Cauldron Cakes and Liquorice Wands

Harry's first trip on the Hogwarts Express introduces him to his soon to be best friends, Ron and Hermione. He also discovers the Honeydukes Express - a trolley pushed by a squat old witch, filled with scrumptious snacks and sweets...

"He had never had any money for sweets with the Dursleys, and now that he

had pockets rattling with gold and silver he was ready to buy as many

Mars Bars as he could carry -- but the woman didn't have Mars Bars. What

she did have were Bettie Bott's Every Flavour Beans, Drooble's Best

Blowing Gum, Chocolate Frogs, Pumpkin Pasties, Cauldron Cakes, Liqourice

Wands, and a number of other strange things Harry had never seen in his

life. Not wanting to miss anything, he got some of everything and paid

the woman eleven silver Sickles and seven bronze Knuts."

(Harry Potter and the Philosopher's Stone, Chapter Six - The Journey from Platform Nine and Three Quarters)

I love that Harry, who up until a few days prior to this had been penniless and neglected, now has the chance to splurge his cash on treats. Like any unattended 12 year old with an endless supply of money might do, his eyes outsize his tummy and he gorges on pure pleasure. 

I tried my hand at making a couple of the goodies on offer, plumping for Cauldron Cakes and Liquorice Wands.

First, the Cauldron Cakes. I decided to make some chocolate fairy cakes and then, when it came to turning them into something that resembles cauldrons, improvise. To find a suitable recipe I turned to The Usborne Cookbook for Boys. Although Harry doesn't make the cakes himself, I think this particular book is quite fitting for unsupervised boys with nothing to stop them from eating what they like apart from their own satisfied appetites.

                                               

After combining the ingredients of a standard cake mixture (butter, eggs, self-raising flour, sugar and milk) and then a generous helping of chocolate chunks, I poured the mixture into a fairy cake tin, cooked and left to cool. So far so good.

While the cakes were cooking, I tried to think of a way to make them 'cauldron-like'. A cauldron needs to be able to hold potions and have a handle. First, to make the well in the cakes for the potions to go in. It was simple enough using a knife, as they were easy to handle once cold.

I filled the cauldrons with green icing and sugared balls and then went on to tackle the handles, which proved to be a lot trickier than I had anticipated. My first attempt, which involved pouring melted chocolate in a 'C' shape and pushing the ends into the cakes once set, tasted great but wouldn't stay upright. So I had to resort to plan b - chocolate covered sandwich bag ties. Completely inedible but did the job.

I added a few props just to make sure that they couldn't be mistaken for anything other than cauldrons....

As for the Liquorice Wands, I simply dipped 'strawberry pencils' into icing sugar and then hundreds of thousands. Initially, the iced end was supposed to be the handle, but I quite like the idea that they could be sparks of *MAGIC* spurting from the end. 

I plated them delicately on a bed of Fizzing Whizbees and Every Flavour Beans.

Both creations tasted surprisingly good, but next time there will be less improvisation and more following strict instructions. And maybe I'll make sure that everything is actually edible...