With a Harry Potter Cake, there are so many options to choose from – wands, brooms, Gryffindor colours, lightning bolts, snitches, parchment paper, quills… the hardest part might be choosing the decorations!
While you decide on which wizarding world items you want on your cake, read through some of our expert Le Dolci cake decorators’ tips and tricks to making Harry Potter Cake magic.
Geometric Shapes (Glasses, Lightning Bolts, Scarves…)
Use cookie cutters with fondant or gumpaste to create precise shapes, scale and a ‘pro’ look. Some wizarding world examples where cookie cutters would come in handy are Harry’s glasses (circles), his lightning bolt scar (lightning shape) and the stripes on the Gryffindor scarf (rectangles or a knife).
3D Objects (Wands, Brooms, Sorting Hats, Snitches…)
If you’ve decided to make a 3D object like a wand, sorting hat or a snitch, we highly recommend that you use gumpaste (or you can use a mixture of a white fondant + tylose) to help everything to dry and set more quickly.
Use very small amounts of water to stick bits of gumpaste together and then leave items to dry and set.
💡 Remember that there are some essential cake decorating tools which can help to create more intricate, precise and realistic touches than hands alone.
(PRO TIP: 3D objects can take a long time to dry and set– sometimes multiple days – so it’s always the first thing we start with)
Special Items (Parchment, Golden Snitches, Quills, Feathers…)
Here are some of our favourite special items we’ve made for a Harry Potter cake:
- create the look of old parchment paper by brushing cocoa powder/chocolate/brown food dye onto fondant
- use edible gold dust for an extra magical touch on book bindings and, of course, the golden snitch!
- cut shapes and texture out of wafer paper to make ethereally light items like quills, Hedwig’s feathers and the wings of a snitch
Want more expert cake decorating guidance from our Le Dolci cake decorators? Check out our class schedule to attend one of our in-person Cake Decorating classes at our studio in Toronto, Canada
(BONUS: we do the prep, baking and the cleanup so that you can focus on cake decorating!).
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If you’re looking for something a bit simpler but still super magical, come join a Unicorn Cake Class for step-by-step guidance on building a Unicorn
Cake or you can review How to Build a Unicorn Cake try to it out on your own!