"Harry Potter" Castle Cake

Here it is. The BIG project. While Wonder-Mom spent the week volunteering at the school while finishing two months worth of projects for her Lil'Gal's 7th birthday party -- "Harry Potter" style -- I baked a cake here and there and froze them for the awaited day...

Make a castle cake day. The morning of didn't go as efficiently as we expected with errands and a rush notary job on my end. So, we began the "Castle Construction" procedure at approximately 12:30. Wonder, Jr. went down for his nap and Wonder-Mom tussled and tagged and labeled and wrapped 'potions' and 'Dragon dung' and candy treats, and prepared a couple other classes for the 'students' attending this Hogsworth Academy. [Okay, I don't know all the official names because I haven't actually read or seen Harry Potter. My apologies.]

Anyhow, everything turned out wonderiffic-ly and fantabu-tastic (well, after the rainstorm that drown the back yard and half the party and favors with it 45 minutes before the party began).

Wonder-Mom and her Wonder-princess were in tears... But, in the end the Mommies pulled together and the party was a wonderful success!

And, with no more of the multitude of details I could share, I present you with the making of the "Harry Potter" Castle Cake. The layout changed last minute at 12:48, and we winged our way through it to make this tasty mystical masterpiece.

Okay, so it doesn't look like much now, other than a stack of cake half @$$ frosted in a dreary gray (we were goin' for that particular color, though.) :-D

And, I do realize that I should have taken the time to line up the stacks and trim the white cake down a little more because this obviously resulted in the lean factor to the outer edges of the top of the castle. (Wonder-Mom will comfort me with, saying that this fact added to the 'imperfection' of the castle. Which, she already heard me say, when making a cake you have to 'make' the imperfections, perfectly. It is supposed to be an intended look, without the in-efficiency of actual imperfection. But, I'm just weird that way. And, she sees life as "Artistic License.") :-D

Here is an iced over beginnings of a stacked, cake, castle. We also were aware that we should have supported each stacked layer with cardboard. But, as time was of the essence and no appropriate cardboard was available -- we went with the 'essence of imperfection', once again. Next time, I will insist within myself on the cardboard supports. And, hopefully, next time I will listen to myself -- LOL!

AHA! What's this? It looks like it is molding into something here. As Wonder-Mom placed the black M&M bordering around the castle walls, we both began to feel this castle coming alive. Yes, there are two different colors of gray icing.

But, this was a purpose-full thing. Knowing we might need to make second batch we began icing the layers (the crumb sides took FOR-EV-ERRR). We could have mixed the second batch as dark as the first, but then the thought crossed our minds -- contrast! What true artEESTs we are!

So what do we see here? A vision of a CASTLE that will emerge in full mystology here? It was time to decorate the castle and I question Wonder-Mom as to what she foresees next? She says, "Windows." I'm thinkin' oh, cool. Sure, a few here, few there, yada-yada...

She hands me a picture of the Harry Potter Castle. OH. Windows. Lots of windows. And, um, lots of towers.

"Like THIS? Wonder-Mom?" Yep-Yep! She is thrilled with the windows. But there was still something missing. A castle needs a path, and we HAD left over cake to crumble. So, I glue the way with icing and she crumbles a stony, dirt pathway. Then, with a grassy piping tip, grass grows faster than me playing "Farmville" on Facebook. ;-)

And, TADA! A wavering, leaning, imperfect castle cake. [Imperfect perfection is what Wonder-Mom was feeling, artistically, for her beautiful daughter's party.] Hit the nail on the head, did we?

Wait, what? Towers? Oh, I didn't include the towers? Well, the cake would have never have fit in Wonder-Mom's overstuffed fridge -- adjustable shelves or not (they are cool; adjust better than mine in my Martha Stewart kitchen, LOL!)

So, we made the towers separate to be added at the last minute.

Here's a completed tower. Notice the color scheme (all Harry Potter style) of Purple and grey with the cracked mortar. And, every castle needs ivy that climbs the walls to bask in what little sun shines on the towers of the castle. So, here is the obviously Happy birthday Gal with her "Harry Potter" Castle Cake. Candles and towers to boot! We did have an incident or two of a tower toppling; but, Farmer*sWife was inches by with her handy, dandy, icing-calking gun to reattach the towers. Apparently, Castle cakes back in the Harry Potter Era weren't built up to cake moving standards. *snicker*

And, it would have helped if I would have followed through with my threat that I was going to cut out circles from the cake to 'place' the towers into along with their icing to cement them in place.

But, considering rain, and a few melted home-made party favors -- Farmer*sWife decided to keep her perfectionism in check for fear that something go wrong with (or landslide a level of) the Castle. :-D Make a WISH Sweet Gal, and I hope you remembered to give your Mama a DOUBLE'd up hug that night. Because, she out Wondered, her Wonder-Mom self. And, at the end of the day, I know Wonder-Mom, Mr. Wonder and Wonder, Jr. all hit the haybale with their eyes closed before their bodies even touch.

I would love to make this cake again. With all the woulda' shoulda' and next time will'dos. Harry Potter, The Last Unicorn, or Princess/Fancy Nancy. I could totally fix the leans tos, the cracks and the tipping towers.

But, for this party? It was a perfect Birthday 'Potter" cake! :-D [Editor's Note: You can click any of the pictures for a larger view.]

"Harry Potter" Castle Cake