Harry Potter Birthday Cake

Instructions

For the Chocolate Cake

Preheat the oven to 350 degrees. Spray 2 8-inch cake pans with non-stick spray and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
In a medium bowl, whisk the flour, cocoa powder, baking powder, baking soda and salt together. Then set aside the dry ingredients.
2 cups (250 g) all-purpose flour, spooned and leveled, 3/4 cup (60 g) Dutch process cocoa powder, 1 1/2 tsp baking powder, 1/4 tsp baking soda, 1/2 tsp salt
In a large mixing bowl, cream together the butter and granulated sugar with an electric hand mixer on high speed until fluffy, about 3-4 minutes.
(If using a stand mixer, use the paddle attachment.)
2 cups (400 g) granulated white sugar, 3/4 cup (168 g) unsalted butter, softened
Then add in the eggs and vanilla and mix on medium then medium-high speed until smooth, pale in color and slightly fluffy, about 2-3 minutes. Scrape the sides of the bowl with a rubber spatula as needed.
3 eggs, at room temperature, 1 tsp vanilla extract
Add the dry ingredients and the buttermilk to the butter mixture a little at a time, until all has been added, mixing on low then medium speed for each addition. Mix just until the batter is combined and smooth, scraping the sides of the bowl as necessary.
1 1/4 cups (300 ml) buttermilk, at room temperature
Add in the hot coffee and mix on low speed just until dispersed through the batter.
1/2 cup (120 ml) hot coffee
Pour the cake batter into the prepared pans. Bake the cakes for 33-37 minutes, or until a toothpick comes out clean from the centers of the cake with just a few moist crumbs. Let the cakes cool in the pans for 5 minutes, then turn them over onto a wire rack to completely cool.

For the Butterbeer Buttercream

Make the frosting while the cakes cool. Add the butter and salt to a large bowl. Cream the butter with an electric mixer on high speed until pale in color and fluffy, 5-10 minutes.
2 cups (448 g) unsalted butter, softened, 1/4 tsp salt
Add in the melted and slightly cooled butterscotch chips and mix on medium speed until combined.
1 1/2 cups (300 g) butterscotch chips, melted and slightly cooled
Sift in the powdered sugar a little at a time, mixing on low speed until all is combined. Add in the butter extract and vanilla extract and mix on high speed until the frosting is light and fluffy, about 1 minute.
2 1/2 cups (325 g) powdered sugar, measured then sifted, 1 tsp butter extract, 1 tsp vanilla extract
Scoop about 1 cup of frosting out and add it to a small bowl. Dye this portion dark green using food coloring. To make the green frosting extra dark it helps to sprinkle in 1/4 tsp of cocoa powder. (This is optional.) To the large portion of frosting, add pink food coloring until the desired hue is reached.
green food coloring, pink food coloring

Assembling and Decorating the Cake

Once the cakes are completely cool, use a sharp knife to cut the tops off if they are very domed. This will make it easier to decorate the cake.
Place the plate you plan to serve the cake on, on a cake turntable. Add a dollop of pink icing in the center of your cake plate. Lay the first cake layer on top of the frosting. This will help the cake to stay put while you're decorating it. Add a generous amount of pink frosting onto the cake layer and smooth it out flat with an offset spatula. Turn the cake turntable as you're working to make it easier to spread the frosting.
Add the second cake layer on top. Transfer the rest of the pink frosting to a piping bag, and cut a large part of the tip off so that a lot of frosting can get through, about 1/2 an inch cut. Squeeze frosting onto the cake in between the layers to fill in the gap. Turn the turntable as you go. Then, squeeze frosting around the edges of the cake to completely cover them with frosting. Using a cake scraper, scrape the excess frosting off to make a thin layer of frosting. Turn the cake turntable as you work to make this easier. Return the excess frosting to the bowl. Add pink frosting on top of the cake and smooth it out with an offset spatula and then with the cake scraper. Chill the cake for 20 minutes.
(I have found that the piping bag method is the easiest, but if you prefer you can just use a spatula to get the frosting on the cake, and then smooth it out with a cake scraper.)
Add the pink frosting back to the piping bag and repeat the previous step, squeezing frosting onto the cake. Scrape the frosting with the cake scraper turning the cake turntable as you go to give you a smooth, even coat. Add pink frosting on top of the cake and smooth it out with an offset spatula and then the cake scraper. It doesn't have to be perfect. After all, the cake Hagrid gave Harry was messy because he sat on it!
Now for the best part! Using a toothpick, trace out where you're going to pipe happy birthday Harry. Be sure to spell it Hagrid's way: "Happee Birthdae Harry" for the best Harry Potter themed cake! Also, draw a line between the P and E in "happee", between the H and D in "birthdae" and between the H and A in "Harry". Add a line under the "dae" part in "birthdae" also. (See photos in the blog post.) Then, transfer the green icing to a piping bag fit with a small circular frosting tip. Trace over the letters you previously drew with the green icing. Then, serve!

Ingredients

For the Chocolate Cake

For the Butterbeer Buttercream

Instructions

For the Chocolate Cake

For the Butterbeer Buttercream

Assembling and Decorating the Cake