Alice in Wonderland Mad Hatter Cake

by Rachel Lampron
(Colebrook, NH)

To make this Alice in Wonderland Mad Hatter Cake, I made 3 10"x2" round cakes in chocolate for the bottom tier, 3 6"x2" round spice cakes for the center tier, and 3 french vanilla cupcakes for the top tier. (I frosted the chocolate cakes together using vanilla frosting, the spice cakes using cream cheese frosting, and the cupcakes with chocolate frosting.)

When each tier was frosted, I cut through the top layer of chocolate cake at an angle, from the top of one side to the bottom of the other side, to give it the slanted look. Then I cut a 6" circle in the center on top and removed the cake down to the top layer of frosting. (That's where the 2nd tier will sit.)

I did the same thing for the 2nd tier. (Instead of cutting a 6" hole in the top, just cut a small hole, the size of a cupcake.)

I trimmed the cupcakes before frosting them, cutting the top off and a bit of the edges, so they were smooth and flat.

I then frosted the outside of each tier in it's corresponding flavor of frosting.
Then I made a TON of fondant.

Since the cake was for my best friend's baby shower, and I was doing an Alice in Wonderland Mad Hatter Tea Party theme, I wanted the cake to reflect that. So...

The bottom tier I covered in white mm fondant. I made red roses, green stems and green leaves out of fondant and attached them using a little water. (The red roses reflected the "painting the roses red" scene from Alice in Wonderland.)

The 2nd tier I covered in purple fondant and added pink stripes. (Like the Cheshire Cat.) After covering this tier in fondant, I placed dowel rods into the bottom tier and set this layer into the hole. I made in the large tier, using a 6" cake circle. I made pink balls of fondant to hide the seam.

The cupcakes were a little more tricky to attach together. They didn't seem to want to stay together, and it was quite messy trying to hold them up while covering them in green fondant. But I managed. After covering them in fondant, I placed them into the hole I made in the 2nd tier. I made some more fondant balls to hide the seam. On this tier, I attached a white fondant teapot, a fondant mushroom, and a 3-D fondant "bread-and-butter-fly".

For the cake topper, I used some artificial grass I bought in silver and red. I covered the stems in flower tape, (the part that was to go into the cake.) I used scissors to curl the wisps of grass, the same way you would curl a ribbon on a present. Then I just stuck them deep into the cake! They worked really well to hold up the cupcakes straight.

It took a lot of hard work to make this cake, but it was soooo worth it!