Edible Mad Hatter 3-D Hat Cookies

I fell in love with all those decorated little Mad Hatter type top hats that came out a few years ago as head bands, hair clips and even Christmas tree ornaments.

Those hats have been on my make-it-into-a-cookie list for years, and since I've taken some much needed time away from my forever ongoing home renovation I decided to see if I could translate one into a cookie. And because the design side of my brain never shuts down I couldn't stop with just one.


The upper part of the hat was easy to figure out compared to finding a way to cover the whole thing with an even coat of icing and getting the brim to have a nice flared edge on either side. I know I could have just used a flat round cookie, but my sense of design demanded that it not look like a giant push-pin.

This is my fancy Mad Hatter/St. Patrick's day hat. My very first finished 3-D cookie hat.
The embellishments are 24 karat (supposedly edible) gold brushed on molded fondant pieces.
They can be popped off before eating the cookie however.

Molded white and black fondant along with edible gold were used to make the decorative shapes.
This photo shows some of the pieces before and after painting.

This was actually my second completed hat, but the first photo I posted to other sites.
The basic composition of this top hat is the same, but instead of colored sugar all over I used a patterned sugar sheet by Wilton. Finishing the hat using this method has a lot more visual impact, but adhering the icing sheet takes more time and care.
The flowers are fondant and the heart is a made of sugar pearls and dragees.

The underside of the finished hat, brushed with icing and sprinkled with colored sugar.
Inside I just brushed on 2 coats of black icing without the added colored sugar.
All of the hats are hollow, and as long as the decorations don't extend over the top, they can be turned over and filled with candy etc. as an extra treat.

Front view of another design. The cameo broach is made of fondant, sugar pearls and dragees.

The broach and edible lace are made up ahead of time to facilitate decorating.

Close-up of the edible lace detail. I used a product called Sugar Dress to make the lace as I needed it to stay pliable.  The jeweled flower is fondant with a sugar pearl and dragee center.

Two extra designs using less rings, and shaping the top to give them their iconic cowboy look.
The accents are fondant and edible wafer paper.


As you can see, there are a variety of ways to shape and finish these hats so they can suit any number of occasions. I have other 3-D hat designs in the works including a baseball cap, graduation hat, witch's hat, and fingers crossed, a pirate hat, which is proving to be quite challenging.


♥ Happy Decorating ♥