Today’s Harry Potter Layer Cake is a fun mash-up of a classic unicorn cake and a Harry Potter dessert. It’s the perfect centrepiece for a Harry Potter birthday party.

Harry Potter Birthday Cake Recipe

Today’s recipe is just for the Harry Potter fans!

A decadent three-layer cake with luscious and creamy vanilla buttercream frosting, decorated with Harry’s trademark glasses and thunderbolt scar… as well as some unicorn horns.

Yup, everything must be made unicorn-themed in this house and I’m beyond questioning it at this point. However, you can easily omit the unicorn decorations and make this a straight-forward Harry Potter layer cake, if desired.

Our cake layers were dyed to match Harry’s house, Gryffindor, whose house colors are red and gold (representing fire), however you can customize this recipe to match your (or your child’s) favorite house:

• Hufflepuff‘s house colors are yellow and black (representing wheat and soil)
• Ravenclaw‘s house colors are blue and bronze (representing sky and eagle feathers)
• and Slytherin‘s house colors are green and silver (representing water)

While you can make the unicorn horn and ears out of fondant or gumpaste, I highly recommend just ordering this re-usable set for $7 from Amazon and saving yourself a lot of work (and potential frustration). AND since they are re-usable, you can use them to transform just about any cake into a unicorn cake. (Or you can be like me and turn ANYTHING into unicorn… unicorn pot roast, unicorn loaf of bread…)

If you’re making this Harry Potter Unicorn Cake for a birthday party, be sure to check out our Harry Potter Gift Guide (with over 50 unique Harry Potter gift ideas).

There is a little bit of piping work that goes into this cake – all of the techniques are simple, with the piping tips doing most of the work for you. If you even make two cakes or cupcakes a year, I highly recommend purchasing a basic piping set like this one – you won’t believe how easy it is to pipe gorgeous decorations yourself using the right equipment!

(For just a bit more, this starter cake decorating set is a crazy good deal – basically everything you will ever need for cake or cupcake decorating is in here!)

Can this cake be frozen? The individual cake layers can be frozen before being decorated. Store in airtight freezer bags or freezer containers for up to two months.(This set of freezer containers is a crazy bargain.) The cake layers can be frozen for up to two months. Let the cakes come to room temperature before frosting.

How to get perfectly flat cake layers? I tend to just bake and then use this dental floss hack to remove any domes that occasionally occur with baking. However, you can also make homemade cake strips to ensure perfectly flat cake layers. Check out this tutorial from Preppy Kitchen for how to do that.

This cake can also be made into a Harry Potter sheet cake if you want to skip all of the layering steps!

Harry Potter Cake Ingredients

• White Cake Mix
• Large Egg Whites
• Water
• Canola Oil
• Maroon and Golden yellow gel food coloring <– this set of food coloring has lasted me forever and I love that it creates highly saturated colors with just a drop

Vanilla Frosting Ingredients:

• Unsalted Butter, softened
• Powdered Confectioner’s Sugar
• Heavy Whipping Cream
• Vanilla Extract
• Maroon, black and golden yellow gel food coloring
• Gold coin sprinkles

Scroll down to the printable recipe card for full measurements.

Tip: swap out the boxed cake mix for your favorite vanilla cake recipe.

Kitchen Tools You May Find Helpful

• Unicorn Horn and Ears Set

• Three 9″ Round Cake Pans

• Measuring Cups and Spoons
• Mixing Bowl
• Electric mixer <– this is a great hand mixer if you don’t want to make the investment into a stand mixer
• 1-10″ round cake board
• 1 large piping bag with large star tip
• 2 piping bags with #3 round tips
• 3 medium mixing bowls
• 3″ round cookie cutter

How to Make a Harry Potter Unicorn Cake

Cake Directions:

Preheat your oven to 350F.

Grease and/or flour three 9” round cake pans and set aside.

Prepare the cake batter according to package directions.

Scoop out about 1/3 of the cake batter (approximately 3 1/2 cups) into a second bowl and mix in a few drops of golden yellow gel food colouring.

Dye the plain cake batter with a few drops of maroon gel food colouring.

Divide the maroon cake batter into two of the prepared cake pans and then pour the yellow cake batter into the third pan.

Bake according to package directions, approximately 25-30 minutes, until an inserted toothpick comes out clean.

Allow to cool completely before frosting.

Vanilla Frosting Directions:

In a large bowl, beat all ingredients for the vanilla frosting (except for the food dye) together until smooth and well-combined, at least 2 minutes.

Scoop 1/2 cup of the vanilla frosting into a small bowl and dye black with food colouring.

Scoop 1 1/2 cup of the vanilla frosting into a small bowl and dye gold/yellow with food colouring.

Scoop 1 1/2 cup of the vanilla frosting into a small bowl and dye maroon with food colouring.

Assembling the Cake Directions:

Place one maroon cake layer on the cake board or serving platter and cut off the domed top to make an even layer.

Spread about 1/3 to 1/2 cup of the plain vanilla frosting all over the top of the cake, then repeat this process with the remaining two layers. (Sandwiching the yellow layer in the centre.)

Smooth the excess plain frosting around the edges to completely cover the cake.

Scoop the maroon frosting into a piping bag fit with a large star tip. Set aside.

Scoop all but about 1/4 cup of the yellow frosting into a piping bag fit with a large star tip. Set aside.

Finally, scoop the remaining yellow frosting into a piping bag and just snip a small amount of the tip off to make a small opening. And repeat this with the black frosting.

Decorating the Cake Directions:

Lightly press a round cookie cutter into the front of the cake to create an outline to follow for the glasses.

Use the black frosting to trace the glasses outline and then add the nose bridge and arms of the glasses.

Use the yellow frosting in the plain piping bag (not with the star tip) to pipe on the eyelids/eyelashes and create the lightning bolt scar.

Swirl dollops of the remaining frosting over the top and down the back of the cake to create the unicorn’s mane.

Place into the fridge to set the frosting until ready to serve.

Place the unicorn horns and ears on the cake just before serving.

Pin this Easy Unicorn Harry Potter Cake for your party planning inspiration:

Grab your free printable recipe card for our Harry Potter cake recipe:

I hope your family and friends love this easy Harry Potter cake recipe as much as mine did!

For more amazing cakes, check out our full cake recipe collection here:

For more decadent desserts, check out our full dessert recipe collection here: