In the lead up to Halloween it seems like the perfect time to share some of the things I learned when I threw a Harry Potter-themed party this month. As children become interested in everything magical and terrible for the impending All Hallow's Eve, the Harry Potter theme is a good one to latch on to because it's not just about eyeballs and zombies.
As this is a food blog, it wouldn't be terribly wrong of me to focus on the food for the party, which more or less revolved around the famed HoneyDukes candy store, but I was quite pleased with my decorative efforts. We had lots of spider webs, homemade Hogwarts banners, trails of spiders and candles - all of which I got cheaply at the local pound stores.
The feature of the evening was the Golden Snitch cupcakes. I got the idea to make golden snitches with Ferrero Rochers from other blogs, but it was my idea to turn them into cupcake toppers. I simply made chocolate cupcakes, chocolate buttercream frosting and topped them with a Rocher snitch. Wax paper is ideal to use as the wings, and if you have lots of time and patience, you could cut them a lot finer than I did. But my advice is to get the Ferreros out while you do it, because my first lot of wings were way too small and I had to do it all over again.
You have to take care removing the brown cases, as they're glued on quite snugly. And if you don't pull the Ferrero stickers off carefully you'll rip the gold foil. I found that I was able to stick the wings on to the remnants of glue left from the Ferrero sticker. If you don't have the same luck, then use a piece of sticky tape.
Other fun features from the night were my chocolate frogs. I got my son to make the wizard cards that went along with them. I simply melted a mixture of dark and milk chocolate in the microwave and poured into the frog moulds I bought online at Cakes Cookies and Crafts for 3.98.
They are really quite large, so you will need a surprising amount of chocolate. You can also get creative and add crushed nuts, mini mallows or popping candy if you so desire. There's no need to use a water bath to melt chocolate - the microwave works just fine. But you do have to take care, here are the golden rules of microwave melting.
Set in the venue’s beautiful (and covered!) Courtyard Garden, the tea’s new incarnation highlights a collaboration with design collective Luna & Curious who also curate Sanderson’s hotel gift shop. They have crafted bespoke crockery with a carnival theme to complement the service.
But first you must locate your menu – you’ll find it hidden inside a vintage book - and unfurl a napkin wrapped with a riddle. Now you can pour tea from pots adorned with kings and queens and dine from sandwich plates that feature zebras, birdcages, carousels and ticking clocks.
On the menu are dainty sandwiches including Smoked Cumbrian ham with wholegrain mustard on sun dried tomato bread and Cucumber and chive cream cheese on spinach bread plus classic home baked savoury and sweet scones with herb butter and fruit preserves.
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