We recently celebrated my husband’s 24th birthday party, and it was a lot of fun to see it come together. As soon as I had settled upon a surprise Harry Potter party I knew that I wanted to focus on some Harry Potter recipes! I decided on a mish-mash of Harry Potter recipes inspired by food in the book and movie. Some authentic and some styled to look like the production but all AS REAL AS POSSIBLE! I have seen tons of Mandrake inspired foods, crafts and costumes over the years. I drew ideas from all of them tried to mesh what real life could create within reason, and then these Mandrake Cupcakes were born!

Harry Potter Recipes: Mandrake Cupcakes

For ease of actually getting everything done I pretty much did this in three steps. I baked, I made the fondant molds and decorated them and finally I finished decorating the cupcakes.

Baking Your Cupcakes

I started by actually baking the cupcakes. As  you all know I don’t try to overcomplicate things, and with the massive menu of Harry Potter Recipes I was assembling, I thought box mix would be a great fit! So I whipped out my Betty Crocker SuperMoist Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix and simply followed the instructions on the back.

After mixing in the water, eggs and oil into a consistent batter I greased my cupcake pan and then poured equal parts of the batter into all the cupcake divets.

Since I was multitasking, so I completely forgot that it made two dozen. Which meant that I got to dig out half of the batter from the cupcake in my dimly lit kitchen about 8 PM.

Once they started baking for 14-19 minutes at 350 degrees. I began making the fondant babies.

Making & Decorating the Baby Mandrake Molds

For as long as I’ve remembered I’ve been pretty in love with the miniature fondant babies that top shower cakes! I thought they would be the perfect place to start.

Now I had never actually worked with fondant before and actually purchased it from Hobby Lobby. I was pretty nervous, but I’d watched a few videos about how to form them and it made me feel a lot more confident about the whole thing.

You’ll start by pulling off a chunk of fondant.

Then roll it into an oval shape. Keep in mind that any residual lines from folding dry fondant will not be worked out in the freezer.

I didn’t mind and left a line or two remaining because mandrakes are supposed to be a little rough and wrinkly.

Once you’ve got the appropriate size go ahead and push it down into the mold. Take special care to put pressure down into the mold again with your thumb to guarantee it is pushed all the way inside all of the nooks and crannnies.

If not you will not get near as much detail in the feet or face.

Next you’ll take a knife (I used an xacto knife) to cut off any remaining fondant from the top of the mold. This will create a smooth flat surface for the fondant baby’s underside.

Then, place it in the freezer for twenty-five minutes. I found the time in between to be great for doing dishes, working on the candies and decorating molds that were already ready!

Once it’s been twenty-five minutes pull the mold out of the freezer. You’ll need to be careful not to smash the babies face as you pop it out of the mold. I found that pulling both sides of the mold down with your thumbs while pressing the bottom of the mold up was very effective.

Now you can wait a little bit for the fondant to adjust to the air around so it is dry. Or you can immediately decorate them, they will just be a little sticky as they warm up.

You’ll begin by taking a small brush and brushing Bronze Wilton Pearl Dust all over the entire baby mandrake.

Next you’ll brush Brown Color Dust into the features on the face, hair and crevices throughout the body.

Then I let these guys sit out and dry overnight. Essentially because I made 12 babies it took about 6 hours for me to form them all. So it does take a little work to facilitate these Harry Potter recipes, but i’s all worth it!

Decorating Your Mandrake Cupcakes

The next day I iced my cupcakes with Betty Crocker Rich and Creamy chocolate frosting. Then I coated their tops with crushed Oreos so that they looked like dirt. You may notice that Oreos are a common theme in not just my Harry Potter recipes but also my Glowing Halloween Harvest Moon Cake Recipe.

Next I laid the baby mold atop the cupcake.

Now you have a lot of options for leaves if you want them to be edible. You would pipe brown chocolate icing on the heads of the mandrake to start and then you could:

1. Pipe icing leaves the mandrake’s head (what I did)
2. Make white chocolate leaves and paint them green and attach them to the mandrake’s head
3. Attach mint leaves to the mandrake’s heads

Because Betty Crocker already had the icing tip to pipe leaves, it was the right color, and I didn’t have to make it this was a great fit!

I did a few rounds of practicing with Green Betty Crocker Decorating Cake Icing on a paper towel first because I was so afraid of ruining the baby molds! When I finally felt comfortable piping icing that I thought looked like leaves I did so on the molds.

I piped some sprouting from the head and then over the hands an feet.

I am immensely proud of how they turned out and would do it over again in a heartbeat! Plus, now that I have a baby mold I can make baby cupcakes for myself at my shower in a few years. That makes my heart incredibly full!

If you want a printable Mandrake label for your tray of cupcakes I found the one I used for free here.

If you loved this cupcake recipe you’d love these Shark Attack Cupcakes!

More Harry Potter Recipes are on their way! Have you ever made an Harry Potter recipes? If so, drop them in the comments below?

Thanks for reading!

Lauren

Harry Potter Recipes: Mandrake Cupcakes

Ingredients

• Betty Crocker SuperMoist Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix
• 1 1/4 cups water
• 3 eggs
• 1/3 cups vegetable oil
• fondant
• crushed Oreos
• silicone baby mold
• Wilton Bronze Pearl Dust
• Wilton Brown Color Dust
• Green Betty Crocker Decorating Cake Icing

Instructions

Baking Your Cupcakes

1. Pour Betty Crocker SuperMoist Chocolate Fudge Cake Mix into your mixer.
2. Mix with water, vegetable oil and eggs until it’s a well-mixed batter.
3. Grease cupcake pan, pour equal amounts of batter in each divet and bake 14-19 minutes at 350 degrees.
4. Let cool.

Making & Decorating the Baby Mandrake Molds

1. Pull off a chunk of fondant and roll it into an oval shape.
2. Push the fondant down into the mold.
3. Press down into the mold again with your thumb to guarantee it is pushed all the way inside all of the nooks and crannnies so you get accurate detail.
4. Use a knife to cut off any remaining fondant from the top of the mold to create a smooth flat surface for the fondant baby’s underside.
5. Place it in the freezer for twenty-five minutes.
6. Remove baby from mold by pulling both sides of the mold down with your thumbs while pressing the bottom of the mold up.
7. Allow the baby mold to dry out for a half hour or so if you have the time.
8. Take a small brush and dust Bronze Wilton Pearl Dust all over the entire baby.
9. Then brush Brown Wilton Color Dust into the features on the face, hair and crevices throughout the body.
10. Leave the molds to dry overnight.

Decorating Your Mandrake Cupcakes

1. Frost cupcakes with Betty Crocker Rich and Creamy chocolate frosting.
2. Coat top in crushed Oreo cookies for dirt-like appearance.
3. Place the baby mold on top of the cupcake and use the leaf tip on the Green Betty Crocker Decorating Cake Icing can to pipe leaves on the mandrake baby’s head, hands and feet.
4. Enjoy!