United Cakedom: Harry Potter

Showing posts with label Harry Potter. Show all posts

Harry Potter 20 years - my story {plus treats}

After being on social media yesterday and reading and watching all the hype about Harry Potter and how it's been 20 years since it's release I just felt like sharing my part of the story.

I discovered Harry Potter later then most. I was flying to my sisters wedding in Hawaii when I bought my very first Harry Potter book. We had a 5 hour lay over at the airport when my 17 year-old self start whining to my mom that I was bored and couldn't I get a book?

So I was browsing the book store in the airport and they had a big display of Harry Potter books. Remembering my friend Sally reading Harry Potter one day at school I picked it up and read the back. I can recall the memory clearly. Having always enjoyed books about magic and creatures of the dark I thought hey this will be an easy and relaxing read for vacation and I was right!

Butterbeer Floats

After that it was a bit fuzzy about where I started reading, but I knew I was hooked while sitting next to the pool and laughing out loud. My little sister had asked what I was laughing at and I was trying to explain to her how amazing and funny this book was. Because we had other things to be doing while exploring Hawaii I hadn't sat down and read it all the way through. While waiting to board I was reading the last few chapters in the airport when my Uncle asked me what I thought so far.

I couldn't say enough. To when he admitted he was already on book two and that his cousin Mary Grandpre was the cover artist!! I was in awe. By the time we got back to Minnesota I had finished Philosopher's Stone and immediately bought Chamber of Secrets.

Sweet Pumpkin Pasties

I was in a dilema after this because Prisoner of Azkaban and Goblet of Fire were only available in hardback. We didn't buy hardbacks, it was a lot cheaper to wait for the paperbacks. See here I did buy both books from our Kmart (only store in our little town) in hard back with my own money. Weird? anyway I couldn't wait to find out what happened next.

That is how I got addicted to Harry and his story.

Rock Cakes

I was in college by the time the 5th book was published. I pre-ordered it, but there was no midnight picking up thing going on in my town and so I had to work the day it was released. I was working at a Movie Gallery (now I'm showing my age, I worked at a movie rental place.... how times have changed) and the mall was across the street. It was dead and the guy I was working with wanted to leave to get something somewhere and so we made a deal we'd sneak off of work to get the things we wanted. I snuck over and got my book which came with a sticker of the cover (which is on a sketch book at my parents house) and cool Harry glasses. Work was still dead and I started it while working.

Golden Snitch Bomb Cake

By the time the 6th and 7th book came out I was living in the UK. For The Half-Blood Prince my husband took me to the Waterstones to pick up my copy. He didn't believe me that the line would be long so we didn't leave until like 10:30pm and were like the last in line. But it was fun being with a lot of other Potter fans!

When Deathly Hollows came out I had made good friends with Cathy, who was also a fan. I was pregnant with my first born and my Muggle t-shirt was a bit too tight because at 4/5 months I was already showing. We were dropped off my our significant others and left to hang out with all the other Harry Potter fans. Once we collected our books we didn't talk just read sitting on the steps next to the prison waiting for the boys to pick us up. I stayed up so late and I had to work the next day. As I finished my shift and was waiting for my ride I was still reading my book and this lady walked past and said you've gotten really far! I was like yes yes I have!!

Snitch Brownie Bites

This is a long post, but it's just crazy for me to think that all of this has made such an impact in my life that I remember it so very clearly.

I have read the series more then once and it's probably about time for another read. It doesn't matter how many times you read it, every time you pick it up it's like visiting it again for the first time, but it feels like you're coming home.

My story isn't one of where it saved me or got me through a hard time, but it's my story and I love reading and hearing other people's Harry stories.

When and where did you first fall in love with the Harry Potter series? If you aren't able to answer that question I hope that after reading this post I can be a part of your story.

*links to the recipes of the above pictures are underneath the pictures!

Killer Zebra Cake {Clandestine Cake Club}

This month’s Clandestine Cake Club theme was “A Novel Idea” where we could create a cake inspired by any book we wanted!

I have several novels and childhood books that I have been inspired by to create edible treats from. Two years ago I had a whole week dedicated to Harry Potter treats. I made a dessert inspired by Neil Gaiman’s An Ocean at the End of the Lane last spring. It’s something I enjoy doing!

Sunshine by Robin McKinley was where I decided to draw my inspiration from this time.

It is a book I have read more then once and have come to love. It sounds like a nice sunshine and roses book, but it's far from it! That's all I'm going to say about that!

It was a bit of an easy one as the main character Rae aka Sunshine works in a bakery.

She creates all sorts of delicious sounding desserts like Cinnamon Buns as-big-as-your-head, Hell’s Angel’s Food, Killer Zebras, a 6 layer chocolate chip cake, Bitter Chocolate Death, Butter Bombs, Cherry Tarts, Lemon Lechery, and many more.

I've always admired Robin McKinley’s creativity when it came to naming the desserts. I also always wondered where her inspiration came from for the names? Did she have certain desserts in mind?

Originally I was going to make a Bitter Chocolate Death Cake, but someone was suppose to bring Bruce Bogtrotter’s cake from Matilda. So, I thought since there were to be two very chocolaty cakes I would make something else. I needn't have worried as they didn't show, but ah well.

I just liked the way Killer Zebra’s sounded so, I made a stripy cake and the tasty frosting makes it “killer!” Um..hum yeah. Anyway .... It was a pretty good cake, not as rich as expected, but a perfect sweetness to a soft crumb. Yum!

Killer Zebra Cake:

260g unsalted butter, room temperature

420g caster sugar

4 medium eggs

430g plain flour, sifted

1 tbsp baking powder

pinch of salt

1 tsp vanilla extract

240ml whole milk

30g cocoa powder, sifted

Preheat oven to 180C conventional & fan assisted/gas mark 6. Prepare 2 15cm round cake tins, greased and lined.

Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy. Add the eggs one at a time and beat until completely incorporated, scrap down after each egg. Remove half of the batter and set aside.

In a bowl sift the flour, baking powder, and salt together. Half it. In one half sift in the cocoa powder. Set both bowls aside. Measure out the milk, set aside.

In one half of the butter mixture add a half of the half of flour (so you’re adding a quarter) mix well before adding the vanilla and half of the milk. Then add the rest of the flour (another quarter to make half) mix well. That is your vanilla batter.

In the other bowl of batter mix in half of the cocoa flour, mix well before adding the rest of the milk, make sure that is well incorporated before adding the rest of the flour and mix well, but don’t over beat.

To create the zebra stripes, spoon about 3 tbsp of the vanilla batter into the center of each prepared pans. Then add 3 tbsp of the chocolate and repeat until the batter is gone. It will spread out don’t worry! Do not level out the top! Whatever you do it will work out.

Bake for 25-45 minutes depending on your oven. I used a conventional oven and it took at least 45 minutes, but the recipe suggests a fan-assisted oven 25-30 minutes. Use the skewer test to make sure it’s completely cooked. Cool in the tins for about 10 minutes before removing them and cooling completely on a wire rack.

vanilla buttercream

100g unsalted butter, softened

300g icing sugar, sifted

1 tsp vanilla extract

75ml double cream

Beat the butter for a few minutes before adding the sugar, vanilla, and cream. Beat on low, you don’t want icing sugar everywhere! Then once it comes together beat on high for a few minutes until it’s nice and smooth!

It was a very quiet night. I don’t know if it was due to the flooding around the Reading area, but there wasn’t the best turn out. Sometimes it is nice when it’s quieter as we get to chat and get to know each other a bit better! I always really look forward to "Cake Club night as my" girls call it. They also always remind me to save them some cake!

Louise made an amazing Lemon Sherbet Cake inspired by Dumbledore from Harry Potter. Clara and Fiona brought a delicious cherry cake in ode to Enid Blyton. Clare created an orangey loaf cake, that I can’t remember for the life of me what book it was suppose to be from! It was good though! I look forward to our next meet-up!

notes: Clandestine Cake Club: fine one near you! HarryPotter Week; Forgotten Blackbery Pudding inspired by Neil Gaiman, AmericanCupcake Life has a book club that is run by reading the book and creating something inspired by the book, I partake as often as I can! Recipe was taken from Lily Vanilli’s Sweet Tooth.

Golden Snitch Brownie Bites!! {Happy Birthday Harry!}

I made brownies from a box. But you could make your own; delicious brownie recipes can be found here. When the brownies were cooled, but still warm, I removed them from the pan, cut off the crusts and rolled them into 1-1 1/2 in balls. Then I dipped them in the gold candy melts. I inserted the wings on either side and sprinkled them with the gold and iridescent sprinkles. (See how to below). Let them cool and enjoy!!

Happy birthday Harry! Love, Janet

I tinted white candy melts with yellow, a dab of orange, a tiny drop of red and brown. I asked the kids for advice on when the color came out gold. :) I drew wings on notebook paper then traced the wings on wax paper with the gold candy melt.

The candy melt was in an icing piping bag with a number 1 Wilton's tip. I added a 'stem' so I could insert the wings in the snitch. Before they dried I sprinkled them with yellow and iridescent sprinkles!

Golden Snitch Bomb Cake {Happy Birthday Harry!}

Today is the big day! It's Harry's Birthday! It's also JK Rowling's birthday!

Happy Birthday Jo!!!

For Harry's big day I made him a snitch cake, like Mrs Weasley does in book 7. I played around with different ideas. But finally decided I wanted to use sugar paste as I concluded it would give me the look I wanted. Then I used a gold spray to make it golden! Candy melts for the wings and an edible black marker to outline. For the inside I choose a bomb cake recipe from Peggy's Boutique Baking. Make any full or half circle cake you want and decorate!

I'm not sharing the recipe for this bomb cake is because I followed every ingredient and step to a T and it comes from Peggy’s Boutique Baking. It’s very in-depth and has step-by-step photos on how to assemble this cake. However, this isn't how she suggested to decorate it....

I used pre-made aka store bought marzipan and yellow fondant to cover it. I first rolled out the marzipan (I didn't take photos of that) before covering with the fondant as seen below. I made sure I had enough of the fondant to create the lines of the Snitch. To finish off I sprayed it with edible gold spay paint to give it the shimmer and gold feel. I also used a black edible pen to line some of the lines to try and give it some depth.

The wings were the hardest part to make. I first traced the size and shape of the wings on a piece of baking paper. I melted down yellow candy melts and using a butter knife filled in my drawings... I used a bit of the melted candy melts to attach the wings on.

assembling

The actual cake is a light sponge cake baked in a shallow cake pan and then shoved or layered inside a bowl then filled with butter-cream patisserie cream and alternated with fresh raspberries. It was delicious!! Anything for Harry! ;0) It's one of my first ever attempts at using fondant and making a bomb cake. It's probably not up to professional standards, but I am happy with the outcome. The first time I tried doing the wings it hadn't worked out so well. They were the toughest part of the whole cake. My daughter ate them off shortly afterwards. It was whole lot of fuss and worry, on my part, for nothing!

I hope you have enjoyed this weekend of yummy treats based on the world of Harry Potter! I know I had a lot of fun making and eating them!

If you have made Harry inspired anything (food, crafts, and so on) I’d love to see it!

Leave a comment with a link.

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Rock Cakes!! {Happy Birthday Harry}

Unlike Hagrid’s rock cakes, which were quite literally as hard as a rock, these are very light and delicious! Perfect accompaniment for a cup of tea!

There are lots of recipes for rock cakes out there, but after reading Marian Keyes intro to these cakes in her book Saved by Cake, I knew I had to use her recipe!

Rock Cakes:

225g self-rising flour

1 tsp bakig powder

115g butter (about 1 stick)

115g sultanas

50g mixed peel

75g caster sugar (superfine sugar)

1 egg, beaten

3 tbsp milk

3 tbsp demerara sugar (for decorating)

Line a baking tray with baking paper and preheat the oven to 200C/400F/gas6.

Sieve the flour and baking powder into a large bowl, then rub in the butter (like when making pastry) until it resembles bread crumbs. Mix in the sultanas, mixed peel, caster sugar, and the egg. Mix until you have a stiff dough. Add the milk by the tablespoon if the dough is too stiff. Marian reminds us that you can always add more, but can’t take it out if you’ve added too much!

Using two spoons or a spoon and a spatula – one for scooping, the other for scooping off – place golf ball-sized mounds of the mixture on to the prepared baking tray, leaving space for spreading. Marian also reminds us to leave these looking rough, the whole point of calling them rock cakes is so they look like rocks!

Sprinkle the top of each mound with demerara sugar, and then bake for 15-20 minutes or until the cakes have gone golden brown. Cool on a wire rack and eat them up!!

Tomorrow Harry will be 32!! Crazy. He's older then me! ;0)

Have a look tomorrow to see what I've created for his special day!

Marian Keyes Saved by Cake and Harry Potter's age

Sweet Pumpkin Pasties!! {Happy Birthday Harry!}

These Harry Potter treats are something I’ve wanted to make for a while. I call them Sweet Pumpkin Pasties because I used American pumpkin pie filling. Here in the UK Pasty are generally (not all the time) savory. So, I would conclude that “Pumpkin Pasty” would have been a savory pie filled with pumpkin, potatoes, swede, and maybe some other sort of root vegetables. Makes sense as they were on the lunch trolley and would have served as a respective meal.

The amount of pies the dough makes doesn’t equal the amount of filling. I was making them just for myself so didn’t need all the dough. You can do one of three things double the pie filling or cut the dough recipe in half. Or last but not least choose a different pie filling of your choice: Apple/blueberry/sweet potato (the possibilities are endless) to use up the rest of your dough.

I found this recipe for fried pies in the book All Cakes Considered by Melissa Gray, I baked my pies instead, but the ingredients used in her recipe for the dough is the same. The pumpkin pie filling I improvised through my knowledge of pumpkin pie filling! Also noted the recipe is in America measurements... I know I used cups! Gasp horror!

The smell of these wafting through the house while baking made my mouth water! My oldest mini-baker wasn’t too impressed with them, but the younger one loved them! I love pumpkin pie and so of course I really liked these. I liked how the crust to pie filling ratio was in favor of the dough! Enjoy!

Sweet Pumpkin Pasties:

Make the filling. You will need -

½ cup pumpkin puree

1 tbsp butter

½ ground cinnamon, nutmeg, and ginger

pinch of cloves

1 tsp brown sugar and caster sugar

Mix all together and leave in the fridge until ready to use.

For the Pie Dough:

One 8-ounce package cold cream cheese, cut into a pieces

2 sticks (1 cup) cold butter, cut into a pieces

2 cups all-purpose flour (alternative: use 1 cup of all-purpose flour and 1 cup of whole wheat flour.)

1/2 teaspoon salt

Let the cream cheese and butter rest at room temperature before placing in a food processor, combine the flour and salt, then drop cut-up pieces of cream cheese and butter over the top. Pulse/mix until the dough is mixed, but not combined fully. Take the dough out to combine with your hands before dividing into 4 discs. Wrap in plastic and refrigerate for a minimum of 2 hours.

On a floured work surface roll out the cold dough to a thickness of 1/4 inch. Don’t forget to flour your rolling pin.

With a biscuit cutter cut out as many circles as you can. Flour them lightly so they don't stick together, and place them on a plate. Gather up the scraps of dough and set aside.

Reflour the work surface and repeat with the remaining 3 discs. Gather up the scraps of dough and combine them with the other scraps; gently knead the dough together into one disc, wrap, and pop into the refrigerator. Leave for a little while in the fridge before rolling out the dough scraps and cutting out circles.

Clear the work surface of any sticky dough and reflour. Roll out the biscuit shapes to 1/8 inch thickness. Lightly flour and collect them on a plate until all the pastry rounds are now thin minipancakes.

Now you will need:

1 large egg

1 teaspoon water

4 tablespoons unsalted butter, melted, for baking

Coarse or confectioners' sugar for dusting

- also a pastry brush and fork!

Whisk together the egg and water. Clear the work surface and lay out as many pastry circles as you can. Place one heaping tablespoon of filling, but no more, on one half of each circle. Don’t spread.

Take the pastry brush and brush the egg mixture around the edges of the half circle where the filling is. Then fold over the empty half, forming a half-moon or pod. Using a fork, gently press down on the edge. Set the pie aside. Repeat until all the pastry circles are filled, painted with egg wash, folded, and forked.

Heat the oven to 350F /175C. Spray a shallow baking pan with baking spray or rub a thin layer of butter along the pan to keep them from sticking.

Use a pastry brush; coat both sides of each pie with some of the melted butter.

Arrange the pies evenly in the prepared pan. Bake for 10 minutes, remove from the oven, flip the pies over, then bake for 10 minutes more, until golden brown.

Dust with confectioners’ sugar once the pies are cooled.

note: Harry Wiki Pumpkin Pasty and All Cakes Considered

Butterbeer Float!! {Happy Birthday Harry!}

Everyone this weekend is all about the start of the Olympics; for me it’s about celebrating the greatest literary character ever! Harry Potter!

His 31^st birthday is this Tuesday (31^st of July) and here at United Cakedom we’re going to celebrate with a weekend full of treats from Harry’s world!

Starting with Butterbeer!! I decided to do something a little different, as there are lots of Butterbeer recipes out there. I made mine a float!