A couple of weeks ago we had a very mad weekend and not only because we were inundated with orders but because two of those orders were for Mad Hatter's Tea Parties. We had a 30th birthday cake and hen party cupcakes from different clients both wanting the Mad Hatter's theme.
Being slightly (under statement) loony myself this is really still one of my favorite themes to play around with. I wanted to do something a little different this time with the cupcakes instead of the usual plain teacups and teapots. I still had these of course but added a little twist by including a few elements that are not directly from the tea party, but are intrinsic to Alice in Wonderland.
I love the added touch of the teapot pouring tea. I feel like it captures a frozen moment of the chaos of the Mad Hatter's tea party. I added wooden signs to some of the cupcakes saying "this way" and "that way" as well as a few labels saying "eat me".
A Mad Hatter's Tea Party is really not complete if the Mad Hatter's hat doesn't make an appearance so of course as usual the little green hat sat upon some of the cupcakes.
The final two cupcake designs were the white rabbit's pocket watch and a little bottle that urges Alice to drink it. A little deviation from the Mad Hatter's party, but still all in the spirit of the madness.
The client for the Mad Hatter's cake had a fairly good idea of what she wanted and sent me a reference picture. A two tier topsy turvy cake with a cheshire cat top tier, a draped bottom tier and then her own touch, a tea party on the very top. I'd actually never done a topsy turvy cake before, but was quite happy with the way it turned out.
I used similar elements for the tippy top tea party that I used for the cupcakes. It featured the Mad Hatter's hat, tea pots and cups, yummy treats as well as a the number 30 which the client had asked me to include on the cake. My favorite part of this top tier is the way it looks like all the tea party goodies are in the process of sliding right off the cake. So typical of the Mad Hatter's tea party...
I've always had a strange love for the cheshire cat and was thrilled to be able to dedicate a whole tier to this mischievous being. This particular cheshire cat was inspired by the old school animated Disney version of the Lewis Carroll novel and not the new darker Tim Burton one.
Other features of the cake were a "this way" sign, some toadstools, three red hearts representing the Red Queen and what I thought was a rather fun touch was that the client requested that the words "a very merry unbirthday to you" be on the cake board.
I think I love the Mad Hatter's Tea Party and the Alice in Wonderland theme in general, because of it's silly playfulness and it's vast array of wonderous things to be inspired by. I guess all that's left to say is bring on the madness...
