Butterbeer Cupcakes

The end is here. It is a sad day in the muggle world as the Harry Potter movie series come to an end. This past Thursday I went to the midnight premier of Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows, Part 2. The movie was sold out and so was every store that sold Harry Potter merchandise in a 50-mile radius of where I live. So while had all the good intentions of dressing up for the bittersweet event, it didn’t happen. However, these past twelve or so years of reading the books and watching the movies has left a special place in my heart for Harry. I started reading the books about a year after they came out and it was a part of my nightly routine to have my Dad read “Harry Potter” to me before I went to bed. We read books 1-6 together and went to the midnight release of the“ Harry Potter and the Deathly Hallows” book together. I can honestly say that Harry has been a big part of my life and I am fine with admitting that I sobbed at the end of the movie. While as great of a series it was, there was a little part of my childhood that died when I saw that final scene and Ron, Harry and Hermione smiled back at me. Yes, I know it is a cheesy sob story but I am just telling the truth.

So in honor of the final Harry Potter movie, I decided to create this cupcake inspired by The Three Broomsticks famous butterbeer drink.

Ingredients:

Cake

1 box yellow cake mix

3 eggs

1/2c. (or 1 stick) unsalted butter, melted

1 (12 0z.) bottle of cream soda

1/2 t. vanilla extract

dash of pumpkin pie spice

Filling

8oz. butterscotch chips

1/2c. heavy whipping cream

Frosting

1 (8oz.) block cream cheese, softened

1/2c. sugar

1c. heavy whipping cream, chilled

splash of vanilla extract

Snitch

24 yellow starburst

24 mini marshmallows

Green decorating sugar

1. Preheat oven to 350 and line two cupcake pans with 24 paper liners.
2. Place all ingredients for cake in a bowl and mix on med.-high until well combined and no lumps remain.
3. Using an ice-cream scoop, distribute cake batter evenly among cupcake pans. Bake for 15-17min. or until it passes the toothpick test and cool completely
4. While cupcakes bake, place filling ingredients in double-boiler and melt over med. heat until smooth and well combined. Remove from heat and chill in refrigerator to semi-set the filling. Place filling in a gallon sized freezer bag, keeping filling toward one of the bottom corners making a piping bag.
5. For frosting, combine cream cheese and sugar in a mixer and beat until no lumps remain. Slowly add in whipping cream and beat at med.-high until mixture forms stiff peaks. Add in vanilla, mix and chill frosting until ready for use.
6. To assemble, make an X in the top of each cupcake. Using piping bag with filling, quickly snip a very small part of the corner where the filling is concentrated. Place the tip of the bag in the X and gently squeeze the bag until filling starts to rise out of the X in the cupcake. Scoop frosting on top and smooth with an off set spatula. Dip frosted top of cupcake into green sugar. Warm starburst with your hands and mold into a ball. Split a mini marshmallow in half and place on opposite sides of starburst ball, creating a small slit to stuff the marshmallow half in. Place on top of the cupcake. Repeat for remaining cupcakes.
7. Enjoy!