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You are here: Home / Food / Baked Goods / Cakes / Golden Snitch Birthday Cake | Harry Potter

Golden Snitch Birthday Cake | Harry Potter

Cakes· Harry Potter· JK Rowling

26 Jun

Today’s the day! And there was only one birthday cake we could truly make to celebrate 20 years of Harry Potter– the original in the book is a beachball-sized golden snitch birthday cake that Mrs. Weasley makes Harry. To make sure I didn’t muck it up though, I also made a mini size using the Wilton sports ball cake pan to test out the steps before trying it on the bigger cake. (The beach ball sized cake is half made in the kitchen at the moment!)

For those who have been following along for the past 20 days, I hope you’ve enjoyed all the Harry Potter recipes we’ve been making to celebrate the publication of Harry Potter 20 years ago. If you’ve missed any, I’ll post a list of the 20 recipes at the bottom of this post.

Golden Snitch birthday cake | Harry Potter
 
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Author: Bryt @ InLiterature.net
Ingredients
  • 300g butter
  • 2 cups white sugar
  • 6 eggs
  • 3 cups self-raising flour
  • 1 cup plain flour
  • 1¼ cups milk
  • 3 tsp vanilla essence
  • can of buttercream icing
  • white and yellow fondant (~500g)
  • Wilton Colour Mist in gold (optional; also in silver for extra dimension, and brown food colouring for depth)
  • Wilton Sports Ball Cake Pan
Wings
  • 2 cups white sugar
  • 1 cup water
  • ½ tsp cream of tartar
  • 1 cup glucose syrup
Instructions
  1. Cream together 2 cups white sugar, 300g of the butter and 6 eggs. Then add in 3 cups self-raising flour and 1 cup plain flour, and finish off by adding in 1¼ cups of milk and 3 tsp vanilla essence.
  2. Preheat the oven to 140C, and with extra butter, grease a Wilton sports ball cake pan (preferably also cut a strip of baking paper and lay across the centre with edges dangling out, to help when it's time to remove the cake.
  3. Pour in the batter until you have 2 cm extra of space before you reach the top of the pan.
  4. Bake for ~2 hours until a skewer comes out clean, when pressed into the centre of the cake.
  5. Remove from the oven and let cool for at least 1 hour.
  6. Take your buttercream icing, and spread over the cake as smoothly as possible.
  7. To get an almost glass like finish, take very wet hands and smooth the icing down.
  8. Pop into the fridge for 1 hour to firm up.
  9. Stack your cake together on a cake stand and use icing inbetween the layers, and smooth any edges around the sides.
  10. Place in the fridge again for another ½ hour.
  11. Mix together a white and yellow fondant or rolled icing, then roll out on a lightly dusted (with icing sugar) counter.
  12. Cover the cake with the fondant (I'd suggest following this tutorial by RoseBakes for this step).
  13. Take a knife and lightly draw out the snitch pattern onto your cake.
  14. Roll out extra fondant into thin strips, and, using water, your fingers, and a wooden skewer, press the strips into place. I press the edges down into the cake's fondant layer, then use the smooth surface of my nail to make the line as invisible as possible.
  15. Since we used water, let that dry for at least an hour (I covered with cling wrap though so it wouldn't crack).
  16. Take your Wilton Color Mist in gold and completely coat the cake.
  17. Go back in with a fine tipped clean paintbrush in a brown or dark yellow where the shadows would fall, then highlight using a silver. I also used Wilton Color Mist in silver to give the cake some extra dimension, spraying a bit more intensely on a patch on the front, and directly on top.
Wings
  1. Split your wing ingredients in half as you'll need to make these in two batches.
  2. In a saucepan over medium heat, stir together 1 cup white sugar, ½ cup water, ½ glucose syrup and ¼ tsp cream of tartar.
  3. Let the candy cook until it reaches 300F, then remove from the heat.
  4. Pour onto a silicone mat, and pop on your candy making gloves.
  5. Lift the edges of the candy and pull into the centre until the whole candy can be picked up.
  6. Start pulling and twisting until the candy becomes shiny, and is hard to pull.
  7. Split into two parts, and roll and pull each piece into long strips.
  8. Let them cool on the mat, slightly curved.
  9. Once they're firm, but still slightly malleable if gently coaxed, press each end into the cake on either side on the top. You'll want to press them in deep for support.
  10. Gently shape them into the curve you want (but don't force them otherwise they may snap) and use a frame (I used small cardboard boxes) to support them while they dry.
  11. Make the second batch of the candy.
  12. While it's cooking, take a whisk, and use metal snippers to cut the whisk ends, and splay the edges outwards.
  13. Once the candy reached 300F, remove from the heat and use the whisk to flick the candy over the wings.
  14. Take a little bit of extra fondant and press around the base of the wing, and touch up with the gold Colour Mist.
  15. Now you're ready to serve!
Notes
The vanilla pound cake recipe is followed from taste.com.au. It's been my go-to pound cake recipe for years now!
Pourable fondant recipe is adapted from sprinklebakes.com
3.5.3208

Other literary cakes inspired by novels

Harry’s 11th Birthday Cake from Hagrid

Dauntless Chocolate Cake | Divergent

Alice in Wonderland Unbirthday Cake

Hook’s Lost Boys Cake | Peter Pan

 

20 Years of Harry Potter recipes

Day 1: Sherbet Lemon

Day 2: Rock Cakes

Day 3: Ogden’s Old Firewhisky

Day 4: Knickerbocker Glory

Day 5: Bath Buns

Day 6: Cornish Pasties

Day 7: Cockroach Cluster

Day 8: Treacle Pudding

Day 9: Rice Pudding

Day 10: Mulled Mead 

Day 11: Yorkshire Pudding

Day 12: Shepherd’s Pie

Day 13: Licorice Wands 

Day 14: Pepper Imps 

Day 15:Peppermint Humbugs

Day 16:Liquid Luck [Felix Felicis] 

Day 17:Fizzing Whizbees

Day 18:Ice Mice 

Day 19:Acid Pops

Day 20: This Golden Snitch birthday cake recipe!

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Hi, I'm Bryt!
I'm a bookaholic, huge Harry Potter fan, and love throwing full blown themed dinner parties. Read More…

brytontaylor

Instagram post 2160946009442381162_143772191 This shortcake recipe called for it to be "cooked in a spider"--- fortunately, not the type you want to run away from. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀ I came across the recipe in The Frugal American Housewives cookbook from 1829 when recreating the Sleepy Hollow recipes.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
A ‘spider’ was a cast iron or sheet metal pan with long legs to stand over the flames, with potentially a long handle–remembering that in the 1700s to early 1800s when The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was both based and written, the kitchen included an open hearth for cooking. You learn something new everyday!⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
As our kitchens have evolved since the 1800s, I used an oiled cast iron pan. It was unclear from the original recipe how big the cast iron pan would’ve been, so it’s possible the shortcakes were thinner in size than what I’ve created! Either way, my version of the recipe turned out out like a scone and tasted divine with cream on top.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Instagram post 2160221214023123062_143772191 We've looked out over the Hudson River that grounded Washington Irving and wandered the trails of Rudyard Kipling's Vermont.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
There seem to be two things that have, if not inspired, at least played a large part of many writers lives-- being around people and being in nature. While being around people provides the backdrop and spark for characters and stories and situations, I can only suppose nature does the opposite. It can quieten everything around you and therefore, quieten inside your head, where, being a creative person, conversations are always happening.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
While it's been an experience in itself to be where literary figures have been, it's more important to find your own spot, wherever in the world that may be.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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Instagram post 2159496377441022874_143772191 Washington Irving candle ✔️ red wine ✔️cosy fire ✔️⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
October sorted.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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. #sleepyhollow #candles #redwine #fireplace #headlesshorseman #halloween #ichabodcrane #washingtonirving #october #halloweencountdown #legendofsleepyhollow #tarrytown
Instagram post 2158771510341022249_143772191 While not directly related to The Legend of Sleepy Hollow, if you're in town on a day that Philipsburg Manor is open, it's a great way of looking back at the period of 1750, when the manor was active as a mill and trading center.  The Legend of Sleepy Hollow was set in 1790, not long after the Philipsburg Manor estate was sold at auction in response to the owners’ allegiance to the British during the American Revolution. ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
During October they also decorate the space up, so if you're looking for rustic and pumpkin scarecrows, this is the spot! You'll also want to stop by the gift shop to purchase a copy of Tales of The Old Dutch Burying Ground before you head to the cemetery. A fold-out map will keep you from getting turned around.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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. #sleepyhollow #philipsburgmanor #headlesshorseman #halloween #ichabodcrane #washingtonirving #october #halloweencountdown #legendofsleepyhollow #tarrytown
Instagram post 2158046731766296475_143772191 Carrying on from the Sleepy Hollow apple pie post, if you get a chance, sample some heirloom apples this season. Trying apples that would've been available when The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is set is a really great way of stepping back in time and a way of connecting with your favourite book.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
From what I can tell, varieties common during Washington Irving’s day would’ve been the Roxbury Russet, Newtown Pippin and the Rhode Island Greening.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
After our visit to Sleepy Hollow, I beelined us over to Brattleboro in Vermont because I found out that @scottfarmvt grows over 130 heirloom apple varieties. Funnily enough, it was only when I was trying to find a place nearby that I realised that Rudyard Kipling once lived in the area (my trip planning is usually the other way round! Literary first, additional stops second). ⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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. #sleepyhollow #heirloomapples #pyoapples #appleorchard #headlesshorseman #halloween #ichabodcrane #washingtonirving #october #halloweencountdown #legendofsleepyhollow #tarrytown
Instagram post 2157322097903217140_143772191 The all American apple pie can be traced way back to the 1300’s in England. Fortunately, in the 1700’s, when The Legend of Sleepy Hollow is set, they were using sugar and edible crusts, a big jump from the 1300’s where the crusts were merely dishes, and sugar was too expensive to use. The recipe Ichabod would have tasted would have been similar to the ones we eat today.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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. #sleepyhollow #applepie #applepierecipe #heirloomapples #headlesshorseman #halloween #ichabodcrane #washingtonirving #october #halloweencountdown #legendofsleepyhollow #tarrytown
Instagram post 2156597286553873582_143772191 Happy as a clam since I've found my Sleepy Hollow pullover and trackies-I lived in them all through Vermont! Always wanted that comfy something to pull on in October, and now I have it 🎃 (found them in the gift shop at Sunnyside)⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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. #sleepyhollow #historichudsonvalley #headlesshorseman #halloween #ichabodcrane #washingtonirving #october #halloweencountdown #legendofsleepyhollow #tarrytown
Instagram post 2155872555559056207_143772191 The grandpa of the doughnut, olykoek (also spelt olicook and olykoecks), featured in the Sleepy Hollow feast, has numerous recipe variations. In simple terms, it is a ball of dough deep-fried in hot oil. Some recipes in The Sensible Cook, my go-to book on historic Dutch cooking, suggest that citrus, apples and/or almonds be mixed directly into the dough. However, a recipe found from Albany, New York provided an additional recipe for olykoek that folds raisins and dried citrus soaked in brandy, into the middle of the dough.⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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. #sleepyhollow #olykoek #halloweenrecipe #headlesshorseman #halloween #ichabodcrane #washingtonirving #october #halloweencountdown #legendofsleepyhollow #tarrytown
Instagram post 2155162576216722894_143772191 Whether you think you know the story of Washington Irving or not, a stop to visit Sunnyside is a treat. 🎃⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
I understood the impact Irving had on American and global literature, but listening to our guide (dressed in period costume!), really made Irving a real person, something no biography has been able to do for me. And even if you are travelling with someone who isn't familiar with Irving or his stories, they'll be able to follow along just fine (this is always the ultimate test when Jamie and I travel together 😏)⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀⠀
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@inthevalley1 #sleepyhollow #sunnyside #historichudsonvalley #hudsonvalley #headlesshorseman #halloween #ichabodcrane #washingtonirving #october #halloweencountdown #legendofsleepyhollow #tarrytown
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