Infused Lemon Hat Cake
Every Springtime, we celebrate with a cake my friend Connie Bird first made as a 1 year old birthday cake for my daughter.
As a mentor, incredible chef, and woman of great wisdom, I find that the gift of her sharing continue to gift me throughout my lifetime.
I am most grateful to her for her friendship, and share this recipe with you in her honor.
This cake is a great recipe for using throughout the year as it is a blank canvas for whatever season or occasion you find yourself looking for the right statement of purpose or gifting.
Connie loved pansies, so in her honor, I chose to use the hat cake as a Spring bonnet with winter pansies covered in blooms and a great bridge of winter bowing to welcome Springtime centerstage we choose pansies!
There are many other edible flowers you can choose from as well. Or use silks instead!
Instructions:
You will need a metal bowl and 12″ pizza pan to bake the hat cake batter in.
Grease and flour the bowl and the pizza pan to prepare it for the batter. Preheat the oven at 350 degrees.
Using your favorite vanilla cake recipe or box cake, mix as required, substituting the oil for the infused oil, or follow me outside the suggested ingredients using your own choices or suggestions I have made.
For example, for liquids I consider liqueurs, creams, liquor as a substitute for the water. (There are differences in the textures, so be sure and record your favorite results for future use.)
Below you will see I choose a vanilla box cake and substitute as follows:
- Cake mix
- 3 eggs
- 1/3 cup infused oil
- 3/4 cup cream
- 1/4 cup water
- 2 heaping tablespoons
- mayonnaise or sour cream
- 1-2 tablespoons lemon juice (again..your choice)
- Lemon zest
Making the Cake:
Mix as directed.
Pour 3/4 of batter unto the pizza pan and spread. place on lower rack. Pour remaining 1/4 into the greased bowl and place on the top rack of the oven.
Bake until lightly brown. Be sure and watch the center of the bowl cake as it takes a watchful eye on the exact moment it is done!
Can’t leave the kitchen or even talk on the phone if you are easily distracted with this baking.
The bottom layer will obviously be done in a short time so prepare your cake platter. When the bottom is done, loosen the edges carefully with a spatula, careful not to tear into the cake.
Flip the base of the cake onto the platter. This will cool quickly, likely before the top is finished baking, so I usually go ahead and ice the base of the cake.
When finished, and after closely watching for when baking is complete, take the top of the hat out of the bowl and go ahead and place it center of the base. If you don’t get it quite center, no worries, just remember to decorate it as a larger front brim, or again, as your intuition and creativity lead you to design. After the top has cooled completely, ice top.
Choose a ribbon (I like the 1 inch ribbon) and wrap it around the crown leaving two end crossed over each other or wrap it into a complete circle around the crown.
Take another strand of ribbon and make the bow to sit up against the ribbon as if it is a sold tie in.
Then, using the flowers of your choice..leaves too…decorate the cake to represent your special hat cake.
Infused Lemon Icing
- Vanilla Icing of choice or made from scratch
- Use color as is, or add drops of color to design desire
- If making icing from scratch, use infused butter.
- If adding to premade icing, then I infuse RSO into extra butter and add that to the recipe.
- I often add a bit of vanilla or almond extract as well.
