Harry Potter fans, this Butterbeer Cake is for you! Butterscotch cake, cream soda, and marshmallow all in one spellbinding dessert. The perfect Harry Potter Cake!
I can’t believe it’s taken me this long to do a Harry Potter themed recipe.
I am a huge fan of the books and movies, so the fact that I have a Game of Thrones themed cake and no Harry Potter cake is shameful, really. Alas, that all changes today with this Butterbeer Cake!
Butterbeer is a delicious combination of cream soda, butterscotch, and marshmallow. Except it doesn’t really taste like butterscotch or cream soda, just of some amazing blend of flavors and heavenly marshmallow creme topping. I didn’t even care that it was carbonated (which I normally don’t like).
I’m going to go ahead and blame the delay on this recipe on the fact that I actually didn’t try Butterbeer until very recently. In fact, I didn’t think I’d like it.
I don’t like butterscotch, or cream soda, or pop, so I was expecting to hate it through and through for its sickly sweetness. I was only going to try it so I could say I had.
My first introduction to Butterbeer was over the summer while we were in London. I dragged Ryan, his dad, and his stepmom (some more willingly than others) to the Warner Brothers Studios to do the Harry Potter tour.
Ryan and I bought one Butterbeer to share because I swore I would only have one sip of it. Souvenir glass? Pshh, why would I want one??
Needless to say, I finished half the drink before Ryan could even have a sip of it. SO. GOOD.
Contrary to the name, there is actually no alcohol in Butterbeer at all.
The fizzy beverage is all-ages friendly. However, if you’re looking to incorporate a bit of booziness into this Harry Potter Cake, you can always soak the layers in a Butterscotch schnapps simple syrup!
You can get butterbeer in the regular, soda pop version, or frozen (like a slush), or hot!
As much as I loved the original pop-like version of Butterbeer, I didn’t know there were actually superior versions of this.
Fast forward a few months and we’re in Orlando celebrating my birthday, which includes numerous days at the Disney parks and, of course, Universal to check out the Harry Potter lands, among other things. My friend Eva insisted that I HAD to try the frozen Butterbeer, and that it was better than the original.
Lunch on our first day was at the Leaky Cauldron (for real!!) and that’s where we ordered our frozen Butterbeer.
We had planned to get an original Butterbeer too, but the girl taking our order asked if we wanted to try the warm Butterbeer. She said it was her favorite and they only have it available during the colder months. We did not have high hopes for it but ordered it anyhow.
Both the frozen (like a slush) and the warm were leaps and bounds better than the original. How do you improve on something that’s already so good, right??
I think the warm one was my favorite, actually. Perfectly comforting and delicious. Needless to say, I had Butterbeer Cake running through my mind before we even left the parks.
How to Make this Butterbeer Cake
This butterscotch cake gave me a little bit of trouble in terms of nailing down the perfect texture, flavor, and color.
Cake Tip!
Don’t use pink cream soda unless you want your cake to be pink!
The first batch was probably the best bake overall, except I could only find hot pink cream soda, so that’s what I used. Unfortunately, this made the layers an ombre kinda pink when I cut into them. The layers also shrank quite a bit post-baking, so I probably overbaked it.
For the second attempt at this Butterbeer Cake, I managed to find clear cream soda, but that same store didn’t have the exact brand of pudding that I used the first time, so I tried the store brand.
The cake baked up with a whole lot of tunneling through it — either due to the brand of pudding I used or due to improper mixing techniques. Likely the latter. Sigh.
Attempt #3 used Jell-O instant pudding, clear cream soda, and proper mixing. Success! The first two batches were happily eaten anyway — naked cake layers and all — and they were delicious.
This Butterbeer Cake, like the drinks, is fairly sweet — but it’s intended to be. I mean, you’re combining cream soda, butterscotch, and marshmallow… it’s kinda hard to tone that down (and why would you want to?).
If you’re a Harry Potter fan, or have one in your life, you’re going to want to add this Harry Potter Cake to your baking list!
Frequently Asked Questions
How can I convert this recipe?
- The recipe as-is will also work in two 8″ pans. For three 8″ pans, 1.5x the recipe. Baking time may need to be adjusted.
- To make cupcakes, all you need to do is reduce the baking time — start checking at 15mins or so. The recipe will make 18-24 cupcakes depending on size.
- For other conversions go here.
Can I make it in advance?
- The cooled cake layers can be baked ahead of time, double wrapped in plastic wrap, and frozen for up to 3 months. Take out 2-3 hours before assembly.
- The frosting can be placed in an airtight container and refrigerated for 1 week for frozen for 3 months. Bring to room temp and rewhip before using.
- The finished cake (whole or sliced, stored airtight) can be frozen for up to 3 months.
Can I get the measurements by weight/grams?
- There is a Metric option in the recipe card. If you click it it will convert everything to grams.
- This conversion is done automatically and I cannot guarantee the accuracy but many readers have had success using the metric option on my recipes.
Tips for this Butterbeer Harry Potter Cake
- The color of your cream soda will affect the color of your cake. Try to find clear or brown cream soda.
- I tried the recipe for this butterscotch cake with a couple of different instant pudding mixes and found the Jell-O one to yield best results. Other brands will work okay, though. I did not use fat-free.
- I used clear vanilla extract as it has a sweeter, cream-sodaish flavor, but you can use regular vanilla instead.
- The marshmallow frosting is a bit softer than a typical American buttercream due to the fluff that’s added. If you like, you can use Homemade Marshmallow Fluff instead.
- Adding butterscotch sauce between the layers is a delicious flavor burst, but it will make your cake more susceptible to sliding around during assembly. You can place 3-4 bamboo skewers into the top of the cake as support. You’ll need to trim the skewers to the proper height of the cake.
- I used store-bought butterscotch sauce due to laziness, but you could easily make your own. Note that I had to boil the store-bought one for 5mins to reduce it, as it was a bit thin.
- To help ensure cakes come out of the pans cleanly I use homemade cake release or spray my cake pans with Pam for Baking and line the bottoms with parchment paper.
- Learn how to keep your cakes moist using Simple Syrup.
- To help ensure your cake layers bake up nice and flat, check out my How to Bake Flat Cake Layers post!
Butterbeer Cake
Ingredients
Butterbeer Cake:
- 2 1/4 cups all-purpose flour
- 2 1/4 tsps baking powder
- 3.5 oz butterscotch instant pudding mix one package
- 1/2 tsp salt
- 3/4 cup unsalted butter room temperature
- 1 cup granulated sugar
- 3 large eggs room temperature
- 1 1/4 cups cream soda clear
- 1 tsp clear vanilla extract *
Marshmallow Frosting:
- 1 1/2 cups unsalted butter room temperature
- 4 cups powdered sugar
- 14 oz marshmallow fluff store bought or homemade
- 1 tsp clear vanilla extract
Assembly:
Instructions
Butterbeer Cake:
- Preheat oven to 350F. Grease and flour three 6″ cake rounds and line with parchment.
- In a medium bowl, whisk flour, baking powder, pudding mix, and salt until well combined. Set aside.
- Using a stand mixer fitted with a paddle attachment, cream butter and sugar on med-high until pale and fluffy (approx 3mins).
- Reduce speed and add eggs one at a time fully incorporating after each addition. Add vanilla.
- Alternate adding flour mixture and cream soda, beginning and ending with flour (3 additions of flour and 2 of cream soda). Fully incorporating after each addition.
- Bake for about 40mins or until a toothpick inserted into the center comes out clean.
- Place cakes on wire rack to cool for 10mins then turn out onto wire rack. Allow to cool completely.
Marshmallow Frosting:
- Beat butter until creamy. Add powdered sugar 1 cup at a time. Beat for 3 mins.
- Add marshmallow fluff and vanilla extract and beat until fluffy (2-3mins).
Assembly:
- Place one layer of cake on a cake stand or serving plate. Top with 2/3 cup of frosting and spread evenly. Top with 1-2 Tbsp butterscotch sauce (optional), swirl into frosting. Repeat with remaining layers and apply a thin coat of frosting all over the cake. Chill for 20mins. ***
- Use the remaining frosting to frost the top and sides of the cake. Chill for 20mins.
- Using a teaspoon, drizzle butterscotch sauce along the top edges of the chilled cake, allowing some to drip down. Pipe dollops on the top using an Ateco 867 or Wilton 6B tip. Fill in the top of the cake with more butterscotch sauce and spread evenly. Sprinkle with gold sanding sugar if desired.
Alina Azeem says
The cake batter was thick. It was scoop able
Not pourable. I couldn’t find the 3.5 ounce pack for the pudding so used 3 1oz packs.
I don’t know what I did wrong. The taste is good but the cake didn’t bake that well. It’s pretty dense.
Olivia says
Hi Alina! The cake batter should be thick but pourable. How do you measure your flour? I always recommend spooning flour into the cup and levelling it off rather than using the cup to scoop it. The latter can add too much flour to a recipe.
danie says
The best! Made it for a HP movie night and kids loved it so much it has become their birthday party cake request every year! Love to make it as cupcakes and garnish with sanding sugar and butterscotch syrup!
Olivia says
Hi Diane! So happy to hear you and the kids love it 🙂
Stephanie E Bonito says
Could I use bigger pans for this instead of the 6inch? Can I use IBC cream soda?
Olivia says
Hi Stephanie! You can use bigger pans but you’d need to adjust the recipe. Converting pan sizes is always tricky. Here are some sites I use as a guideline:
http://www.joyofbaking.com/PanSizes.html
https://www.cookipedia.co.uk/recipes_wiki/Cake_tin_conversion_charts
Any cream soda should work fine.
Stephanie says
Thank you I used 2 8 inch cakes and they didn’t really rise so I’m not sure what I did wrong. They are half the size of what I did last week…
Could I use zero sugar box cake mix and butterscotch sauce instead of butterscotch pudding mix?
Olivia says
It should have worked fine in two 8″ – each cake layer would be close to 2″ tall. If they were shorter than that I would check that your baking powder is still fresh. I can’t comment on the zero sugar cake mix and sauce as I haven’t tried that. For best results I would make the recipe as written.
Ashley says
This cake is so delicious as is!
But the second time I made it I added a bit of rum extract and a 1/2 mix more of butterscotch pudding and it helped it have more butterscotch flavor in the cake itself.
The frosting is great! And was perfect for creating a hedwig cake for a Harry Potter themed birthday! It pipes great! At least on a cold winter day 😉
Thank you for the recipe it’s so delicious!
Olivia says
Hi Ashley! I’m glad you loved it. Thanks for your tips!
Dana Hufford says
I cannot believe how good this cake is. As I was assembling the ingredients I was glad I was making it for a child because it sounded like it was going to be highly sweet with little flavor. I was very wrong. It has become my entire family’s special occasion cake of choice and I have been asked for the recipe. Advise: make your own butterscotch sauce. You likely have the ingredients already and it is so easy, it’s lots faster than going to the store, especially if you have to boil it down to get the right consistency. High fructose corn syrup does not taste good.
Olivia says
Thanks so much, Dana! I’m glad you loved it 🙂
Julie says
My son loved this and my daughter is now requesting it as cupcakes for her birthday. Question – would it hurt the texture if I cut the granulated sugar down to about 1/2 cup? Thank you so much for this recipe!
Olivia says
Hi Julie! I’ve already reduced the sugar in this recipe from 1.5 cups to 1 cup so I worry that a further reduction will impact the consistency. You can give it a try though! And/or you can increase the salt to help cut some of the sweetness.
Stacey says
Hot damn!!! These are incredible!!! Made these as cupcakes, my absolute favorite!!!
Olivia says
So glad you love it, Stacey!
Liz says
How many cupcakes did this yield? I’m using this recipe to bake cupcakes for a HP themed wedding!
Olivia says
Hi Liz! It should make 18-24 depending on size.
Cynthia says
I’m struggling to find instant butterscotch pudding mix – will cook and serve work ok?
Olivia says
Hi Cynthia! I haven’t tried that myself but if it’s all you can find the give it a go 🙂
Stacey says
Works perfectly! That was all I could fine and it was awesome!