The Unofficial Harry Potter Cookbook - Dinah Bucholz [6]
Serves 6
Custard
¼ cup granulated sugar, divided
3 tablespoons cornstarch
¼ teaspoon salt
1 cup whole milk and ½ cup heavy cream or 1½ cups whole milk
3 large egg yolks
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Whipped Cream
1 cup heavy cream
3 tablespoons confectioners' sugar
1 teaspoon pure vanilla extract
Combine 2 tablespoons of the sugar with the cornstarch and salt in a small heavy-bottomed saucepan. Add the milk and cream and stir until the cornstarch dissolves. In a separate bowl, whisk the egg yolks with the remaining 2 tablespoons sugar.
Cook the milk mixture over medium-high heat until the mixture is just starting to bubble and thicken. Reduce the heat to low. Temper the yolks by slowly pouring ½ cup of the hot mixture into the yolks while whisking constantly. Pour the yolk mixture into the saucepan, stirring constantly.
Turn the heat back up to medium-high. Cook, stirring constantly but gently, until the mixture is thick. Once the mixture starts to thicken, it must be handled gently or the cornstarch will lose its thickening power. Remove the pan from the heat and stir in the vanilla.
Strain the custard through a sieve into another bowl. (You may need to push it through the sieve with a rubber spatula; this gets rid of lumps.) Cover the custard with plastic wrap to prevent a skin from forming, and chill until it is set. Place the heavy cream, confectioners' sugar, and vanilla in a mixing bowl and whip until firm peaks form and stay in place when you lift up the beater and turn the bowl upside down.
Old-Fashioned Chocolate Buttermilk Sheet Cake
Harry hates going to his babysitter, Mrs. Figg, when the Dursleys need him out of the way. She has too many cats, her house smells like cabbages, and her chocolate cake tastes ancient (see Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Chapters 2 and 3).
“Cake” comes from the Old Norse word kaka (what were the Vikings thinking?). But you can imagine that what the Vikings called kaka and we call cake are vastly different items. Not until the 1700s were eggs and sugar and even icings added to cakes to turn them into something we would recognize.
2 ounces chopped bittersweet chocolate
1 tablespoon instant coffee
1¼ cups boiling water
2¾ cups all-purpose flour
2¾ cups granulated sugar
¾ cup unsweetened cocoa powder
½ teaspoon salt
2 teaspoons baking soda
1 teaspoon baking powder
1 cup vegetable oil
1¼ cups buttermilk
4 large eggs
2 teaspoons pure vanilla extract
Preheat the oven to 350°F. Grease and flour a 9″ × 13″ cake pan.
Place the chocolate and coffee in a small bowl. Pour the boiling water over the chocolate and coffee and let it stand 5 minutes. Whisk until smooth.
Using an electric mixer, combine the flour, sugar, cocoa powder, salt, baking soda, and baking powder in a large bowl. Mix on low speed until well combined. Add the oil and buttermilk and mix well, scraping down the sides as needed. Add the eggs one at a time, beating after each until incorporated. Add the chocolate-coffee mixture very carefully, on the lowest speed, as it will slosh around the bowl. Add the vanilla. Finish by scraping the bowl down and mixing all the batter with a rubber spatula.
Scrape the batter into the prepared pan and bake for about 45 minutes, until the cake feels firm when touched lightly in the center or a toothpick inserted in the center comes out with a few moist crumbs attached. If the toothpick comes out clean, the cake is over baked.
Cool the cake completely in the pan on a wire rack. Dust with confectioners' sugar and serve right out of the pan.
Makes 24 pieces
Nutty Fruitcake for Kids
Uncle Vernon goes so nuts when letter after letter arrives addressed to Harry Potter that he hammers in a nail with a piece of fruitcake to seal the mail slot (see Harry Potter and the Sorcerer's Stone, Chapter 3).
How did Uncle Vernon get to such a state that he confused a piece of fruitcake for a hammer? It's not such a strange mistake to make when you consider that fruitcakes are made to last a year — it must have gotten as hard as