Steampunk Hat Box Cake

Sometimes I get to a point where I realize that I don't have a cake planned for a while and want to make one for the channel. In those moments, I have complete freedom of design and flavor. I knew this would come out in October, so I wanted to make another Steampunk cake like I did last October. Consider it a follow up on the Steampunk Top Hat Cake. This time, I decided to make a Steampunk Hat Box Cake.

The cake itself is strawberry cake. I chose strawberry cake because I had an order for a strawberry cake, but it was rather small. My recipe for strawberry cake makes kind of a lot. So, I used half the batter to make this cake. It's a six inch round cake. The frosting is some I had leftover from another project: vegan American buttercream.

 There was a lot of crumbs because this was a rather spontaneous decision to make this cake, so the cake was made fresh that day and hadn't been chilled. Hence, the strong need for a crumb coat.

 While the cake was chilling, I prepared some fondant colors. I knew I would need some ivory, so I used some ivory gel food coloring to color some white fondant.

 I colored more white fondant with some red and some brown gel food coloring. This made a lovely dusty rose.

 I was focused on warm undertones. Dusty rose, ivory and gold.

 Then I frosted the cake again in more vegan American buttercream.

 And rolled out some dusty rose fondant.

I covered the cake with the dusty rose.

 I cut the fondant a bit short on one side when trimming the excess and had to patch the hole a bit.

 Then I rolled out an even strip of pink fondant and glued it to the top of the cake.

 Next, I rolled out some ivory fondant in a long strip.

 I trimmed one side to be straight and used this edging cutter for the other side.

 Then I cut out little holes with a round piping tip.

 And I glued the lace around the bottom of the hat box.

 Next, I rolled out a wide strip of ivory fondant.

 I used a pointed tool to make ruffles along both edges of the strip.

 And I made holes at regular intervals with a round piping tip.

 Then I glued the lace belt across the hat box.

 Unfortunately, the weight of itself caused the belt to tear at one point.

 Then I cut out a square using gold fondant. I rounded the corners with the back of a piping tip.

 Then I cut out the center square of the fondant and used a small strip of gold fondant and pressed it into the hole.

 Next, I rolled out some gold fondant and cut out some circles using the back of a piping tip.

 Then I used various techniques to create various different kinds of cogs.

 Then I placed the cogs on the top of the cake. I know hat boxes aren't mechanical. It's my nod to the Steampunk movement.

 However, the gold fondant wasn't gold enough for me. I mixed some gold luster dust with clear alcohol.

 And painted all the gold fondant on the cake one more time.

 I love the way this cake turned out.

 It's lovely and classy and rather subtly Steampunk.

 I love the lace and the delicate colors.

 The gold just adds a touch of bling.

 This kind of cake is perfect for a romantic occasion for someone who follows the gothic subculture or just loves Steampunk.

 I even think it appeals to a much broader audience.

 It's just so feminine and romantic.

 I love the lace and the ruffly belt.

 So in love.

 True confessions. My six-year-old really wanted to help with this cake. And since her cake decorating skills aren't up to the point where I would actually let her help, I promised her she could do her part after I had finished the video and taken all the pictures. After all, this cake was for us.

This is the cake after my six-year-old was done making her masterpiece.

 It's a bit avant-guard, but I loved her creativity.

 In fact, I felt that the extra gold on the belt made it a little more antique feeling.

 And she made all of the extra cogs herself.

Well done, Sabrina.

Watch us make this entire cake on our YouTube channel here: https://youtu.be/YfejA8ay-Wc
Schaut zu wie wir diese ganze Torte auf YouTube machen hier: https://youtu.be/VTW71e5P1EE