This butterbeer cake (Harry Potter cake) recipe is a deliciously rich buttercream frosted birthday cake and a must-have party dessert! This Harry Potter inspired birthday cake recipe is perfect for every master baker, whether you're an amateur or professional. My name is Jamielyn, I love desserts and I am the baker behind Baking with Butter . If food blogging were an Olympic sport…well, it might not be, but I would win a gold medal in desserts alone. I'm pretty addicted to sweets and will always choose dessert over savory any day! That's probably why my butterbeer cake (Harry Potter cake) recipe has become one of the most popular Harry Potter recipes on the internet. If you want to bake the best butterbeer birthday cake for Harry Potter fanatics in your life, keep reading down below!
ingredients
Butterbeer cake:
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 1/4 teaspoon baking powder
- 3.5 oz instant pudding pudding 1 package
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter, room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs, room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups clear cream soda
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract*
Marshmallow frosting:
- 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter, room temperature
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 14 ounces store-bought or homemade marshmallow fluff
- 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
Holographic:
- candy sauce**
- gold sanding sugar
directions
Butterbeer cake:
- Heat the oven to 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Grease and grease three 6-inch cake pans and spread the parchment paper on them.
- In a medium bowl, whisk together flour, baking powder, pudding mix, and salt until well combined. Sit aside.
- Using a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment, cream butter and sugars on medium-high until pale and fluffy (about 3 minutes).
- Reduce speed and add eggs one at a time, incorporating fully after each addition. Add vanilla.
- Alternate adding the flour mixture and cream of soda, at the beginning and at the end with flour (3 additions of flour and 2 of cream of soda). Full integration after each addition.
- Bake for 40 minutes or until a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Place cookies on a wire rack to cool for 10 minutes, then flip onto a wire rack. Let it cool completely.
Marshmallow frosting:
- Beat the butter until it becomes creamy. Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time. Beat for 3 minutes.
- Add the marshmallow fluff and vanilla extract and beat until fluffy (2-3 minutes).
Holographic:
- Place one layer of cake on a cake stand or serving plate. Cover with 2/3 cup of frosting and distribute evenly. Add 1-2 tablespoons of butterscotch sauce (optional), stir to coat with icing. Repeat the process with the remaining layers and apply a thin layer of the icing cream all over the cake. Chill for 20 minutes. ***
- Use the remaining icing to frost the top and sides of the cake. Chill for 20 minutes.
- Using a small spoon, sprinkle butterscotch sauce along the top edges of the cooled cake, to allow some to drip down. The tube cutter is mounted on top with an Ateco 867 or Wilton 6B tip. Fill the top of the cake with more butterscotch sauce and spread evenly. Sprinkle with golden sanding sugar if desired.
Notes
* Regular vanilla would work just fine.** I boiled it for about 5 minutes to reduce it a bit as it was a little on the thin side. You can also use homemade.*** Adding dessert sauce between layers is delicious flavor, but it will make your cake more likely to slip during assembly. You can put 3-4 bamboo skewers on the top of the cake as a support. You will need to trim the skewers to the appropriate height for the cake.Marshmallow butter recipe adapted from Cake Blog.