Cauldron Cakes and Butterbeer

I had bought the unofficial Harry Potter cookbook - it was rubbish. I went to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter in Orlando and took cues from them, even getting a recipe for their butterbeer (which even though is cold, it warms the soul on a winter day).

Butterbeer
Butterbeer is often mentioned as the beverage of choice in Hogsmeade and sometimes pilfered out by the Weasley twins.
First you have to find a suitable creme soda; not the clear stuff. I use the Sugar Free Boylan's as I've tasted many and Boylan's is the best replica.

Ingredients:

• Boylan's Creme Soda (it can be found at World Market, Meijer's, etc)
• Whipped Cream (you can make it yourself or use a tub - I usually make it myself with heavy whipping cream and a cracker for aeration).
• Butterscotch flavoring

Directions:
1. Pour the cold creme soda into a mug. 2. Take the whipped cream and add a touch, not, much of butterscotch flavoring. 3. Take a dollop of the whip cream mixture and carefully put it into the creme soda; then mixed it to give that frothy look.

Tips: 
Don't fill the mug up all the way with soda or it with fuzz and overflow. Plus you can add more whipped cream mixture on the top.


Chocolate Cauldron Cakes
These are often eating by the Hogwarts students on the Hogwart's Express train to school.
You can make the chocolate cake yourself with any chocolate cake recipe however, I cannot have sugar so I had to use Betty Crocker's Sugar-Free box mixture and my normal French chocolate cake would not suit this recipe. Also you can make the chocolate mousse (recipe below) or buy the Jello Chocolate Mousse pudding cups in the refrigerated area.

Ingredients:

• Chocolate Cake Batter (any plain chocolate with do, no fancy ones)
• Dark Chocolate or Milk Chocolate Bar if you don't like Dark (not cheap bars, but Russell Stover's or Dove, etc. as they don't contain as much oils)
• Chocolate Mousse (Direction's below)

Directions: 1. Bake the chocolate batter in cupcakes. 2. When cool, make a hole in the cupcake (with the hole maker, a grapefruit spoons, an apple corer, carefully with a knife). 3. Fill the cupcakes with the chocolate mousse. 4. Melt the chocolate bar. 5. Fill a piping bag (or cut the tip of a ziplock bag to make one) with the melted chocolate. 5. Take a cold baking sheet with cooking parchment over it and pipe out long sticks and the same amount of arches that are the size of the diameter of the cupcake top. 6. Once these harder (you may need to stick the sheet in the freezer again), scrape the chocolate formations of the sheet. 7. Place the arch over the cupcake like the handle of the cauldron and stick the chocolate stick into the mouse like a cauldron ladle.

Tips: you can use the left over "cupcake wholes" by putting a little frosting on them for a mini-dessert.


Chocolate Mousse:
Ingredients:
1 1/2 c. Heavy Whipping Cream (can use down to half & half, but it is richer with heavy)
1 tb. Sugar (or in my case, 1 package Splenda)
1/2 c. Chocolate Syrup (I use the Sugar-Free kind in the Ice Cream aisle)
You will need my favorite piece of kitchen equipment: the whip cream charger and nitrous oxide cartridges (look for more recipe ideas in the tips).

Directions: Take a whipped cream charger and pour 1 1/2 c. heavy whipping cream, the sugar or splenda, and the chocolate syrup into the charger. 2. Screw the top of the charger on really tight and shake the ingredients together really well. 3. Place the nitrous oxide cartridge into it's chamber on the charger and you should hear a smooth SHORT air sound that means the chamber top is filling up with air. If you hear a lot of air and it goes on for awhile, you didn't screw the top on correctly and all the nitrous oxide escaped. 4. Place in refrigerator, and take out when ready to use, but be sure to shake it first again and make sure it is coming out in a stead steam an not spurts by testing it in the kitchen sink first.

Tips: You can use the same base of heavy whip cream with blended fruit, other syrups. So essentially you could make strawberry, butterscotch (like for the Butterbeer), or even maple syrup mousse with just these two other ingredients and a charger. Around Christmas, my family always have to buy more nitrous oxide chargers for all the drinks and desserts.

Enjoy.
  
This is the Whip Cream Charger that I use and it has been working for 10 years: http://www.cooking.com/white-1-pt-liss-professional-cream-whipper-by-liss_447638_11/#axzz26bPqSgoi

I will be making these soon again and will add pictures then. :-)