Platform 9 3/4 Cake {Harry Potter} + Chocolate Cake with Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting

Today’s Sunday Funday is birthday favorites!  In my house, a birthday is usually an occasion to go out to eat.  I cook at home all the time and take requests on a weekly basis, so me cooking really isn’t anything special - haha.  

Even though we don’t have any favorite birthday meals, a fun cake is always a given.  I’m still a hobby cake decorator so birthdays are an occasion to go all out and really have fun…though it’s getting tougher as the kids get older. 

It was recently Dude’s birthday, and as I made a collage of his birthday cakes through the years, I realized that it’s been 7 years since he requested a cake design so I’ve had to get creative myself.

Cake Themes: 1. Teddy Bear, 2. Safari, 3. Wall-E, 4. Very Hungry Caterpillar, 5. Pirate Ship, 6. Mickey Mouse, 7. Planes Fire & Rescue, 8. Laser Tag & Mini Golf, 9. Battleship, 10. Books, 11. Circuit Boards, 12. Circuit Boards, 13. Baby Yoda, 14. Minecraft, 15. Xbox

Spud still has a vision for his cakes (often oddly specific), but even his are getting simpler and “cooler” as he approaches his teens.

Cake Themes: 1. Xylosaur, 2. Nautical, 3. Mickey Mouse, 4. Dinosaurs with Volcano, 5. Shark with Pilot Fish, 6. Baseball Stadium, 7. Great White Shark vs T-Rex, 8. Vikings Football, 9. Edmund Fitzgerald with Captain Pikachu, 10. WWII Atomic Bomb, 11. Baseball Stadium with Fireworks, 12. Baseball

Luckily for me, I have Hubs’ birthday (though he usually gets cheesecake) and my own (if I make myself a cake - depends on the year) and a couple friends who ask me to make cakes on occasion.

Today’s cake is one I made for a friend’s son.  A couple weeks before the birthday and sent the following details: he loves chocolate cake, coconut, and cream cheese frosting.  He also loves Harry Potter.  Especially the Hogwarts crest, Dobby the house elf, and Platform 9 ¾.

I decided to make the cake with (almost) all of those details.  The cake was a chocolate cake with coconut cream cheese frosting (recipe below) and decorated with the crest and 9 ¾ (I was worried about being able to mold Dobby correctly - he’s a pretty challenging character).

As a huge Harry Potter fan myself, I was thrilled with how this one came out!  All of the details are hand painted on marshmallow fondant with edible food dye over that chocolate cake with coconut cream cheese frosting.

Check out these birthday favorites:

• Eggless Mango Semolina Cake from Sneha's Recipe
• Garlic Fried Rice from Sizzling Tastebuds
• {Harry Potter} Platform 9 3/4 Cake (Chocolate Cake with Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting) from Amy's Cooking Adventures
• Holy Cow Chocolate Pie from A Day in the Life on the Farm
• The Mann Men's Birthday Treats: Bûche De Noël, Baked Alaska, and Tiramisù from Culinary Cam
• Passion Fruit Posset from Food Lust People Love

Coconut Cream Cheese Frosting

Adapted from My Recipes

1 (8 ounce block) cream cheese, softened

1 stick (½ cup) butter, softened

1 teaspoon vanilla extract

3 ¼ cup powdered sugar

2 cups sweetened flaked coconut

Place the cream cheese and butter in the bowl of a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment.  Beat on medium-low speed until very smooth.

Add the powdered sugar and vanilla and mix on low until combined and smooth.  Stir in the coconut.  If the frosting is too thick, add 2-3 tablespoons of milk.