These Harry Potter cupcakes are immense fun for Hogwarts fans. Each butterbeer cupcake is filled with a stash of red, green, blue or yellow candy drops, (representing each of the 4 Hogwarts houses) which remains hidden under a swirl of butterbeer flavoured buttercream until bitten into. They are a fun way for fans to find out their house.
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One thing I never thought I’d find myself writing about on my blog is a themed cake. Believe me, I have had to rise to the challenge of baking plenty of whacky party cakes over the years. But I never expected one to make it onto LittleSugarSnaps. It’s just not what I normally like to write about. But here I am, laden with a large stash of photographs for some Harry Potter cupcakes that remain eternally popular with my children and their friends: sorting hat style butterbeer cupcakes.
Let me get straight to the point. These cupcakes are the epitome of edible fun. They are guaranteed to get excitement levels up for any Harry Potter fan (even adults).
What could be more fun than biting into your Harry Potter themed cupcake, discovering you have been placed in your favourite house (or not) and then comparing how your friends have fared. These Harry Potter Cupcakes are a brilliant choice for serving up at a birthday party or Halloween celebration.
Why you’ll love these cupcakes
So many things make these cakes special for Hogwarts enthusiasts:
- They can be easily customised to suit your own style of presentation (plenty of ideas for decoration are included further down in this post).
- They have several names. Yes, they are Harry Potter themed cupcakes but they could also be called sorting hat cupcakes or butterbeer cupcakes. Here’s why:
- Each cupcake contains a surprise reveal for the recipient – the colour inside of the cake determines which house the eater of the cake belongs in: Gryffindor, Slytherin, Huffelpuff or Ravenclaw. They are guaranteed to make fans smile or gaffaw.
- They are butterbeer flavoured cakes – the best flavour for any sweet treat based on Harry Potter to possess. And the butterbeer buttercream on the top is simply gorgeous.
- For those less inclined towards butterbeer but still keen to enjoy some Hogwarts related fun these Harry Potter cupcakes can also be made using your favourite vanilla or chocolate cupcake recipe.
- Homemade candy melt drops fill each cupcake. This is preferably to using sweets because, after sitting for a while, the colouring from the sugar shell on the sweets always bleeds into the cake. Candy melts don’t do this, so the cakes look perfect when bitten into, even after a few days.
- Despite sounding complex, these cakes are easy and simple to make. Each step in the process is straightforward
What is a Butterbeer Cupcake?
Butterbeer is, of course, a drink served in The Leaky Cauldron in the Harry Potter stories. It is described as tasting of butterscotch and cream soda. I used this description to turn my Harry Potter cupcakes into the ultimate themed treat for Hogwarts fans: butterbeer cupcakes. To do this I did 2 things:
- I added some homemade butterscotch sauce to my vanilla buttercream. When added to vanilla buttercream, the smooth and lusciously buttery sauce renders the buttercream not only sweet but deliciously creamy and buttery too. It does cause happy sighs.
- I used brown sugar – one of the main ingredients in butterscotch – in place of regular caster sugar in the cupcake batter to impart some of the butterscotch flavour into the actual cake. There’s also some vanilla in the mix and I definitely recommend sticking with butter rather than using baking margarine as a substitute to ramp up that buttery flavour profile.
How to decorate these butterbeer cakes is up to you, but a little butterscotch sauce can also be used to garnish the top of each cake and boost the butterbeer flavour further.
Ingredients notes
I’ve elected to use light brown sugar in the cupcakes to add subtle undertones of butterscotch to the flavour of these cakes. White caster sugar can be used instead.
The butterscotch sauce required double cream, which is 48% fat. If you are outside of the UK make sure you use a cream with an equivalent fat content.
Golden syrup is another key ingredient in the sauce. It’s quite a unique flavour but it can be difficult to get hold of outside of the UK. An acceptable substitute would be light corn syrup but do not use maple syrup or honey.
The butterbeer buttercream contains a high proportion of butter compared to sugar. This is because some of the butterscotch sauce is also added to the buttercream. The sauce is very sweet, so helps to balance the butter: sugar ratio out.
Candy melts are a convenient way to create a stable set of candy pieces for filling the cakes. Whilst they do make a fun pinâta style cake, they are not the cheapest, so feel free to substitute an alternative if you are not so picky about colour leakage from the sweets as I am.
Step by step instructions
Full instructions and measurements are given in the printable recipe card at the end of this post.
The base cake at the heart of these Harry Potter cupcakes is really an open book. In what follows I present the recipe for my butterbeer cupcakes as previously described, since this adds a delicious caramel edge to the actual cake, tying in well with the butterbeer frosting. However, your favourite vanilla or chocolate cupcake would work well with this frosting too.
This looks like a lengthy recipe but I promise you that each step is easy to make and I’ve given time estimates for each section to help guide you:
Make the butterscotch (approx 5 minutes)
1. Put all ingredients (except the vanilla extract) into a pan and cook gently until the sugar has dissolved.
2. Bring to a rolling boil and cook for 2 minutes.
3. Remove from the heat, stir in the vanilla extract and set aside to cool completely, then refrigerate for several hours.
Make the house drops (approx 20 minutes)
4. Melt the red candy melts according to pack instructions.
5. Put into a piping bag fitted with a small circular nozzle (I used a Wilton 7) and pipe small drops (3-5mm) onto baking parchment. Leave to set.
6. Repeat for the remaining colours (ensure you wash and dry your piping bag and nozzle very well to avoid colour contamination).
Make the cupcakes (approx 15 minutes plus baking time)
7. Beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy.
8. Briefly mix the eggs in a jug and gradually add a teaspoon at a time into the creamed butter & sugar, beating well in between each addition.
9. Add the vanilla extract and milk, then beat again.
10. Sift the flour and baking powder into the bowl and gently fold in until all ingredients are thoroughly combined. Take care not to overwork the batter though.
11. Divide the mixture between 12 cupcake cases and bake for 18-20 minutes until golden and baked through.
12. Allow to cool completely on a wire rack before decorating.
Mix the buttercream (approx 10 minutes)
13. Put the butter into a medium bowl and beat until smooth and soft.
14. Sieve in the icing sugar 1 tablespoon at a time and beat well between each addition.
15. Beat the vanilla extract and half of the butterscotch sauce into the buttercream (use more butterscotch for a stronger flavour (if you buttercream is holding its shape well) but leave around ¼ of the sauce to drizzle over the cakes as decoration).
Assemble the butterbeer cupcakes (approx 20 minutes)
17. Scoop out the centre of each cake.
18. Fill each cavity with either red, yellow, green or blue candy melt drops.
19. Cover with a generous swirl of butterbeer flavoured buttercream.
20. Decorate as desired.
Decorating suggestions
As I was browsing for ideas on how to decorate these Harry Potter cupcakes I came across a tutorial for making chocolate coins from wax seal stamps. And oh, sweet joy, my daughter received a pair of Harry Potter wax seals one Christmas. One for Hogwarts and one for Gryffindor. These Harry Potter cupcakes were just meant to be.
Similar stamps are available to purchase on Amazon, but of course, these little cakes can be decorated in various other ways:
- Make some DIY Hogwarts coat of arms flags.
- Or, if you intend to call them sorting hat cupcakes, make similar flags with a picture of the hat on then.
- Alternatively top with a molded caramel sorting hat.
- Or go simple with glitter or sprinkles with a drizzle of butterscotch sauce for the ultimate butterbeer cupcake.
Of course, you can easily find fun cupcake cases/ wrappers and decorations to purchase in cake decorating stores and online to finish off your Harry Potter themed cupcakes in easy style.
Expert tips
- Please use digital scales for this recipe as they are so much more accurate than the cup system. Cups are notoriously inaccurate because they can vary in size. Furthermore, one person’s method of filling a cup can be quite different to another person’s.
- Plain flour is listed in the ingredients. If you have self-raising flour this can be used instead but the baking powder will not be needed – leave it out.
- Once the egg is added to the cake batter it may curdle. Don’t worry about this. Once the flour is folded in the batter will look much better and it will still bake well.
- This recipe makes 12 cupcakes (standard UK size). Ensure you use cupcake wrappers rather than fairy cake wrappers as these are too small for these cakes.
- Instead of using candy melts coloured buttercream can be used to fill the middle of each cake.
- Alternatively, colourful sweets (such as M&Ms) can be used (but the colour may bleed into the cake as they sit.
- Do make the butterscotch sauce well ahead of time since it does need to cool and chill prior to being added to the buttercream – it keeps well for up to one week in the fridge.
- Aim to make 3 cupcakes for each house colour.
- Alternatively, make more candy drops for particular houses (e.g. Gryffindor and Slytherin) if rivalry is high – just increase/ decrease the amount of candy drops used as required.
- To adjust the sponge cake recipe to vanilla, simply swap the light brown sugar for caster sugar. Alternatively, try out some malted vanilla cupcakes.
- Biscoff buttercream could be used in place of the butterscotch frosting listed in the recipe.
Frequently asked questions
Once assembled these cakes are best stored at room temperature and eaten within 3 days. It is not necessary to refrigerate them.
I have discovered that certain colours melt easier than others. But I recently found a label on one of the bags that informed me that if necessary I could add a few drops of vegetable oil to the bowl and mix it in to help the candy melts reach the right consistency. It worked well.
I found that melting them using a Bain-Marie was preferable to using the microwave, where they were prone to burning and seizing up.
These cupcakes need significant adjustment to make them vegan, but it is possible:
1. First of all, make a vegan butterscotch sauce and some vegan cupcakes
2. Next make some vegan buttercream and mix some of the (chilled) butterscotch sauce into it (vegan buttercream can be softer than regular buttercream, so add the sauce gradually and stop before the buttercream gets too loose to pipe and hold its shape)
3. Finally, candy melts are not vegan, so you will need to source an alternative product or fill your cupcakes with coloured vegan buttercream.
Again, it’s certainly possible to make these Harry Potter house cupcakes gluten-free. Simply make some gluten-free vanilla cupcakes and ensure that your icing sugar is gluten-free before making the buttercream (not all of it is). The other point to note is that Candy Melts may contain gluten so they must not be used. Either use coloured buttercream inside each cupcake or find some suitable sweets to use.
More Harry Potter cupcake and cake ideas
- Hedwig the Owl cupcakes
- Golden Snitch cupcakes
- Hagrid’s Happee Birthdae Harry cake (avoid Hagrid’s trick of sitting on it though)
- Aunt Petunia’s pudding cake
Easy party cakes to try
Have you made these Harry Potter cupcakes? How did you get along – feel free to leave a rating and/or comment below to let me know. And do take a photo and tag me on Instagram (@jane_littlesugarsnaps) so I can see how you decided to decorate them.
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📖 Recipe
Harry Potter Cupcakes (Butterbeer Cupcakes)
Ingredients
For the Brown Sugar Cupcakes
- 125 g/ 4½ oz Butter (unsalted) – softened
- 125 g/ 4½ oz Light brown sugar
- 2 Eggs (large, free range)
- 2 tablespoons Whole (full fat) milk
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 125 g/ 4½ oz Plain (all purpose) flour
- 1 teaspoon Baking powder
For the Butterscotch Sauce
- 60 ml/ ¼cup Double (heavy) cream
- 50 g/ ¼ cup/ 1¾ oz Light brown sugar
- 30 g/ ⅛ cup/ 1 oz Unsalted butter
- 1 tablespoon Golden syrup (light corn syrup)
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- Salt – a large pinch
For the Butterbeer Buttercream
- 300 g/ 1⅓cup/ 10½ oz Unsalted butter – softened
- 200 g/ 1 ⅔ cup/ 7 oz Icing (confectionary) sugar
- 1 teaspoon Vanilla extract
- 1 Batch Butterscotch sauce (listed above)
For the Coloured Drops
- 30 g/ 1 oz Red candy melts
- 30 g/ 1 oz Green candy melts
- 30 g/ 1 oz Blue candy melts
- 30 g/ 1 oz Yellow candy melts
Decoration – your choice of sprinkles, chocolate coins, molded caramel hats or paper flags
Instructions
Make the Butterscotch Sauce
- Put all ingredients except the vanilla extract into a small, heavy based pan, and cook over a low-medium heat until the sugar has dissolved (stirring frequently
- Bring to a rolling boil and cook for 2 minutes
- Remove from the heat, stir in the vanilla extract and set aside to cool completely, then refrigerate for several hours
Make the House Drops
- Melt the red candy melts, put into a piping bag fitted with a small circular nozzle and pipe small drops (3-5mm) onto baking parchment. Leave to set
- Repeat for the remaining colours (ensure you wash and dry your piping bag and nozzle very well to avoid colour contamination).
Make the Cupcakes
- Preheat the oven 170C/ 325F/ GM3 and line a cupcake tray with paper cake cases
- Using electric beaters, beat the butter and sugar together until light and fluffy
- Briefly mix the eggs in a jug and gradually add a teaspoon at a time into the creamed butter & sugar, beating well in between each addition (adding the egg really slowly reduces the risk of the mix splitting)
- Add the vanilla extract and milk then beat again
- Sift the flour and baking powder into the bowl and gently fold in until all ingredients are thoroughly combined. Take care not to overwork the batter though
- Divide between the cupcake cases – filling each case around ⅔ full – and bake for approximately 20 minutes
- Test that the cupcakes are baked through: poke a cocktail stick into one of the cakes – if it comes out clean then the cakes are ready. If not, return to the oven for a couple more minutes, then test again
- Once out of the oven remove from the baking tin and allow to cool completely on a wire rack
For the Butterbeer Buttercream
- Put the butter into a medium bowl and beat until smooth and soft
- Sieve in the icing sugar 1 tablespoon at a time and beat well between each addition
- Once all of the icing sugar has been mixed in, beat in the vanilla extract
- Spoon the butterscotch sauce into the buttercream and beat in (use less butterscotch for a subtler flavour and leave a little sauce aside if you intend to drizzle some over the cakes as decoration)
Assemble the cakes
- When ready to assemble cut a small cone from the middle of each cake (see my image)
- Fill 3 cakes with red candy drops, 3 with green and so on
- Put the buttercream into a piping bag fitted with a suitable nozzle (I used Wilton C4) and pipe the buttercream onto the cakes, ensuring that the coloured drops are completely covered up
- Add your choice of decoration
These cakes keep for up to 3 days in an airtight container
Notes
- Please use digital scales for this recipe as they are so much more accurate than the cup system. Cups are notoriously inaccurate because they can vary in size. Furthermore, one person’s method of filling a cup can be quite different to another person’s
- Plain flour is listed in the ingredients. If you have self-raising flour this can be used instead but the baking powder will not be needed – leave it out
- This recipe makes 12 cupcakes (standard UK size). Ensure you use cupcake wrappers rather than fairy cake wrappers as these are too small for these cakes
- Instead of using candy melts, coloured buttercream can be used to fill the middle of each cake
- Alternatively, colourful sweets (such as M&Ms) can be used (but the colour may bleed into the cake as they sit
- Do make the butterscotch sauce well ahead of time since it does need to cool and chill prior to being added to the buttercream – it keeps well for up to one week in the fridge
- Aim to make 3 cupcakes for each house colour
- Alternatively, make more candy drops for particular houses (e.g. Gryffindor and Slytherin) if rivalry is high – just increase/ decrease the amount of candy drops used as required
- To adjust the sponge cake recipe to vanilla, simple swap the light brown sugar for caster sugar
Gina Sabo
Hi, I will be using store bought butterscotch sauce. Do you know about how many ounces your recipe for the sauce makes?
Jane Coupland
Hi Gina, that’s an excellent question. Looking at the list of ingredients, you’ll need to add in around 125-150g of butterscotch sauce to the buttercream. Go with the lower amount the taste and add more if you faancy it. I hope that helps (I’ll be making a note of the precise amount it makes next time I make these – they are still popular with my now significantly older children… one is now an adult).
Lunna
muito perfeitooos, salvaram meu trabalho sobre hp kkk
Jane Saunders
Thankyou – so pleased you liked them!
Jo
I got Slytherin – humph!! However, the cake was very worth it!!
Jane Saunders
😐 Better luck next time!
Juno
I’m a slytherin?
Jane Saunders
🙂 I’m happy if I’m a Hufflepuff but one of my daughters doesn’t mind being Slytherin
georgie
as a harry potter fan, these are probably the damn coolest cupcakes I ever seen!!!! i freaking LOVE them!
Jane Saunders
Thank you soooo much Georgie. You’d better have a party so you can bake some ASAP>
monique
I ordered a stamp as soon as I saw your lovely IG post:)!I have made choco seals but never HP..Brilliant and THANK YOU..
You should have won♥
Jane Saunders
You have to take some pictures too Monique – I’ll be looking out for them.
And thankyou – maybe next year. Every year I don’t win it makes me push myself that bit harder.
April
These are adorable and sounds like you’ve taken great steps to get the recipe just right!
Jane Saunders
Thanks April.
Liz
No detail was forgotten! These cupcakes are incredible!!!
Jane Saunders
I hope so! Thanks Liz.