HARRY POTTER CAKE

INSTRUCTIONS

CAKE ASSEMBLY

Starting with 2 x 5" round cakes baked to a little over 2" tall each and 2 x 7" round cakes baked to a little over 2.5" tall each. Using the guides on your cake leveller level off your cakes to 2" and 2.5" respectively. Using a little royal icing, 'glue' the 5" and 7" boards to separate larger set up boards. Place the set up board with the 7" board attached on to your turntable. Using a small amount of buttercream, secure the flat side of one of the 7" cakes to the 7" set up board so the levelled side is up, add a layer of buttercream using the cranked spatula then top with the other 7" cake, levelled side down so the flat bottom side is now the top of the cake.

Add a generous amount of buttercream to the top with your spatula and smooth out allowing the excess to come over the sides. Still using your spatula, spread the excess onto the sides of the cake, adding more as needed. Using the board directly under the cake as a guide, firmly hold your large scraper at a right angle to the cake and while turning your turntable with your other hand slowly in one smooth motion scrape back the buttercream to reveal straight sides. Continue to level off the top and sides until you are happy with a smooth square finish. Remember the better the finish is of your buttercream, the better foundation it will provide the fondant later. Repeat same process as above for the 5" cake. Place both cakes in the fridge until firmed up to the touch, at this stage they will be ready for fondant.

Knead your white fondant well until soft and pliable. Using the fondant mat and large rolling pin roll your fondant out to a diameter of approx. 18"-20" which will allow enough to cover the top and drape down the sides of the 7" cake. Using your mat, carefully place the fondant on top, smoothing quickly with your smoother to attach and avoid air bubbles (an acupuncture pin does well to remove any small bubbles you may incur). Using the heel of your hand gently coax the fondant down the sides making sure it is adhered securely.

Cut away excess at the base and using first your smoother to smooth the sides of your cake, you can finish off and achieve a sharper edge using your sharpies. Only do this process to the 7" cake as the 5" cake will be done a little differently later. Allow this cake to 'set up' for a few hours (ideally overnight) so you don't damage the fondant when it comes time to put the cake together. At this stage you can also insert the straw or dowel supports (4 lengths will be enough) taking care that they are all the same length and sit flush to the top of your cake in order to provide a stable and level base for the top tier once it has been added.

DECORATION

Step 1 - Start with making the disc which sits on top of the cake as it will need 24-48 hours to harden before placement. Knead about 1/2 teaspoon of tylose into a ball of white fondant approx. 100g. Roll to a thickness of about 8mm and using the largest of the cookie cutters (smooth edge side) cut one circle. Apply a small amount of edible glue to 2 bbq skewers and carefully insert them into to edge of the disc allowing them to go 3/4 of the way in and make sure they are straight. They will be the main support to this topper when added to the cake. Set aside on a piece of foam or polystyrene to dry at least 24-48 hours.

Step 2- Taking the prepared 7" cake we will airbrush whilst still on the set up board to avoid messy overspray from airbrushing messing up the final display board. Place the cake on your turntable and using an area with good ventilation cover the surrounding area with newspaper. Knead a small piece of white fondant and using the smallest cookie cutter (smooth side) cut a small disc from thinly rolled fondant. Using just the heat from your hands, attach the disc to the cake, DO NOT use glue or water as this disc will be removed to reveal the moon part the way through the airbrushing process. Roughly tear an A4 sheet of paper to create a very rough stormy cloud stencil. When we airbrush it will be this torn edge only that we will be aiming for and the small area directly above it, and only that torn edge needs to sit flush against the cake. Starting toward the top edge of the cake and using neon blue colour, LIGHTLY airbrush the torn edge, repeating the process until you have gone the whole way around the cake and coming down the sides. Whilst doing so you can hold the paper in slightly different angles to create a more natural stormy look. Remember airbrushing is best done with a light pressure and slowly building up layers of colour. Repeat the process using the royal blue colour to add depth and variation. Allow to dry for a few minutes before carefully removing the disc of fondant to reveal your moon. You can ever so lightly airbrush a little blue if you prefer your moon to not be too stark white or simply leave as is. Using the same torn cloud stencil add a few dark storm clouds in front of the moon using black airbrush colour.

To do the dark mountains around the based, cut long shallow scallops from A4 paper, discard what would be the 'mountains' and keep what would be the 'sky' and use this to stencil those mountains with black airbrush colour. The deeper dark clouds seen at the top of the cake are airbrushed after the addition of the trees. Allow cake to completely dry before transferring to the black display board. To do so use a thin long knife to gently pop the cake off the set up board then glue to the display board with a small amount of royal icing. At this stage do the same with the 5" butter creamed cake again attaching with royal icing.

Step 3 - Knead all your coloured fondant and roll to a thickness of about 5mm. Using your fondant cutter and a ruler cut strips of various widths and colours, placing them in between the 2 piece mat set so they don't dry out. These can then be added in random colour stripes to the sides of the top tier, trimming the excess at the top not the bottom for a neater finish. Using your fondant modelling tools you can add texture in the form of rivets using the smallest balling tool and star tipped or cone tipped tools, creases or stitches and aged details using the sharper tools, patterns using the shell tool even stars using the plunger cutter as an embossing tool. Lightly airbrush with black to create shadows and an aged effect. Roll out a square of red fondant large enough to cover the top and slightly drape down the sides of the cake but before adding it to the cake, texture the prepared square using a ball of loosely screwed up aluminium foil and balling tools if you wish. Carefully place on the top with one corner to face the front of the cake but allow the fondant to drape naturally, it only needs to be attached at the top 10mm. Using the airbrush add some depth and shadowing.

Step 4 - At this stage we are only making the trunks on the bottom tier. Using leftover white fondant, mix some buckeye brown colour until you have the desired colour you like. Roll large sausages of fondant tapered in at one end, the wider end will be the base and they should be long enough to reach up and over the top of the bottom tier. Before you attach them using the sharp modelling tool, mark random woodgrain lines as these will form the trunks. Rolling smaller tapered sausages the same way, again marking with woodgrain texture, these pieces will become the roots at the base of the trunks. With a little more pressure applied while making the texture you can effectively split these roots for more detail. Again rolling smaller tapered sausages, these will become the branches and can be attached with toothpicks should you feel they need extra support. Using some black airbrush colour you can lightly add some depth and definition to the trunks and also at this point freehand some darker shadows as you feel appropriate. The fondant will need to dry for at least a few hours, preferably overnight before the spider web detail can be added to the branches.

Step 5- To make the wand, knead about 1/2 teaspoon into approx. 100g of the brown coloured fondant. Roll into a long thin sausage that comes to a point at one end. Into the thicker end, insert a BBQ skewer for support. The handle can be shaped and placed on the exposed skewer. Allow to dry at least a few hours, preferably overnight before placement.

Step 6 - To make the snitch you can use yellow fondant with tylose added to form a ball but covering a polystyrene ball with fondant will reduce the weight and make it easier to place at this odd angle. Once ball is covered, using the sharp modelling tool, mark a tennis ball type pattern with a line running from side to side inside that tennis ball marking a little above the halfway point. On the outside of the tennis ball marking add 2 lines slightly below that on the inside. Allow to dry for at least a few hours before applying gold leaf and adding wings.

Step 7 - Using the template below, scale to the size of the space between your trees on the bottom tier. Print on regular paper and cut out using a sharp blade, these will become your lettering templates to hand cut from fondant. Before you start cutting the templates roll a small amount of white fondant to 1-2mm thick and allow to dry a bit while working on your templates. By the time you have cut them out the fondant should be dry enough to handle. Carefully, using a new blade, cut around your templates to get your letters. Allow to dry for 30 minutes before applying silver leaf.

Once letters can be handled, working on one letter at a time, with a small paintbrush apply the smallest amount of water to the entire surface and remove excess with a tissue if needed, the fondant just needs to be slightly tacky for best results. Carefully remove a sheet of silver leaf transfer and press on to the tacky letter. Once they are covered in the silver leaf you will need to attach them to the front of the cake with a little edible glue, taking care not to handle the letters too much to avoid rubbing the silver leaf off.

Step 8 - Using the template cut 2 of each wing from edible wafer paper. Using edible glue secure them around the edge only to create a double thickness of each wing. The line in the centre of this template wants to become a pocket which will sit over toothpicks inserted into the snitch. Put the wings on only when the snitch has been secured to the cake to avoid damage.

Step 9 - Using the same method as applying the silver leaf, attach gold leaf to both the wings, the snitch itself, a small detail on the wand handle and some of the book spines.

Step 10 - Using yellow fondant roll long, very thin sausages to trim the edges of the red square cloth on the top tier which should now be dry. Attach with edible glue. To make the tassels, roll triangular shapes and emboss with some pressure with the sharp modelling tool. Finish with a small 'knot'. Tassels will have to be attached to the cake itself as they will be too heavy to actually 'hang' from the cloth.

Step 11 - Following the same method that we used to airbrush the storm clouds earlier, airbrush the topper the same way but only lightly in black. Instead of mountains on this topper, again just tear the shape from paper for a rockier outlook and airbrush darker. Using a black edible pen, freehand the bare trees and dementor in the sky. Allow to dry before handling.

Step 12 - Once dry, carefully insert the topper into the cake making sure to only apply the pressure to the skewers, not the fondant disc. It is fine to leave a finger width gap between the cake and the bottom of the topper as it will be covered with a tree stump. Make stump following the same method as earlier just on a smaller scale.

Step 13- Mix Royal icing according to directions making sure it is a thick consistency that will hold its shape. Snip just the very tip of the disposable piping bag and pipe spider webs in the crevices of the tree trunks and hanging between or on branches. You can even add a small spider using the black edible pen.

Step 14 - Lastly position the wand and the snitch using toothpicks to secure.