Harry Potter Cake + 4th July Birthday Celebrations

Even though I am not American, American culture is a part of my life especially with films and tv shows. One of my closest friends loves the American Culture, and she has always been bugging me to celebrate an American Holiday. Therefore, as a group we decided to take advantage of Independence Day, and threw her a surprise 21st, American Independence Day Party.

 

We created a last minute American themed setting by all things red, blue and white. 

Hagrid Harry Potter Cake

The Feast

Independence Day Menu

- Mexican styled corn

- Fried Chicken

- Candied Yams (Sweet potato)

- Garden Salad

- Hagrid Harry Potter Cake with passion fruit ganache layers

Mexican Styled Corn

Corn on a cob

Japaneses Mayonnaise (Kewpie Mayonnaise)

Shredded Parmesan Cheese

Lime

Chilli Powder

Chopped coriander

Method:

1. Preheat oven to 200 degrees Celsius. 

2. Peel the skin off the corn and wrap in aluminium foil.

3. Place on a tray in the oven for 15-20. (on the middle to top rack)

4. Allow to cool for 2 minutes, and peel off aluminium foil.

5. Apply a drizzle of mayonnaise, pinches of parmesan cheese, coriander, squeeze of lime and sprinkle of chilli powder. 

Fried Chicken

1kg chicken tenderloins

2 cups Panko crumbs

3/4 cup Parmesan cheese

3 eggs

2 cups of flour

salt

pepper

cayenne pepper

Method

1. Heat oil in a pan enough for a shallow fry, to 350 degree Celsius.

2. Combine flour, salt and peppers in a large bowl.

3. Mix eggs in a separate medium bowl.

4. Combine panko crumbs and parmesan cheese.

5. Coat a piece of chicken in the flour mix, then the egg mixture and then the crumb mixture.

6. Once oil is heated, place chicken in the pan (no more than 3 pieces at a time). Allow one side to brown, once browned, flip the chicken and cook. 

7. Place the cooked chicken on a paper towel.

Candied Yams (Sweet potato)

3 medium to large sweet potatoes

50g butter

1 packet of mini marshmallows

Method:

1. Boil a pot of water on the stove with a pinch of salt.

2. Peel sweet potato and cut into even sized chunks.

3. Once water is boiled, at the potatoes and place on the lid. Leave until potatoes are cooked through. They are cooked through when a fork or a chopstick can go through the centre of the potato.

4. Drain the water and begin to mash the potatoes and add the butter.

5. Preheat oven to 200 degree celsius.

6. Place mashed potatoes into an oven proof dish, evenly spread out. 

7. Evenly spread the packet of mini marshmallows.

8. Place in the oven for 10-15 minutes until marshmallows have browned

Hagrid Harry Potter Cake

The Harry Potter Cake was made because the birthday girl loves Harry Potter. I first came across the Harry Potter Cake on Diamonds for Dessert. When I showed her, she said that one day I would have to make it for her, and that day had finally came.

I used the Thunder Cake Recipe for two 20cm round cake tins for the cake. As for the buttercream frosting, I followed Diamonds for Dessert recipe. 

To take advantage of the lovely passionfruit that are currently in season, in between the cakes was passionfruit ganache. The recipe was guided by Heston Blumenthal's chocolate gateau recipe

Passionfruit Ganache

175g thickened cream

Pinch of salt

Pulp from 6 passion fruits

110g of dark chocolate (broken into pieces)

50g milk chocolate (broken into pieces)

Method:

1. Combine cream, salt and passionfruit in a saucepan over medium heat until it comes to the boil. Remove from the heat and allow to stand for 5 minutes.

2. Place the chocolate in a bowl and melt until smooth. (I used microwave at 15 second intervals)

3. Strain the infused cream and add to the bowl of melted chocolate a third at a time. Making sure to completely incorporate the cream with the chocolate after each addition.

4. Allow the ganache to cool to room temperature and refrigerate until read to use.

Processes

- Split the butter cream to a majority in one bowl (colour pink), and a few spoonfuls in another bowl (colour green).  

- When the two cakes were cooled, I levelled them and then cut them in half. 

- I filled each layer with the passionfruit ganache (the levels weren't as uneven as the picture looks haha)

- Applied a crumb coat of vanilla butter cream

- Top coat of vanilla buttercream. The top coat doesn't have to be that neat since it is supposed to be made by Hagrid =D

- Final touches

The HAPPEE BIRTHDAE HARRY was supposed to be written with green tinted buttercream, however too much red food colouring was added to the split batch, therefore the rest of the white was used for the pink. I then tried to use white chocolate, and tint it with green food colouring which DIDN'T work at all.

Therefore, I ended up using white writing fudge from the tube, which I coloured green. I put that in a ziplock bag, and created a make shift piping bag for the writing. 

This became an issue when presenting the cake, as I did the piping several hours before consumption, the colour began to separate from the writing fudge. However, if you plan to serve the cake straight away, this way of colouring will work.

Just another birthday message for M. Happy 21st Birthday M! I hope that you and the girls enjoyed the dinner and dessert!

Good food, good times! 

Hartsyard @ Newtown

I have wanted to try Hartsyard since it opened a bit over a year ago. Finally, I seized the opportunity to go. Hartsyard is an urban styled dining experience, where you can catch up with a friend, or a small group and share lots of good food. The lighting provides an intimate atmosphere, with a friendly vibe. For 2 people the waiter advised to choose maximum of 3 dishes, or 4 if you aren't having dessert. This was perfect amount, when walking out on a full stomach in a very satisfying nature.

All the tables have tabasco sauce and awesome cloth napkins

House smoked ham, potato buns, pickled greens, tomato relish, mustard, cripsy pig, parmesan cheese

This was a lovely starter from the 'seed' portion of the menu. It was a great dish, where all the condiments provided different elements of salty and tangy. The only part I didn't like was the spoonful of pig fat they put on the side of dish, just doesn't feel right to eat or spread on fat like that. It is a new dish on their menu where the waiter asked for our opinion of the dish when we had consumed it all.

Mocktails $8, Cocktail $18

Mocktails aren't on the drinks menu, but they are more than happy to whip one up for you. I have no idea what was in my mocktail, but it was refreshing.

Pulled pork, maple bacon, labne, apple and pork crackling 

Can't get enough pork! The slab of pulled pork may not look very big in the photo, but it had a lot of pork in it. I am usually not a fan of maple bacon, but the caramelisation was deliciously different. The sauce was nice and sticky in nature. The labne, apple and crackling made as an excellent side.

Fried chicken, buttermilk biscuit, low country sausage gravy

Fried chicken, can't say no to that. There were 3 pieces of chicken on the plate, all coated with crunchy goodness. The gravy was very creamy, and not the normal brown gravy you expect. Underneath the gravy was bread, but I was hoping it was mash potato which would have accompanied the chicken a lot better. 

Peanut butter & Banana Sundae: Pretzel ice cream, banana cream filled doughnuts and chocolate fudge

After feeling really full of the 'seeds' and 'feeds' dessert was still a must. We were tempted to get 2 desserts, but decided to share the one and we chose the sundae. A great mixture of sweet and salty, which may not be everyone's cup of tea. My favourite part was the banana cream filled doughnuts! The banana inside with crunchy, soft, cinnamon outside, DELICIOUS! I wish you could just order those for dessert. The pretzel ice-cream takes sometime to adjust to, but once there it is a tasty treat! 

The staff at Hartsyard are really friendly, and provide good advice on what you may or may not want to order. The entire meal, including drinks came to roughly $120 for 2 people. It was a very fulfilling meal, and will definitely be going there again.

Good food, good times!