 22 cm (8.5 inches) in diameter.

Gently lift the fondant and place it on the cake.Smooth the fondant with the palm of your hand starting from the top. Start to gently pull the fondant out and down around the sides of the cake using one hand and spread the excess fondant and smooth it out using your other hand (or a fondant smoother).

Keep turning the cake and repeating these steps until the sides are smooth and without any ruffles formed towards the bottom.

Trim the edges at the bottom using an X-Acto knife or any other sharp knife you have.

Assembling & Decorating the Hat

Spread a bit of frosting on your hat brim, right in the middle. Place the dome cake on top.

To make the ribbon, knead a piece of your leftover fondant and colour it with 2 drops of red food colouring and 1 drop of blue.

Then roll it in a thin rope and flatten it out a bit with a rolling pin. Cut a strip that’s 1.5 cm (1/2 inch) wide and as long as the circumference of your dome cake covered with fondant. Place it around the cake to make sure you have the exact length. Remove it and cut any excess if needed.

Then, brush a bit of water around the base of the crown and place the ribbon back on. Press gently with your hands so that it sticks in place.

Cut the stems of your fresh flowers so that they are a few centimetres / inches. Use regular straws or boba straws to make it easier to position the flowers on the dome cake and to create a barrier between the cake and the flowers. If you don’t have straws you can also wrap the stems in plastic foil.

Trim the straws to be a few centimetres / inches. Insert a straw into the cake at the desired angle. Then, slip the flower stem into the straw opening. Repeat the process until you add as many flowers as desired.