Have you ever wondered how much time goes into a specialty cake? It’s been a long time since any of my kids have asked for a themed cake for their birthday. Every year they pick out flavors and I make a cake. I’ve made several interesting cakes, including one that was inspired by a couple frozen coffee drinks with pumpkin, caramel and topped off with whipped cream. They do like to throw in twists sometimes and challenge me. As long as its not too outrageous I go with it. By too outrageous I mean, no cake covered in chips or full sized 12 layers shaped and covered in fondant with 3 different flavors and made to look like a movie set. I sometimes have to remind my kids that I don’t own a bakery and have a staff to help me make the cake like they see on Food Network. There have been chocolate cakes with raspberries and ganache and cinnamon cakes with cream cheese frosting. In the last several years I’ve become comfortable knowing it won’t take up too much time to make their cake. This year my youngest changed things up and asked for a Harry Potter cake. He wanted a sorting hat, a wand, a golden snitch, a broom and the iconic circular glasses. I decided that I was up for the challenge and I cleared my calendar for the two days before his birthday to plan and start the cake. 

Rice Cereal Treats

For the pieces sitting on top of the cake I used rice cereal treats. Rice Cereal treats are fantastic for molding and shaping pieces for cakes. They are also a favorite in my family. Once the Birthday song is sung, the treats are devoured along with the cake. (Usually with the fondant removed.) I made these the day before my son’s birthday and shaped them into different objects. I’ve found that making a thin layer on a sheet pan is the easiest and best way to prepare these. The sorting hat was the biggest. It was the showpiece of the cake! I looked up a picture of the hat sitting on Harry’s head and went to work. My goal was just to get the basic shape made the day before. I did the same with the wand and the broom.

A Golden Snitch

I decided to make the snitch out of an over-sized cake ball. I had a few extra cupcakes from the school birthday celebration and I crumbled a couple. All I needed was a little frosting added to the crumbs and it was easy to roll it into a ball. Next, the wings for the snitch. I wrapped some lollipop sticks with thinly rolled fondant and cut it into the shape of the wings. I left part of the sticks exposed to stick into the snitch. I made these the night before so they could sit out and harden overnight. I made the glasses so they could harden overnight as well. I used 2 different sized circle cookie cutters to cut out the glasses and a thin strip of fondant to attach them together. Once the cake ball had hardened in the refrigerator I covered it in white fondant and then used more fondant to create the details on the surface of the snitch. The next morning I painted the wings and snitch with metallic gold edible food paint. Even though it is edible and I like to make everything I can by hand, we didn’t eat the snitch. There was plenty of cake to go around!

Chocolate Fondant! Never again!

Okay, I shouldn’t say never but not that recipe again. I’ve made themed cakes before and the biggest thing I always have to remember is to plan extra time. I’ve pulled more than one all nighter in the past working on big cakes. I didn’t want to that again. I make cake layers a couple days before and freeze them. The fondant can be made up to a week before.(The white fondant. I’m not sure on chocolate.) For this cake, I decided to try a recipe for chocolate fondant in addition to the white fondant. I thought it would be fun since I was making black glasses and a sorting hat. When I make cakes for others I never try new recipes but I decided to take a shot and go with something new. This wasn’t my wisest decision. I hope not all chocolate fondants are so hard to work with. It took hours of slowly layering on small pieces of fondant to finish the hat. I tried microwaving the fondant to make it a little softer, adding a little shortening and ultimately it just took time and patience. It was brittle and cracked very easily. More than once I was ready to throw the hat across the room. I did finally get the hat covered and I used some black food coloring mixed with water to darken the mouth and eyes and provide some shading. I also used a little cocoa powder for contrast and more shading. It’s not my best work but I was happy it was done. 

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Pulling it together

I learned a lot from making the hat. Originally I had planned to use the chocolate fondant for the wand and broom. Instead, I used the much easier to work with white fondant and then painted it with brown and black food coloring. In the end my son was happy with the cake. He’s a huge Harry Potter fan and his face lit up when he saw his cake. He “cast a spell” with his wand and tried to wear the glasses. The best part of any birthday cake? Eating it of course!