I was asked by a Mum of one of Burton’s friends if I would make a birthday cake for him. The theme for his party was Alfie in Wonderland, a take on Alice In Wonderland and his Mum wanted the cake to be based on the hat worn by the Mad Hatter. I suggested a rainbow layered sponge inside the ‘hat’ outer which I would cover with green fondant icing. Fondant icing is my nemisis as I am not very good at using it and therefore, my efforts to date have not been all together successful. However, I do enjoy a challenge so I decided to give it a go and make a Mad Hatter’s Hat Cake.
Mad Hatter's Hat Cake
Prep time
Cook time
Total time
a rainbow layered sponge covered in fondant icing makes 4 x 8 inch sponges and 2 x 10 inch sponges
Author: Jenny Paulin
Recipe type: desserts
Serves: 50
Ingredients
- *FOR THE SPONGES*
- 650g self raising flour
- 650g caster sugar
- 650g unsalted butter
- 13 eggs
- 6 x tubes of Dr Oetkar liquid gel food colouring in your choice of colours
- 6 tsps vanilla essence
- extra flour and butter for greasing the cake tins
- 4 x 8inch cake pans
- 2 x 10 inch cake pans
- *FOR THE FILLING & DECORATION*
- 850g vanilla flavoured buttercream
- 750g pastel green ready to roll icing
- 250g bottle green ready to roll icing
- 100g white chocolate flavoured ready to roll icing
- tube of chocolate flavoured writing icing
- apricot jam
- 13 green smarties
- 12 inch square foil cake board
- icing sugar for dusting the work surface
Instructions
- This recipe makes
- x 8 inch sponges
- x 10 inch sponges
- The method is based on me making the cake in 3 lots so
- x 8 inch cakes twice (200g & 4 eggs x 2)
- and
- x 10 inch cakes (250g & 5 eggs)
- Pre heat the oven to 180oC / 160oC (fan)
- Grease and line your cake tins
- Beat the butter and sugar until pale and creamy (about 5 minutes)
- Add the eggs and 2 tsps of vanilla essence and a spoonful of flour and beat for another 3 minutes until light and airy
- Fold in the flour until combined
- Using some scales, weigh the batter and then divide into two equal portions and add 1 tube of food colouring to each portion and mix in well
- Pour each portion into your prepared cake tins and smooth over the top
- Place in the oven and bake for about 20-22 minutes (25 ish for the 10 inch cakes) until cooked right through
- Allow to cool completely
- Once all the cakes have been made, baked and cooled completely sandwich together with the buttercream. Place the 4 x 8 inch cakes at the bottom and then add the 2 x 10 inch ones at the top.
- Cover the sides of the cakes tower in buttercream
- The carefully place in a fridge for at least 30 minutes to set and to allow the cream to firm up
- Remove the cake from the fridge and carefully transfer to the cake board
- Lightly dust your work surface with icing sugar and roll out the pastel green icing into as big a square/rectangle as you can without it breaking, and using the rolling pin pick it up and drape it over the cake and smooth down to cover it. Trim off any excess
- Roll out the bottle green icing and then using a ruler mark out a wide band (approx the size of 2 ends of the ruler side by side) - i did mine in two parts to fit the circumference of the cake
- Stick on with some heated jam
- Make a square (I used a peppa pig snap card as a marker!) from the white chocolate flavoured ready to roll icing, and stick onto the hat as per the photo. Using the tube of chocolate flavoured writing icing write 10/6.
- With the same tube, I wrote 'Alfie' on the board and I also wrote a number 5 which I then covered with the green smarties.
- I made the cake the night before the party, so I kept the finsihed cake in a cool place and simply covered with some tea towells.
After a long Friday night of much cursing, laughing hysterically (not quite tearful but almost at one point) and talking to myself often I got to grips with my ready to roll icing nemisis and covered the cake! I will be the first to admit that it is rough around the edges and could have been neater, but overall I think it looked pretty good and like the Mad Hatter’s Hat. The different coloured sponges inside looked lovely and vibrant and were light very light which was a relief, as I have no idea how a cake will turn out unti it is cut and tried! It certainly went down well with the party guests, and had the wow factor which is what I wanted for Alfie’s cake. 
This looks fabulous and really really heavy. Perfect for St Patrick’s Day too x
The rainbow sponges are brilliant and it’s a great cake design too. Well done.
I think you did really well! I’d love to make a rainbow cake for the boys birthday but I’m not sure I have the patience xx
That icing can be a complete pain to work with…I know to my cost! Great cake!
I love the rainbow sponges! It must have taken you ages but it looks fantastic! x
We watched Alice in Wonderland with the kids a couple of days ago… will have to show them your cake when they return from their adventure of the day with hubby. Great layering of colours, it looks really impressive! Mel #TastyTuesdays
Oh wow this is FAB! Well done you and thanks for linking up to #tastytuesdays
Jenny thats amazing i am barely able to bake some basics this is fantastic!
It looks fantastic and even more impressive once cut. Well done! Time to start a business?
This looks amazing! Well done, a real labour of love there.
WOW – what a great looking cake!
This looks great Jenny I bet it was a huge success!! Well done 🙂 #recipeoftheweek
This looks amazing!
Look at those layers! Soooo appealing 🙂 Thanks for linking up with #recipeoftheweek 🙂 I’ve pinned and tweeted this post and there’s a fresh linky live now. Hope you join in x
Thanks for linking this to #CelebrationCakesAndBakes I love the inside and the bright colours. x
This is awesome, the colours are lovely. Recipe of the Week
March’s Celebration Cakes and Bakes Roundup | Mummy makes cakes
[…] Jenny from Mummy Mishaps added a lovely Mad Hatter’s Hat which she made for a 5th Birthday. I especially love the rainbow layers of cake […]
The layering is AWESOME but am I the only one with functioning eyesight when it comes to the outside? I mean cheers to you for giving it your best shot and for being brave enough to post it but as you’ve already mentioned, your fondant skills need some work.