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'Happee Birthdae' Harry Potter Cake
How to make Hagrid's 'Happee Birthdae' Harry Potter Cake! Chocolate cake, cream cheese frosting - and looks like 'someone mighta sat on it!'
Equipment
- 1 10 inch cardboard cake circle (an 8-inch circle would work; I've just found moving cakes easier on larger circles)
- Cake turntable (optional, but makes frosting much easier)
- small piping bag + small round tip (for decorating)
- small knife or toothpick (for decorating)
Ingredients
'Happee Birthdae' cake layers
- 1 ½ cups all purpose flour
- 1 ½ cups granulated sugar
- 1 cup cocoa powder
- ¾ teaspoon baking soda
- ½ teaspoon salt
- ¾ cups unsalted butter (1 ½ sticks, softened)
- 3 large eggs at room temperature
- 1 ¼ cups buttermilk
- 2 teaspoons vanilla extract
Cream cheese buttercream frosting
- 6 oz 3/4 package cream cheese, softened (¾ package)
- ¾ cup butter (1 ½ sticks, softened)
- 5 cups powdered sugar
- 1-2 Tablespoons milk
- 1 Tablespoon clear vanilla extract
- Few drops red + few drops green liquid food coloring (Save and add later!)
Chocolate Ganache filling (optional)
- 1 cup semisweet chocolate chips (6 ounces)
- ¾ cup heavy whipping cream (6 ounces)
Instructions
'Happee Birthdae' cake layers
- Preheat an oven to 350℉ (180℃). Prepare three 8 inch round pans with baker's floured spray (or grease and line with parchment rounds).
- Mix together dry ingredients (flour, sugar, cocoa powder, baking soda, and salt) in the bowl of a stand mixer with a paddle (or hand mixer or whisk) until well combined.
- Add in bits of softened butter, mixing until no lumps of butter are visible and the mixture looks crumbly.
- Whisk together eggs, buttermilk, and vanilla. Add to dry ingredients and mix until no dry ingredients are visible. Scrape down the bowl and beat for another 20 seconds.
- Fill the pans evenly - I find a kitchen scale helpful for this part, and each of mine weighed out to about 600g. Bake for 30-35 min or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean.
- Allow cake layers to cool for 10-15 minutes on a wire cooling rack before removing from pans, and cool completely before frosting. Set in the fridge or freezer to accelerate the cooling process if desired. (This is a great time to make your frosting!)
Cream cheese buttercream frosting
- Beat together softened cream cheese and butter; slowly add in powdered sugar alternating with milk until frosting reaches desired consistency. Add vanilla and salt and beat until well combined.
- Transfer about ⅓ cup of frosting to another bowl and color this green – you’ll use this for piping the letters! Add red food color to the remaining frosting. (I forgot to count how many drops I used, but I pulled up this video (1 minute 43 seconds in) and just shot for about the color of the screenshot I took!)
Chocolate Ganache filling (optional)
- (This is an extra step and completely optional, but I filled this cake with chocolate ganache – because I’m a chocolate addict! Frosting would work as well.)
- Place chocolate chips in a heat-proof bowl. Add whipping cream and microwave on half power in 30-second intervals, stirring in between until smooth. Cool in the fridge (or 10-minute intervals in the freezer) until the ganache reaches a spreadable consistency.
Assembly
- Once your cakes are cool, level them (if needed). This can be done with a cake leveler or a large serrated knife and a ruler. Place a smear of frosting on your cake circle (to keep the cake from sliding while you decorate it) and center your first cake layer in the center of the circle.
- If filling with ganache, pipe a small rim of frosting around the outer edge of your first cake layer to keep the filling from showing on the outside of the cake, and spread the ganache over the layer. Otherwise, spread the layer with frosting.
- Add your second cake layer on top!
- Now you're ready to crumb-coat . If you're unfamiliar with crumb-coating, it's just what it sounds like – spreading a thin layer of frosting over the entire outside of the cake to keep crumbs out of your final layer.
Decorating
- Once your crumb coat has set (this takes about 5-10 minutes in the fridge), add a final layer of frosting and smooth. I like to use an offset spatula and bench scraper for this part - but the cake's meant to look a little rough, so don't sweat getting it too smooth!
- Transfer your green icing to a piping bag fitted with a small round tip. I used a movie screenshot from this clip as a guide when piping my letters – and to make sure I got the mis-spelling correct! Obviously I made the cake in the video for 'Ava,' - pipe the name of the cake's recipient! ;)
- With a toothpick or small knife, add a few lines to the top of the cake between the lettering. (Make it look like someone ‘mighta sat on it at some point!’ ;) )
- And you’re done! Give yourself a high five - and enjoy!
Video
Notes
(Please note nutrition information is an estimate, and may not be exactly accurate.)
Nutrition
Serving: 1sliceCalories: 536kcalCarbohydrates: 74gProtein: 6gFat: 24g
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Thank you for the post! I have a quick question if you’d clarify for me, please.
The recipe calls for 1 1/2 cups of flour and caster sugar but beside both of those is (roughly 2 1/4 c). I was a little confused and wasn’t sure if I should have used 2 1/4 cups for reach or not? I used the initial indicated measurement. I made the cake last night but haven’t had a chance to try it yet, but am excited!
Thank you in advance!
Stephanie
OH my gosh; I’m so sorry! What you did was exactly right; I scaled this cake recipe from a 3-layer recipe that had initial measurements in grams so I’d converted to cups. When I scaled the measurements I just used cups, but I forgot to take out that second part ‘roughly 2 1/4 cups’ part. I’ve updated the recipe; thank you SO much for catching that!!
Hi! How are you? I wanted to ask: instead of buttermilk, is there something else we could use, because in my country they do not sell it!
Hi! I’m so sorry for the response delay; work’s been insane lately. :/ Yes there is! You can substitute sour cream or even plain yogurt, or add two teaspoons of lemon juice per one cup of milk to make another substitute. I’ve also seen powdered buttermilk online that can be mixed with milk or water. Lots of options depending on what’s sold in your area!