Harry Potter Cake

• Preheat oven to 325°F. Prep your cake rounds by covering the inside of the pans with a light layer of butter and then dusting with flour. I like to use my fingers to make sure the butter gets in all seams.
• Mix together, either by hand or in a stand mixer, the oil, vanilla, sour cream, heavy cream and egg whites. Then mix in the boxed cake mix. Divide the batter between the 3 cake rounds.
• Bake for 25 minutes or until a toothpick inserted comes out clean. Make sure to bake all the cakes on the same oven rack so they bake evenly.
• Let the cakes cool for 5 minutes then flip upside down onto a wire cooling rack and remove the pans. They should come out easily.
• Let the cakes cool completely before frosting.

To make the frosting:

• In a stand mixer, whip your butter chunks on medium high speed until the butter is light and fluffy.
• Add in the powdered sugar 1 cup at a time, letting it mix into the butter completely.
• Add in the vanilla, heavy cream, and pinch of salt, allowing the ingredients to incorporate fully.
• Measure out approximately 1.5 cups of frosting and mix in the green food coloring to it. Add neon purple color to the remaining frosting and mix in completely.
• Refrigerate both frostings for 15-20 minutes to allow it to thicken up before using to decorate. If the frosting is too thick after refrigerating, it will soften up quickly at room temperature. So just be patient. If the frosting is too runny, add more powdered sugar to thicken it.

To decorate the cake:

• On the cake decorating turntable, if using, place an 8 inch cardboard round (if using), then place a 6 inch round (if using) on top of that. Taping the 6 in to the 8 inch round is also advised. If not using any of the above just place the cake on what you are wanting to serve the cake on, but remember it has to fit in the freezer for a little while!
• Add a spoonful of frosting to the center of the 6 inch round (or cake serving plate) and place your bottom cake layer on top, centered on the 6 inch cardboard round.
• Add a crumb coat layer of frosting over the entire cake using the purple frosting*. A crumb coat layer is a thin layer of frosting that helps keep all the crumbs stuck to the cake and allows you to frost the cake really nicely later on. The crumb coat is not supposed to be pretty!
• Stick your crumb coated cake in the freezer for 10 minutes.
• After 10 minutes, remove the cake and frost with the final layer of purple frosting, This does not have to be pretty since you want it to look like Hagrid made it! Using a butter knife make several lines so it looks like the cake was pieced together.
• Then using a writing piping tip, piping bag and green frosting, pipe on HAPPEE BIRTHDAE HARRY.
• Slice, enjoy and watch all the movies!