*This posting contains advertising.
My little ones love Harry Potter, and now our first Harry Potter birthday party is coming up. What absolutely can't be missing? That’s right: a Harry Potter birthday cake! And to celebrate, I’m letting my little ones "repot mandrakes"...
Ever since we read the first book of Harry Potters, my kids – unsurprisingly – have been completely enchanted by the magical world of the young wizard.
After dressing up as “Hermione Granger” for Halloween, it was only a matter of time before our first Harry Potter birthday party came around. And now the time has come: my little one wished for a Harry Potter-themed birthday! Once it was clear that she didn’t want to serve her guests Harry Potter cupcakes (we made those for the school carnival), but rather a cake, we knew it had to be a Mandrake Cake.
The Mandrake Cake, along with various other Harry Potter party snacks, made a magical centerpiece on the birthday table for my little one’s Harry Potter party! A truly magical feast!
Recipe for the Harry Potter Birthday Cake
This magical cake is made of a rich, moist chocolate base and topped with quirky little caramel mandrakes. I baked the cake as a Harry Potter birthday cake without my little ones this time – but I’m sure they would have had an absolute blast shaping those cheeky mandrakes themselves!
Ingredients for the Mandrake Chocolate Cake
Chocolate Cake
- 250 g soft butter
- 150 g sugar
- 4 eggs
- 250 ml milk
- 280 g spelled flour
- 80 g baking cocoa
- 1/2 packet of baking powder (7 g)
- 1 pinch of salt
- 200 g chocolate shavings or mini chocolate chips
Decoration
- 24 soft caramel candies
- 12 basil or parsley leaves (for the mandrake "tops")
Baking accessories
Kitchen scale, Mixing bowl, Hand mixer, Measuring jug, Rubber spatula, Rectangular baking pan (or a 26 cm round springform pan), Baking paper, Cooling rack, Spoon or piping bag, Sharp kitchen knife, Wooden skewer
Preparation
For the Harry Potter birthday cake, we need a rich, moist chocolate base and some adorable little mandrakes. You can shape the mandrakes 1–2 days in advance. If you do, I recommend sealing them airtight in plastic wrap or a sealed container. Only add the green "hair" – the parsley – on the day you serve the cake, to keep it fresh and perky.
How to shape the mandrakes
To model the mandrakes, I used two soft caramel candies per mandrake. They need to be kept cool as long as possible, since they soften easily at room temperature. But the good thing is: most kids love the taste. You could also use fondant, which holds its shape better – but in my experience, kids aren’t always fans of the taste.
- Knead two soft caramels together to form a smooth ball.
- Roll the ball into a small log and pinch one end into a point.
- With a sharp knife, cut out little arms and legs.
- Carefully shape them with your fingers so they become a bit longer and rounded. Use a wooden skewer to press in: Eye, a mouth, a little hole on top of the head (I even gave mine a belly button – just for fun 😉)
- Finally, right before placing the mandrakes on the cake, stick a parsley leaf into the hole on top of the head – and voilà: your magical mandrake is ready!
How to Bake the Chocolate Cake
- First, preheat your oven to 175°C (top and bottom heat / 350°F).
- Using a hand mixer, cream the butter until light and fluffy.
- Add the sugar and keep mixing until it has dissolved well into the butter.
- Now, add the eggs one at a time, mixing each one thoroughly into the butter-sugar mixture.
- In the next step, add the cocoa powder, flour, baking powder, and salt to the batter and mix until combined.
- Finally, pour in the milk and chocolate shavings, and mix everything into a smooth batter.
- Pour the batter into your parchment-lined baking tin. Bake your Harry Potter birthday cake-to-be for about 30–35 minutes. Don’t forget the toothpick test: insert a wooden skewer into the center of the cake – if it comes out clean, it’s done! (Every oven bakes a little differently.)
- Once the cake is done: Let it cool in the pan for 5 minutes. Then carefully remove it and let it cool completely on a wire rack.
From Chocolate Cake to Mandrake Cake
For our Harry Potter birthday cake, the chocolate cake becomes a flower bed for the mandrakes!
- To make the cake look like a flowerbed, I trimmed about 1 cm off the top and sides of the cake and crumbled those pieces into “soil.”
- In the next step, I used a piping tip to twist little holes into the cake, one for each mandrake. The cake crumbs from these holes were also saved to use as additional “soil.”
- Now you can plant the mandrakes into the holes, and then sprinkle the crumbly cake bits all over the top, so it looks like loose garden soil.
- And there you have it: our magical Mandrake Birthday Cake – straight out of the Hogwarts greenhouse!
Preparation in pictures
he Mandrake Cake Was a HUGE Hit! The Mandrake Cake was a huge success with the kids! They had so much fun "pulling out mandrakes" – and only had one idea for improvement: It would be an absolute highlight if the mandrakes actually screamed when pulled out! If you’ve got a fun idea on how to make that happen, feel free to share it in the comments – I’d love to hear it! 😊
Wishing you lots of fun baking – and even more fun celebrating your magical Harry Potter birthday party!
Yours, Lia
BAKING NEWS – The most delicious thing right in your inbox?
Sign up for our newsletter and be the first to hear about colorful recipe ideas, easy baking hacks and upcoming baking promotions!
English 
German