Accio Butterbeer (cupcakes)

With the final film coming out tonight at midnight (eek!), Harry Potter-mania has taken over yet again. I picked up the first book about 12 years ago in middle school and I was immediately sucked in to the magical universe J.K. Rowling geniusly created. My sister and I are re-reading our way through the books, and in an attempt to bring this whimsical world to life, I decided to whip up a batch of Butterbeer cupcakes from a recipe I found online (and modified slightly).

First I laid out all my ingredients:

Flour

Baking Powder

Baking Soda

Salt

Butter

White Sugar

Brown Sugar

Eggs

Vanilla

Buttermilk

Cream Soda

Then I mixed together all my dry ingredients (2 C flour; 1 1/2tsp baking powder; 1/2 tsp baking soda; 1/4 tsp salt)

Then, I creamed 1 stick butter; 1/2 cup white sugar & 1/2 cup dark brown sugar

Mixed in 3 eggs; 1/2 cup buttermilk; 1/2 cup cream soda; 1/2 tsp vanilla & all the dry ingredients

I filled my cupcake cups about 3/4 the way full, baked them for 15 minutes at 350 degrees...

...and let them cool over night before frosting

So...I forgot to take pictures of the frosting-making process, but I melted a bag of butterscotch chips with 1 tsp of butter and about half a cup of pre-made frosting (it is VERY sweet) and used that to top the cupcakes. I also added a shake or two of sprinkles for some extra sparkle!

(I used green, because that's what we had; not because I'm a Slytherin, 'cause I'm not. If anything, I'd probably be in Hufflepuff, but I digress...)

The finished product:

They are delicious, 'Honeydukes quality', if I do say so myself...

Now I'm going to take my nerd self, curl up in a chair with one of my confections, and finish reading Harry Potter and the Chamber of Secrets