If you know me, you know that I have always been OBSESSED with Harry Potter! It is my favorite book/ movie series of all time. I have actually read every single book in three different languages, I am that in love with it! I've always wanted to recreate something from Harry Potter in food form, and the cake from the Philosopher's Stone that Hagrid gives Harry for his 11th birthday is my favorite. I recreated my own vegan version for my friend Maggie's birthday and I wanted to share how I made this Harry Potter birthday cake with you!
For reference, I just wanted to add a little clip from the movie, so you know exactly which scene I'm talking about 🙂
What you will need:
While I love baking from scratch, in this recipe I wanted to focus on the decorating rather than the baking, so I used box mix.
Fun fact: you can actually use any boxed cake mix to create a vegan cake! I like adding one cup of applesauce and one cup of water to mine. However, there are a few other ways to make vegan cake from boxed cake mix. I found out about this hack on the Peta website. Here is the link to some other fun methods.
For this cake, I used one box of vanilla cake, and one box of chocolate cake. You will also need applesauce and water for the cake.
Cake Ingredients
- 1 box of vanilla cake
- 1 box of chocolate cake
- 2 cups unsweetened applesauce
- 2 cup water
For the vegan buttercream frosting, you will need
- 1 cup vegan butter
- 3 cups confectioner's sugar
- 1-2 tablespoon dairy free milk.
- a few drops of red food coloring to turn the cake frosting pink
- green icing. (I bought mine from Walmart and you can also find icing at Target, Michael's, Amazon, and anywhere else that you find baking supplies)
How to make your Harry Potter Birthday Cake:
Baking the cake
- To each boxed cake mix, add one cup of applesauce and one cup of water.
- Mix everything well, and bake according to the box instructions.
- Keep in mind that you might need to bake the cake for longer than the box says, because it is vegan. Stick a toothpick in the middle of the cake to test if it has fully cooked. If the toothpick comes out clean, your cake is ready to take out of the oven.
- Let your cakes cool and set them aside.
Buttercream
- While your cake is cooling, start creating your buttercream frosting.
- Make sure your vegan butter has softened at room temperature. This will really help create a soft and fluffy buttercream.
- Add one cup of vegan butter to a large bowl and use a hand mixer to beat the butter for at least five minutes, until the butter has become soft, fluffy, and white in color.
- Then slowly add in the powdered sugar.
- Add one cup at a time and use the hand mixer to blend the buttercream in between.
- Add 1-2 tablespoon of dairy free milk if the buttermilk is too hard. Don't add more than two, or it will become too runny.
- Finally, add in the red food dye. Add a few drops at a time, until you reached your desired shade of pink.
Putting it all together
- Stack the first cake on a steady surface that you feel comfortable working on. I also cut out a piece of cardboard in the form of the cake to put on the bottom, so the cake can be easily transferred.
- Cover the top of the first cake with a thick layer of buttercream and then even it out.
- Then stack the second cake on top.
- Now cover the whole cake in a layer of buttercream. Then scrape off the excess. This is your crumb coat, or first layer.
- Place the cake in the fridge in order to give your crumb coat a chance to harden.
- After about 30 minutes, take out the cake and frost it with a second, thicker layer.
- Place it in the fridge again so the frosting has time to set.
The finishing touches
- Finally, it is time to write out the letters.
- As those of you who are hardcore fans will know, Hagrid actually spells the "Happy Birthday" as "Happee Birthdae" (give the guy a break, he never got to finish Hogwarts)!
- Of course, the original cake is addressed to Harry, but since it was my friend Maggie's birthday, I addressed my cake to her.
- Before writing out the letters in icing, I first used a toothpick to sketch them out. Then I traced the sketch with the green icing.
That's all there is to it! This cake definitely took me a few hours to make, but it was so much fun! And best of all, my friend absolutely loved it! Let me know if you give this cake a try and love it as much as I did 🙂
If you like vegan cakes, you might also like this raw vegan cheesecake or these vegan carrot cake cupcakes!
Harry Potter Birthday Cake
Ingredients
Cake
- 1 vanilla boxed cake mix
- 1 chocolate boxed cake mix
- 2 cups unsweetened applesauce
- 2 cups water
Buttercream Frosting
- 1 cup vegan butter
- 3 cups confectioner's sugar
- 1-2 tbsp dairy free milk
- a few drops of red food dye
Other
- green cookie frosting you can buy these at almost any grocery store
Instructions
Baking your cake
- To each boxed cake mix, add one cup of applesauce and one cup of water.
- Mix it well, and bake according to the box instructions, but keep in mind that you might need to bake the cake for longer than the box says.
- Stick a toothpick in the middle of the cake to test if it has fully cooked. If the toothpick comes out clean, your cake is ready to take out of the oven.
- Let your cakes cool and set them aside.
Buttercream
- While your cake is cooling, start creating your buttercream frosting.
- Make sure your vegan butter has softened at room temperature! This will really help create a soft and fluffy buttercream.
- Add one cup of vegan butter to a large and deep bowl and use a hand mixer to beat the butter for at least five minutes, until the butter has become soft, fluffy, and white in color.
- Then slowly add in the powdered sugar. Add one cup at a time and use the hand mixer to blend the buttercream in between.
- Add 1-2 tablespoon of dairy free milk if the buttermilk is too hard. Don't add more than two, or it will become too runny.
- Finally, add in the red food dye. Add a few drops at a time, until you reached your desired shade of pink.
Putting it all together
- Stack the first cake on a steady surface that you feel comfortable working on. I also cut out a piece of cardboard in the form of the cake to put on the bottom, so the cake can be easily transferred.
- Cover the top of the first cake with a thick layer of buttercream and then even it out.
- Then stack the second cake on top.
- Now cover the whole cake in a layer of buttercream. Then scrape off the excess. This is your crumb coat, or first layer.
- Place the cake in the fridge in order to give your crumb coat a chance to harden.
- After about 30 minutes, take out the cake and frost it with a second, thicker layer. Place it in the fridge again so the frosting has time to set.
The finishing touches
- Finally, it is time to write out the letters.
- Note: As those of you who are crazy fans will know, Hagrid actually spells the "Happy Birthday" as "Happee Birthdae" (give the guy a break, he never got to finish Hogwarts)! Of course, the original cake is addressed to Harry, but since it was my friend Maggie's birthday, I addressed my cake to her.
- Before writing out the letters in icing, I first used a toothpick to sketch them out.
- Then I traced the sketch with the green icing.
Nutrition
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