Harry Potter cupcakes decorated with the house colors and easy to make house scarves. Delicious muffins decorated with whipped cream and fondant, perfect for your kids’ next theme party.
Fall is the time for anything Harry Potter. For food like these simple Harry Potter cupcakes, pumpkin pasties, Hagrid’s monster book, or Molly’s mince pies. And reading the books, and watching the films over and over again (Amazon affiliate links).
Harry is big in our house, we all love him, and me even more than the kids. I started reading the books when I was 19, and I’ve read them so many times, I can sometimes recite lines from them… Geeky, I know, but I can’t help it. And the movies? I know them by heart as well…
I’ve probably cooked and baked 80-90% of the recipes mentioned in the books at one time or another. Not only those mentioned above but lots more for another project I was working on a few years ago. So, if you want me to post a particular Harry Potter recipe, feel free to ask, chances are I have the right one somewhere in my folders.
Table of contents
What do you need?
Tools – all links are Amazon affiliate links
- rolling mat or a sheet of vinyl (or any other very smooth surface)
- small rolling pin
- ruler
- small sharp knife
- very small brush
- 4 piping bags (you can use one-way for fast cleaning)
- 4 star or flower piping tips
- a small amount of shortening for easier rolling of the fondant
Muffins: unsalted butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder, and buttermilk.
House scarves: about 50 g/ 1.8 oz of each red, green, yellow, and blue fondant. And two small knobs of black and grey fondant for the strips.
Food colors:
- Alternatively, you can buy only white fondant and color it yourself. BUT when it comes to red or black fondant, it is preferable to buy the already colored one. If you try to do it yourself, you will end up with pink and grey fondant and no amount of coloring will change that.
- You will need proper food coloring, like the Wilton colors or similar products (Amazon affiliate link). Make sure the colors are suitable for fondant.
- Regular supermarket food coloring, which you can use for the whipping cream is not suitable for coloring fondant.
- Wilton colors can also be used for coloring the cream, but in very small amounts. Start with one or two drops and only add more, if necessary, the colors are really good and vivid and a little goes a long way.
Topping: double/heavy cream and food coloring: red, green, yellow, and blue.
How to make the cupcakes?
These cupcakes are so easy to make. Just an easy, quick recipe for the muffins and an even easier decoration for the topping. And if you are not proficient in working with fondant, this is a good recipe to start with, the house scarves are so easy to make…
Batter:
- Preheat the oven to 175 degrees Celsius/ 350 degrees Fahrenheit.
- Place the butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder, and buttermilk in a mixing bowl.
- Whisk shortly with a mixer, but do not overmix.
- Spoon the batter into a prepared muffin form.
- Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly golden.
- Leave to cool completely.
How to make the fondant house scarves?
- Either Gryffindor, Slytherin, Hufflepuff, or Ravenclaw, these fondant scarves are easy and quick to make.
- Smear your hands with a tiny amount of shortening and knead one piece of fondant until pliable.
- Roll it thinly on a very lightly greased smooth surface. It should be about 40 cm/ 15 inches long and about 6 cm/ 2.4 inches wide.
- Cut three stripes with the help of a ruler and a sharp knife, they should be about 32 cm/ 12.5 inches long and 1,5 cm/ 0.6 inch wide. Trim the ends.
- Take one cupcake and place it upside down in front of you. Grease the part of the scarf which will be attached to the cupcake with very little water or shortening to help it stick to the muffin paper. Carefully wrap one of the fondant stripes around the base of the cupcake and gently twist it around to make it look as if tied.
- Turn the cupcake around and gently press all around the scarf and on the knot to stabilize it. Shorten the ends if too long.
- Place the cupcake onto the serving platter and arrange the ends of the scarf neatly on the platter.
- Cut the fringes of the scarf using a small sharp knife.
- Repeat with the remaining house colors. Make 3 cupcakes in each color.
- Once you have all the scarves, make the smaller strips for sticking onto the scarves: yellow strips for the Gryffindor, grey strips for Ravenclaw and Slytherin, and black for Hufflepuff. Very carefully stick them on the scarves. Use a tiny amount of water and a very small brush for sticking.
Whipped cream topping:
- Divide the cream into four equal portions and pour each portion into a mixing bowl.
- Whip each portion with a little icing sugar and the required house color, cleaning the beaters after each batch.
- Place the whipped cream into four piping bags fitted with star or flower tips.
- Pipe onto the house cupcakes.
How to serve?
The Harry Potter cupcakes are best served on the day you decorated them.
The muffins can be baked in advance. Once completely cool, cover them well with aluminum foil and keep them at room temperature until ready to decorate.
Once you’ve decorated the cupcakes, keep them refrigerated until ready to serve.
More Harry Potter recipes
Harry Potter Cupcakes
Ingredients
- Muffins:
- 100 g/ 3.5 oz/ 1/3 cup + 1 ½ tablespoons unsalted butter at room temperature
- 150 g/ 5.3 oz/ ¾ cup sugar
- 2 eggs medium Germany, large US
- 200 g/ 7 oz/ 1 2/3 cup flour
- 2 teaspoons baking powder
- 125 g/ 4.4 oz/ ½ cup buttermilk
- Decoration:
- 50 g/ 1.8 oz red fondant Gryffindor red, if available
- 50 g/ 1.8 oz blue fondant
- 50 g/ 1.8 oz yellow fondant
- 50 g/ 1.8 oz green fondant
- small knob black fondant
- small knob grey fondant
- Topping:
- 300 ml/ 10 fl.oz/ 1 ¼ cup heavy/double cream divided into 4 portions
- about 4 teaspoon icing sugar divided
- red food coloring
- blue food coloring
- yellow food coloring
- green food coloring
- some shortening
- Tools:
- white muffins paper cases
- rolling mat or any other very smooth surface
- small rolling pin
- ruler
- small sharp knife
- very small brush
- 4 piping bags
- 4 star or flower tips for the piping bags
Instructions
Cupcakes:
- Preheat the oven to 180 degrees Celsius/ 350 degrees Fahrenheit. Line a 12-muffin tray with white muffin paper cases.
- Place the soft butter, sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder, and buttermilk in a mixing bowl and whisk shortly with a mixer until the batter is smooth. Do not overmix.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared cases. Bake for 20 to 25 minutes or until lightly golden. Leave cool for 5 minutes, remove from the tray, and let cool completely on a wire rack.
Decoration:
- The fondant should always be wrapped in cling film when not in use, otherwise, it will dry out very fast. Always use very small amounts of shortening when kneading and rolling the fondant to prevent it from sticking and to help it become pliable.
Scarves:
- Gryffindor: knead the red fondant until pliable. Rub your hands with a little shortening from time to time to prevent the fondant from sticking.
- Grease the working surface and the rolling pin with a small amount of shortening. Roll to a long strip, about 40 cm/ 15 ½ inches long and about 6 cm/ 2.5 inches wide.
- Cut three strips with the help of a ruler and a sharp knife, they should be about 32 cm/ 13 inches long and 1,5 cm/ 0.6 inch wide. Trim the ends.
- Take one cupcake and place it upside down in front of you. Grease the part of the scarf which will be attached to the cupcake with very little water or shortening to help it stick to the muffin paper.
- Carefully wrap one of the red stripes around the base of the cupcake and gently twist around to make it look as if tied. Turn the cupcake around and gently press all around the scarf and on the knot to stabilize it. Shorten the ends if too long.
- Place the cupcake onto the serving platter and arrange the ends of the scarf neatly on the platter. Cut the fringes of the scarf using a small sharp knife.
- Slytherin, Hufflepuff, Ravenclaw: Repeat with the other house colors.
- To make the tiny strips which will be stuck on the scarves, knead the yellow fondant, take a small piece of it and roll it thinly.
- Cut four small strips of yellow fondant and stick them onto the Gryffindor scarf.
- Make two further red Gryffindor scarves with yellow stripes, then three blue Ravenclaw scarves with grey stripes, three yellow Hufflepuff scarves with black stripes, and three green Slytherin scarves with grey stripes.
- Use a tiny amount of water and a very small brush for sticking.
Topping:
- Divide the cream into 4 equal portions.
- Pour one portion (75 ml/ 2.5 fl.oz/ 1/3 cup) into a mixing bowl. Mix shortly with the mixer, add a few drops of the desired food coloring and continue beating the cream.
- Slowly add about 1 teaspoon icing sugar and continue beating until the whipped cream reaches the desired consistency.
- Transfer the whipped cream to one of the piping bags fitted with a star or flower tip and pipe onto 3 of the cupcakes.
- Repeat with the remaining three portions of cream and icing sugar, coloring each batch in different house colors.
- Keep refrigerated until ready to serve. Best served on the day you make them.