Sasha's Kitchen: Harry Potter Butterbeer Flying Snitch Cupcakes

I've always been a huge Harry Potter fan - both of the earlier parts of the series, and the darker chapters as well.  I loved the Quidditch games that were played in the first few books, and decided to create a Harry Potter inspired cupcake.  I really want to take a trip to Wizarding World in Orlando and taste some butterbeer for myself, but so far I've only made my homemade butterbeer using this recipe.  At any rate, my newest cupcakes have a butterscotch frosting and are inspired to have a butterbeer flavor.  They are decorated in a Quidditch theme, with golden snitches that I made out of yellow chocolate melts and fondant., as Harry was the Gryffindor Quidditch team seeker. Thus, these cupcakes have the spirit of the early Potter books (and movies) - a flair for Quidditch and a taste of butterbeer, which I re-created with flavors of cream soda and butterscotch. Now, I just need one of those hopping chocolate frogs and I'm all set.

Sasha's Harry Potter Butterbeer Quidditch Cupcakes
1 1/4 cups flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/4 tsp baking soda
1/4 tsp salt
1/2 stick butter
1/4 cup granulated sugar
1/4 cup brown sugar
1 tsp vanilla
1/4 cup milk
2 eggs
1/3 cup Dr. Brown's Cream soda (or A&W)

Frosting
1/2 cup heavy cream
5 oz butterscotch chips
1 stick of butter
1 tsp vanilla
4 cups confectioner's sugar

Combine the dry ingredients for the cupcakes in a bowl (flour, baking powder, baking soda and salt). Beat the butter and sugars in the basin of your stand mixer until smooth. Beat in the eggs and vanilla. Alternate beating in the milk and the dry ingredients, and finally, beat in the cream soda until smooth.

Bake the cupcakes at 350 for about 20-25 minutes. Allow to cool completely before frosting. To make the frosting, prepare a butterscotch ganache with 5 oz of butterscotch chips and 1/2 cup of heavy cream.  Combine the two in the top of a double boiler and mix until smooth. Allow to chill for about a half an hour in the refrigerator.  Beat the butter, sugar and vanilla until smooth and add in the ganache. Frost the cupcakes using a frosting bag. If you wish to decorate, I made the snitches using fondant, a fondant pen and yellow chocolate melts for the golden center.

Sasha's Kitchen: Harry Potter Butterbeer Flying Snitch Cupcakes