With St. Patrick’s Day just around the corner, we’re all probably doing the same thing: searching the internet for the cutest and most festive desserts, of course! Among the little green frosted cookies and end-of-the-rainbow cupcakes, there are some pretty spectacular desserts out to be admired. But no matter how many awesome desserts you’ve been Pinning for the holiday, you haven’t seen ANYTHING yet.

Let’s just say this dessert seriously takes the cake.

When the cake decorating geniuses at How To Cake It show us their latest project, it looks like your traditional leprechaun top hat. Green, tall, with a black belt and gold buckle just above the wide brim, this hat basically looks like every drawing of a leprechaun you’ve ever seen.

But when she cuts into it? She reveals that there are layers of chocolate cake and buttercream underneath the surface. Green and chocolate buttercream. Woah. Needless to say, our minds were blown.

Whether you’re a baker looking for your next challenge or watching cake design videos gives you life, you have to watch this epic video below. It takes her a few days and many steps to create this masterful cake, but the entire process is hypnotizing. And we don’t have to tell you how amazing the end result is.

She starts by creating her base, which is made of chocolate cake. Four 9″ pans are used and stacked high with green and chocolate buttercream in between. And when we say “stacked high” we mean seriously high! To give the effect of a top hat, she’s created eight layers of cake; she’s done this by cutting her four cakes in half for extra height. Later, we’ll see she puts wooden dowels in the stack to keep it sturdy.

While the cake chills, the brim is made with green fondant! She rolls it out, places it on a platter, trims the edge to size, and then leaves it in the fridge for three days to set.

Pro Tip: She covers the platter with confectionery sugar so that the brim doesn’t stick and tear when it’s time to lift it from the plastic.

For the gold buckle, she uses actual edible gold leaf! It really gives the hat some realistic sparkle and pulls the whole aesthetic together. The black belt is also made of fondant while everything else is setting and chilling in the fridge.

When the cake is ready, it will be crumb coated twice. The first coat is to keep all the crumbs contained on the cake, so it’s perfectly fine for this layer to be messy and patchy. The second coating will be smoother and more even; this will be acting as the surface for the green fondant outside.

To see how she puts all these pieces of the cake together to form an epic holiday cake, you have to watch the How To Cake It video below. You won’t regret it, it’s so cool to see how a cake this epic is compiled from start to finish! Then make sure to share your thoughts on this incredible leprechaun hat cake in the comments section below.