HAPPEE BIRTHDAE, Dalton

Every so often somebody asks for a cake and I know exactly the one before they finish the sentence.

Dalton's family wanted the cake Hagrid pulls out of his coat pocket — pink, squashed, green letters, spelled wrong. If you've seen the film you know it on sight. If you haven't, it just looks like a cake somebody's uncle made.

Getting it wrong on purpose

This is the funny thing about a cake like this. Normally I'm trying to get letters even and the top smooth. Here the whole charm is that it isn't.

HAPPEE BIRTHDAE — misspelled, exactly as it should be. The letters are piped thick and a little uneven in that green. The pink is soft and slightly rough rather than polished.

Making something look casually thrown together is a harder job than making it neat, because you have to decide where the roughness goes. Too tidy and the joke's gone. Too messy and it just looks like a bad cake.

What's inside

Vanilla cake with vanilla buttercream frosting.

Plain vanilla is right for this one. The cake in the film is the least fancy cake imaginable, and that's the point of it.

Happy birthday, Dalton

For the fan who appreciates a little magic.