Gryffindor Cake

Have I mentioned this wedding I'm making a cake for has a Harry Potter theme?  The bride is Hufflepuff and the groom is Slytherin, but the wedding itself wants to be inclusive of all houses.  The Sorting Hat put me in Gryffindor, so I decided to practice this idea on a red velvet cake in Gryffindor colors.

Cousin Smurf wants a traditional look with subtle theme overtones, so we're probably going with the rosettes in the four house colors.  After seeing some videos and photos of HP wedding cakes, I came up with this design that uses simple and clean lines that are highly suggestive of the theme without putting house crests on each cake.  If we went with this concept it would mean a four-tiered cake, instead of a two-tier for the cutting ceremony and other cakes on separate stands.  The flavors wouldn't change, just the design and cake sizes.

The hardest part in designing her cake has actually been avoiding fondant.  Fondant is easy, fast, and looks awesome unless your crumb coat is very uneven.  I couldn't figure out another way to do the stripe except chocolate, and I clearly suck at chocolate garnish.  This small bit is easy to pick off if you get it in your slice.

1 2-layer cake, your choice of flavor
1 batch Buttercream Frosting
2 Tb red food coloring
a golfball-sized pinch of fondant and golden yellow gel food color
snitch cake pops

1.  Trim, fill, and crumb coat your cake in uncolored frosting.  Chill.

2.  Put remaining frosting in the mixer and start beating in food color.  I'm guessing on the amount, because I emptied what was left in a 1 oz bottle and a dropper.  Gel color will require less.  Suffice it to say that it takes way more color to achieve a saturated look in buttercream than fondant.

3.  Smooth-coat the cake in red.  Chill while you roll the fondant.

4.  Add one toothpick of gel color to the fondant and knead in.  If not dark enough, you can add another.  Roll into a thin strip on a cornstarch-dusted surface.  Cut out a long, 1/2" wide stripe.  Carefully lift and drape over the cake off-center.

5.  Arrange snitches as desired and serve.

Makes one 8" cake

Difficulty rating  :-0