{ Happy Birthday, Dobby! Butterbeer Mini Cake}

Today is the birthday of one of my favorite characters in the Potterverse.

Dobby the House Elf.

Now, let me tell you a little secret. When Dobby first arrived in Chamber of Secrets Ididntlikehim.

What? C'mon. I am NOT alone here. He was a weird little annoying thing cause Harry all sorts of issues. I actually feared he was the Jar Jar Binks of the Wizarding World. Once he made it to the screen, I was even LESS convinced. However, time wore on, pages were read, love was built, tears were shed.

I apologize, deeply, and fully, dear Dobby. I'm sorry I thought such things of you. You were brave and loyal. You'd be a true Gryffindor. So, I made you some cake. It's Butterbeer flavor AND House Elf sized!!

I made this cake with a set of 4" Wilton pans. They come in a pack of three. Each pan takes about the same amount as 2 cupcakes. So, basically, this cake is 6 cupcakes big.

I used the rest of the batter to make cupcakes, because why not?

Happy Birthday, little guy! Tonight I raise a glass of Butterbeer to toast in your honor.

Want more Happy Birthdays to Dobby? Check out Darla's from last year! Butterbeer Krispy Cake!

Tina

See all of my Harry Potter recipes here.

See my Harry Potter Parties here and here!


House Elf Sized Butterbeer Cake
by Tina @ Sugar Bean Bakers

Needed: 4" Wilton pans (comes in set of 3)
Butterbeer Cake & Butterbeer Icing recipe

{ Peach Coffee Cake }

Sorry, I've been MIA lately. Last week was Vacation Bible School at our church. Then, sadly, this Sunday our beloved Luna Dog ran away. We've spend the entire week looking for her and hanging up fliers.

It's been three days now, but we are trying not to give up hope. I keep hearing all these inspiring stories about dogs that have made their way back home days, weeks, even months later. I really hope she's one of those. We miss her and her silly personality so, so much.

So, I've been a little preoccupied.

*Update: Luna was found exactly one week later less than a mile from home :)

I did make a dessert for Father's Day that I'm just getting around to posting.

It was quick and easy, and was a huge hit with everyone. Especially hubs. This may be his new favorite thing!

It doesn't take long at all to make, and it's very tasty.

It has peaches and streusel, what could be better than that??

Not much.

Tina



Peach Coffee Cake
by Tina @ Sugar Bean Bakers

For the cake:
1 box yellow cake mix & ingredients listed on back, less the water
2 - 15 to 16 oz cans of yellow cling peach slices in heavy syrup

Preheat oven to 350, grease a 13x9 pan and set aside.

Drain peach juice into a bowl. Using the measurement listed on the back of the cake mix box, use the peach juice in place of the water called for. Mix in other ingredients listed on back of box. Cut peaches down, but do not dice. Stir into cake mix. Pour into pan. Top with streusel.

For the streusel:
1/2 stick (4 Tablespoons) cold butter

1/3 cup brown sugar

1/4 cup quick oats

1/2 cup flour

Cut the dry ingredients into the cold butter with a pastry cutter or fork (or you can use a food processor), until the mixture resembles peas. Sprinkle over cake.

Bake according to back of box.

Top with vanilla ice cream or whipped cream, if desired.

{ The Fault In Our Stars Cookies }

If I've ever had a hipster moment in my life, it's this:

I liked John Green before he was cool.

Ok, lie. John Green has ALWAYS been cool (unless you ask him about his school days). John has rocketed to fame after publishing The Fault in Our Stars in 2012, and even more so now that the movie hits theaters in only 3 days. I, however, have been a fan of John Green's (and his brother Hank) since 2007, when they started a little YouTube series called Vlogbrothers. When I subscribed to their channel in July of that year they had, I believe, around 4,000 subscribers. As I write this, the vlogbrothers now have 2,103,154 subscribers.

Upon watching the first video I found (Accio Deathly Hallows), I then went back to the start and watched all of them. I loved these quirky guys. They were just too much fun. I did what I always do, and I googled. I found out John was an award winning author and I ran right out and bought the two books he had published at the time (Looking for Alaska & An Abundance of Katherines). Since then he has published Paper Towns, and Co-authored Will Grayson, Will Grayson, and Let It Snow. Also, obviously, The Fault in Our Stars. (See all about John's books here). You can read much more about the Brothers Green in my prior post about them which I wrote after meeting John at a signing in 2012: {That Time I Met John Green & JScribble Cookies}.

Back to the cookies, eh? As I mentioned, the movie comes out in 3 days. I'm quite excited, as you can imagine. TFiOS is a beautiful, quirky, heart-wrenching book, and I love it. In the book, the main characters, Hazel and Augustus, banter back and forth over the word "Okay", and that simple word eventually becomes full of meaning. That's where these cookies come in. The front cover of TFiOS features two clouds.

One cloud is actually black and the other white, but I don't find black icing all that appetizing, so I went with TFiOS blue.

These are simple sugar cookies with royal icing. I decorated with the flood and fill method. I'm not great at it, but I think these look ok :) I couldn't find a cloud cookie cutter (what?!), so I made a template from cardstock and cut around it.

Yes, those are ALL my copies of TFiOS. What?!

Are you a John Green fan? Are you going to see the TFiOS movie? Are you a Nerdfighter? Do you know about the vlogbrothers?

If so, leave me a note in comments!

And as they say in my hometown... Don't Forget To Be Awesome!

Tina





This recipe uses:

Rolled Sugar Cookies
Royal Icing
Flood and Fill method
and... Awesome