How to Make a Fondant Cowboy Hat Cake Topper

If you need to make a Fondant Cowboy Hat Cake Topper, this tutorial will have every detail you need including step-by-step photos of the entire process!

Originally published June 2013, updated June 2024.

Fondant Cowboy Hat

I’ve been making cowboy hat cake toppers for more than 12 years and I’m asked again and again and again to do this tutorial! This hat will be the perfect size for 6-inch or 8-inch round cakes. Maybe even on a bigger cake but I know it’s the right size for these cakes. I’ll include some of my other cakes at the bottom of this post. 

Pro Tips Before You Get Started

• Read through the supply list below and make sure you have everything on hand already before you get started (or substitutions for what I have listed).
•  You will want to make this cowboy hat 2-3 days in advance so that it will have time to dry!! This is not something you can make for a rush order.
• If you’re looking for smaller cowboy hats, I have a tutorial here for how to make cowboy hat cupcake toppers.

Supplies Needed to Make a Cowboy Hat Cake Topper:

• Rice cereal treats (I use homemade, but you can also press together several pre-made Rice Krispies Treats)
• Small oval bowl (I use this Tupperware dip bowl), optional. You can make the oval shape by hand but I find this bowl to be the perfect size and shape.
• Fondant – you can use homemade marshmallow fondant or pre-made in whatever color you want for your hat. I used Satin Ice Dark Chocolate Brown Fondant. You could also use gum paste but you’ll have to work faster because it dries out faster.
• Tylose (if using fondant)
• Rolling pin
• Shortening
• Bubble Tea Straws or 1/2″ dowel rods
• Candy melts and whatever materials you need to melt them in the microwave and spread them!
• Potato/vegetable peeler
• Pizza Wheel and/or Xacto knife. You could also use a ribbon cutter (one of my favorite tools) or add a fondant rope around the brim.
• Star and circle cookie cutters for the sheriff star badge on the front.

This cake above was for a cowboy-themed party. It was the perfect cake with cow print, paisley bandana print, blue jeans, rope borders, belt and buckle, and of course, the western fondant cowboy hat on top! Several other western cake decorations would go well with this cake topper including cowboy boots and sheriff badges.

How to Make a Fondant Cowboy Hat Cake Topper

Step 1. Making the Hat Shape

You’ll want to shape some rice cereal treats into a generic cowboy hat shape. I don’t really know how to describe it accurately… maybe a half an egg shape? This can easily be done by hand, but I’ve found that the dip bowl from a  Tupperware Chip ‘N Dip Bowl Set is a perfect shape!

I’m certain you can find a good substitution if you want to use another bowl vs. doing it by hand, but this little bowl is perfect! 

Here are a few pics so you can see it’s size and shape (compared with a 1 pound box of butter).

1. Either make the bowl by hand or use a bowl. If you’re using a bowl, first spray it with non-stick spray or rub it down with a little bit of butter on the inside (if you’re doing it by hand, rub your hands down with butter to prevent sticking!).
2. Press the rice cereal into the bowl tightly, then flip it out onto a mat you can work on.
3. Create an indention in the top of the hat lengthwise. I use the side of my hand to shape it. You could also use a small rolling pin.
4. Continue to press all sides of the hat together to keep it tight.
5. Stick this in the refrigerator so that it will get cold and hard!

Step 2. Cover the Top of the Hat with Fondant

1. While your rice cereal shape is getting cold, mix some tylose into your fondant so that it’ll dry and harden. I usually add 1-2 teaspoons per pound of fondant.
2. Use a small rolling pin to roll it out thin – approximately 2-3 mm.

Step 3. Make the Brim of the Hat

1. Use a 6″ round cake pan as a guide to cut out a circle of fondant that will be the bottom and bill of the hat. You could also use a pastry ring or a cake board of the same size as a guide. I used a pizza wheel but a pastry wheel would also work to cut it out.

2. Set your hat onto the circle of fondant and be sure you have plenty of extra on the edges to make the brim of the hat!
3. Take bubble tea straws and coat them with a little shortening. 
4. Use them to roll up the edges parallel to the indention you made. The shortening will help the straws stick and hold, but also not stick so they’ll easily slide out after it dries! Funny how that works!
5. I place the hat shape on the circle briefly to make sure I haven’t rolled them in too far, then put it back in the frig. until I’m ready to use it again!
6. This part will need to dry and harden – I prefer 2-3 days! I usually place it on a paper towel or on a flat tray dusted with a little corn starch so it doesn’t stick.

Step 4. Cover Hat Top with Chocolate

Note: The color of the candy melts is not significant. I had some red leftover from another project, so I used that… it’ll all be covered up so it doesn’t matter!

1. Melt some candy melts in the microwave. While doing that, place the cold hat shape on a piece of wax paper.
2. Spread the melted chocolate over the entire surface of the hat. This does not have to be neat or pretty – you just want to cover it well, filling in any holes!
3. Stick it back into the frig to let it harden. Because it should’ve already been cold when you started, this won’t take long!
4. Grab a potato or vegetable peeler… I love the ones from Tupperware. Yes, I used to be a Tupperware consultant (not anymore) but that’s why I have so many products!! Anywho, use your favorite peeler to start scraping off chocolate and smoothing it. You can also use your hands to smooth it down. The warmth from your skin will help a lot!
5. Repeat steps 10-13 to fill in any more holes or dips to get a really smooth finish.

Step 5. Assembling the Cowboy Hat

1. Roll out another circle of fondant to cover the hat. I love using the Mat (or in this case, the mini Mat for rolling out fondant).
2. Lay it over the finished hat shape and begin smoothing it down. Then cut off any excess leaving a small skirt around the edge.
3. Flip the hat over and tuck the skirt under the bottom (sorry about the blurry pic here – it’s the only one I took of this step!). Be sure to trim off any excess – you’ll want it to sit pretty flat once it’s flipped back over.
4. When ready to assemble, put a small amount of melted chocolate in the center. Attach the top hat part there and let it dry! It should be in a cool, dry place with no direct sunlight. I put extra straws on the outside of the brim for extra support and to keep it from unrolling.
5. (Two days later…) Gently remove the straws and add the finishing touches!

Note:  Don’t forget that the brim needs to dry for 2-3 days, depending on how much tylose you used, how humid it is where you live, etc. You can continue putting the hat together, but leave the straws in place for now!

Step 5. Final Touches

I added a band (in lighter brown fondant, cut with my ribbon cutter) and a sheriff’s star. I didn’t take pictures but I rolled out a small ball of fondant (white), then used a cookie cutter for the star. After adding small circles on each point (cut with a large round piping tip), I used edible spray paint to paint it silver. Easy-peasy. 

And that’s it!! You can see the whole cake up top… I’ll post details about it soon, but in the meantime, you can scroll through my other cowboy cakes here and see lots of other hats (different colors, varying shapes, etc.) OR at the bottom of this post.

​I even made a whole Cowboy Hat Cake once by a similar method except the whole thing was cake!

More Cake & Cupcake Topper Tutorials

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• How to Make a Unicorn Horn Cake Topper {Video Tutorial}
• How to Make Fondant Number Cake Toppers
• How to Make a Crown Cake Topper (tutorial and free printable template)
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• Christmas Lights Cupcake Toppers Tutorial

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