I was never a great reader growing up. I had my favorite books growing up, but I was never a book worm. Then, when I was 22, I read the Harry Potter series. I fell in love with the characters and the story. This began a love for reading I never had before, and I’m so grateful.

I first made these for my sister-in-law’s bachelorette party. She loves Harry Potter so her party was HP themed. My college roommate is also a big Harry Potter fan, so when I found out we were seeing each other on July 31st, Harry Potter’s birthday, I knew I had to make my sorting hat cupcakes!

You can use any cupcake recipe you want. Box mix is fine. I mostly like to bake from scratch, but these cupcakes are more steps than usual, so no judgment on the box mix. Bake your cupcakes according to the instructions. While the cupcakes bake, pour out a family-sized bag of M&Ms and separate them by color. Go ahead and eat the brown and orange ones, or save them for later

Once the cupcakes are baked and cooled, hollow out the centers of the cupcakes. I made 18 cupcakes, so I filled 3 cupcakes with green M&Ms, then 5 cupcakes each with blue, red, and yellow M&Ms. I knew the kids would be bummed to get Slytherin so I made less green. No one wants to be “that bad guy, Malfoy”. Cover the holes back up with the cupcake centers. Then cover the top with frosting. Store bought or homemade is fine. Flavors are also flexible, just make sure you cannot see any M&M colors sticking out. I used yellow cupcakes with chocolate frosting.

Here comes my favorite part! I bought little individual caramels to form into sorting hats! Each hat is made of 2 caramels, so 36 total. I unwrapped about 10 caramels at a time and put them in the microwave for 10 seconds so they were easy to form. I shaped the first caramel into a disc shape for the base of the hat. Then I stretched the second caramel into the top of the hat with a bend to the side. I pushed the two pieces together while they’re still pliable. Finally, I used a butter knife to indent two eyes and a mouth onto the hats and placed them on top of the cupcakes. I love how they turned out!

The sorting was so much fun! I was happy to get Gryffindor! If you try these let me know what house you get! Happy sorting!