I also have a Frozen Butterbeer recipe! Check it out! 
As I continue my little celebration of the release of Harry potter and the Deathly Hallows, part 1, today I get to share with you my favorite treat that I have ever, ever made: butterbeer!
It seems to be the Harry Potter food that most people want to try more than any other! Fortunately, now you can, of course, at the Wizarding World of Harry Potter. And the best part about it, is that you know it’s the right stuff, because Jo Rowling herself taste approved the park’s recipe!
I was lucky enough to go to WWOHP back in June. In fact, I was there the second week after it opened!!
It. was. amazing. We spent two days there, and I loved every second of it, and I can’t wait to go back!! My only complaint is that I wanted more! I wanted it to be even bigger! But I have a feeling that I would have wanted that no matter what!
As for the butterbeer…well, I have to admit that it was definitely on the top of my list of things to do there! We ordered our butterbeers at the Hog’s Head Inn (where the line was much, much shorter than elsewhere), and I couldn’t even wait to take a picture before I tried mine!
It was so delicious! It was something like a cross between a butterscotchy cream soda and a root beer float. It’s also strangely addictive. We kept finding ourselves wanting to go back for more (thank goodness for the awesomely adorable souvenir mugs)! I knew immediately that it was something I wanted to try to replicate for my blog. And believe it or not, I really did! I’m awfully glad about that fact too, because I seriously crave this stuff!!
There are several homemade butterbeer recipes that have popped up online since the opening of WWOHP, but I have to admit, I haven’t tried any of them. To be perfectly honest, they’re either too long and involved to make, or there isn’t enough effort involved in making it more than just a bottle of cream soda. I wanted to find something that was easy and fast, but not just your plain old glass of cream soda with boring whipped cream on top.
I started with the butterbeer itself. Jo Rowling describes it as being butterscotch, but not so sickly sweet. After trying the WW version, I, like others, started with a base of cream soda. Admittedly, the WW butterbeer is very, very close to cream soda. All I needed to do was find a way to make it more like butterscotch in flavor.
I considered butterscotch syrup, but ruled it our for two reasons:
1. I couldn’t find any here on my tiny island.
2. I honestly thought it would add to much sweetness to the already sweet soda.
What else could give me that buttery flavor, but butter? Butter in soda, though? That sounds really gross to me. Imitation butter flavor turned out to be the perfect solution. Believe it or not, just a dash added to 12 ounces of cream soda was perfect! For those of you who don’t have access to cream soda, try my easy and delicious Homemade Cream Soda recipe.
To avoid using artificial flavors, you can use clarified butter (which will add the flavor of butter, not oil), and a great resource with instructions is found here, from David Lebovitz, but it’s quite a bit more work, which is why I settled on imitation butter. The clarified butter also doesn’t always mix well with the cold beverage. It only works for me about half of the time. I prefer working with natural flavors whenever possible, but I don’t recommend using clarified butter in the drink recipe (it works beautifully in the foam). If you don’t want to use artificial flavoring in your butterbeer, either take your chances here (but no promises from me that it works…sorry), or skip the flavoring in the actual drink altogether and only flavor the foam. If you choose to use clarified butter, you’ll want to use two or three tablespoons to get as much flavor as you would from the imitation butter.
Now, all I had to worry about was the “foam.”
The best way I can describe the foam from butterbeer is that it tastes similar to vanilla ice cream, but more buttery and with a consistency more like a soft whipped cream. Seems like a great jumping off point, so I started with a basic whipped cream recipe and tweaked it until I had the right flavor.
All you need for the butterbeer foam is heavy cream, sugar, vanilla, and butter extract (or clarified butter, which is excellent in this). Once you whip all those ingredients together, you just need your butterbeer, and you’re all set! *Bonus! This is another gluten-free recipe! A vegan/dairy-free whipped cream recipe that I think would work well for this can be found here. Make as directed, adding in the butter extract as below.
This has been, by far, the most fun, the most exciting thing that I have made. Ever. I could hardly wait to blog about it!! It truly does taste like what I remember from the park, and I hope everyone gets a chance to try it! If you can’t make it to Florida for a taste of the real thing, I promise this will make up for it! It’s just as delicious (and just as addictive)! Enjoy!!
Homemade Butterbeer (You can also check out my Frozen Butterbeer recipe!)
Makes 6 servings
Ingredients
**All research I conducted turned up that McCormick’s Imitation Butter Flavor is vegan, but I cannot guarantee it**
FOR THE BUTTERBEER
6 12-ounce bottles chilled cream soda, or 1/2 recipe Homemade Cream Soda, substitute diet cream soda for a still yummy sugar-free version
3 teaspoons (1 tablespoon) imitation butter flavor, or 2 tablespoons clarified butter (instructions linked above **clarified butter does not always blend well with the cold beverage, see info above**)
OPTIONAL – 1 ounce light rum, per serving, for adults only
FOR THE FOAM (Vegan/Dairy-free recipe linked above)
2 cups heavy cream
6 tablespoons sugar, or splenda for sugar free version
2 teaspoons vanilla extract
1 1/2 teaspoons imitation butter (if using clarified butter, double the amount to 3 teaspoons, or 1 tablespoon)
To make the butterbeer: Set out 6 16-ounce glasses. Place 1/2 teaspoon of imitation butter (or 1 teaspoon clarified butter) in each glass. Pour 12 ounces of cream soda into each glass, over the butter. Lightly stir, if necessary.
To make the foam: In a large bowl, or the bowl of a standing mixer, whip the heavy cream on medium high speed for 3-4 minutes until it starts to thicken. Add the sugar and continue whipping until very soft peaks begin to form, another 3-4 minutes (if you need to whip more or less, then be sure to do so, the times can vary quite a bit based on environment). Stir in the vanilla and imitation butter (or clarified butter), then whip for another 30 seconds or so, until soft peaks form.
Spoon a generous portion of foam on top of each glass of butterbeer, mixing gently, if desired (or spoon the foam into the bottom of the glass and pour the butterbeer over the top). Serve immediately.
Recipe by Darla
Other great Harry Potter recipes from Bakingdom:
Double Double Chocolate Cauldron Cakes
Harry’s Favorite Treacle Tartlets
Honeydukes Candyfloss Cupcakes
Hogwarts House Pride Spice Cake
Read about the Wizarding World of Harry Potter here:
Inside the Wizarding World of Harry Potter
{ 167 comments… read them below or add one }
Oh I can't wait to try this! My daughter will be so excited to try it!
Yum!!!
I had read some of the other online recipes too and was put off by having to make a syrup and other complicated steps. Yours seems easy enough. I'm going to pass this along to a few harry potter fans right now (they are counting down to the movie release on their facebooks)
Looks delish!
I confess that I have never heard of butter extract – can I find it in most grocery stores?
Thanks!
You can purchase butter extract at Hobby Lobby in the baking aisle.
It’s in the spice aisle of most grocery stores
So innovative! Looks wicked yummy
My friend is having a Harry Potter party Friday night…definitely sending this recipe to her!!
Thanks everyone!
@ Scarletta – Butter extract should be available at any grocery store, in the baking aisle. I was able to find McCormicks here in the Virgin Islands, so I'm pretty confident that it'll be easy to find elsewhere.
I loooove it! As a longtime Harry Potter fan, I've always wanted to try butterbeer. This looks yummy. I posted a link on my other blog, EdibleCrafts.craftgossip.com. Hope that's OK!
can you explain what butter extract is please, as i dont think its something we have in australia. is it like a vanilla extract
Went to Marsh in search of Butter Extract…no luck. Krogers DID have it though!!Im so excited to make this!!!
@Chic Cookies – I'm flattered that you thought it was worthy to share! Thank you so much!
@Sarah Lou – Yes, butter extract is like vanilla extract. It's an artificially flavored extract that smells and tastes like concentrated butter. It's usually always in the same area as vanilla and other extracts in the supermarket. I hope this helps!
@Moline – I'm so glad you were able to find it!!
And I'm kind of shocked that Marsh didn't have it! They're usually better stocked than that. I know that Walmart typically carries it in their baking aisle, as well.
FYI, by it being on Craft Gossip you have a very happy woman in South Carolina! I have been dying to try Butter Beer and I now think I will be making a trip to the grocery store in a few minutes…
Love it! My friends and I tried to make butterbeer before with cream soda and butterscotch and it was WAY too sweet. I'm definitely going to try this version instead!
Made this last night…WONDERFUL! Making another batch right now for the kiddos
This ended up being way too tasty. I have already had to share a link to you blog with my mother and some of my friends. Thanks you so much!
cant wait to try it I found one online that was cream soda and butterscotch ice cream topping which is good but you don't get a good foam on top, I also have a recipe for pumpkin juice (the one they serve at the theme park)
YAY! I can't wait to try this
you are jesus.
I love this! Butterbeer was definitely the most exciting thing I tried when I was at the WWoHP. I can't wait to see the movie this weekend… and I think I'll try to make this for a pre-movie drink!
I am going to make this recipe and drink it while waiting in line for the midnight showing tonight! Thanks!
The alcoholic version is pretty simple and delicious too.
1 shot of butterscotch schnapps
12 oz cream soda
I will have to try it with the butter extract and see if its closer to the real thing!
A was scrolling down these comments thinking, “Yeah, this look all tasty and sweet and all that jazz, but Butterbeer is BEER in the books!” Harry once says, “It’s not strong,” but it’s still alcoholic. I’ve been trying to get a few beer-brewin’ friends of mine to experiment with a few batches. No luck, so far, but schnapps and soda will do ’til a better butterbeer is born in Boone!
I wanted to keep butterbeer drinkable for everyone, kids and adults alike, but I agree that butterbeer does appear to be very slightly alcoholic. I did add the option of putting rum into this recipe for a more grown up version.
Yum, yum!!
Butterbeer is meant to be alcoholic if you have read the books you will remeber that Winky the House Elf was getting drunk on Butterbeer (It’s strong enough to get a house elf drunk but not a human). But it was a good idea to make drinkible for youngry people. I’m fifteen and I would be heartbroken if it was alcoholic
Your a Legend, thanks for the recipe
Making this for my Harry Potter marathon tonight
Do you have any suggestions for a sugar-free version? As a diabetic, this seems like something that would very effectively put me to sleep.
I know I could use something like Splenda in place of the sugar, but it doesn't always work the same…
@John – Definitely! You can make everything as directed above, substituting diet cream soda for the soda and splenda or another artificial sweetener for the whipped cream. Alternately, you could buy ready made, sugar free whipped cream and stir in the butter extract just before serving. I hope you get to make some!
hard to find butter extract in supermarkets in Australia. Can you use normal butter and how would I use it in place of the butter extract?
butter extract is now called imitation butter flavour in australia. here's a site that sells it but it's from the US. http://www.low-carb.com/mollymcbutter.html. apparently mccormick's have it as well and should be avaliable in australia but i haven't looked for it yet
Try Wilton.com for the butter flavor, or just about anywhere that carries baking supplies.
I want to go to WWOHP so bad, and taste Butter beer! I wich I could make this, but I don't think cream soda exists in Sweden. Great recipe though!
my recipe is simple 1 , a&w brand 2litre of root beer and one 2liter of a&w brand creme soda add one half crushed butterscotch candy per 12 oz mug and add canned whipped creme, crushed buttersotch candy bits for decoration i been making this since book 3 came out and yes every thing in my recipe has a suger free version
@Princess of Paradise Island (Diana ) – Have you been to WWOHP? I went a couple months ago and their Butter Beer definitely didn't have Root Beer in it. Crushed butterscotch candies IN the soda? Do they dissolve at least?
@Anon. – If you're unable to find butter extract or imitation butter flavor, you could add real butter to this in place of it, but I recommend that you use clarified butter. By using clarified butter, you get the flavor of the butter, without the oils (oil in soda sounds just too nasty for words).
To make clarified butter, use these excellent instructions from David Lebovitz: http://www.davidlebovitz.com/2010/03/how-to-clarify-butter-recipe/
I recommend using 1 to 2 teaspoons of clarified butter, adding more as needed.
Also, I received an email today asking me how I would make this an adults only beverage. I thought I'd include my reply here in case anyone else was interested:
Make as directed above, except double the amount of butter extract in each serving of soda and stir in 1 tablespoon (or 2, depending on how strong you want it) of light rum.
When I was experimenting with flavors for this, one that I used was rum extract. It didn't really affect the end result, so I nixed it. Because of the experimentation, I know that regular rum won't drastically alter the flavor of this, and the extra butter extract will help mellow out the rum flavor.
YUM! I love Harry Potter. I hope I'll eventually make it out to the theme park someday.
You're lucky!
Brilliant.
This looks so great! I'm going to have to make this for my friends some day. I just went to the midnight showing of Deathly Hallows last night with my friends! It was my first midnight showing because I only got into the books/movies last year.
This recipe looks a lot better then the other ones I've seen; thanks for posting it!
Wow. I am SO happy to find this!! I love harry potter!!! I am now thinking about a HP themed birth day party now after seeing this… (:
THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!! and by the way, where did you get your butterbeer mug? (:
Just made it, and it was FANTASTIC! Little tip though, put the foam in the cup first, then the soda plus the 1/2 teaspoon of butter extract, it makes the foam more like a foam and less like a floating island you can't drink through :D!
- AVODA KADABRA!
This recipe looks so awesome! When I go home for Thanksgiving, I'm going to make it! Yay for HP!
First of all, no one says butter extract anymore, because it's like totally fraudulent. The government requires an extract to include at least a few molecules of the original thing, and butter extract never had anything in common with butter.
Imitation Butter Flavor, now, that's a different thing. Imitation Butter Flavor is a mixture of water, propylene glycol, artificial flavor, and FD&C yellow 5. Who wouldn’t want those ingredients in their Cream soda?
I'll stick with Vanilla.
Actually, I just picked up some butter extract today and it’s main ingredient is clarified butter.
Can't wait to make this for my little 12 year old Wizard. We live near Orlando and still need to take him.
One question unrelated to the cooking though – what camera are you using to take your photos? I love taking photos of my food, but even with my Nikon quickpix they just don't come out the way I like. Would you be willing to share what you use!
Thanks much and thrilled I found your blog.
Tara
@Anon. – As mentioned in some above comments, the "butter extract" has been referred to as "imitation butter," which is helpful information, so thank you for pointing that out.
As for the artificial ingredients, if you've read some of my other posts, you'll know that I prefer to avoid them as much as possible, but will use them, on occasion, to help get the right flavor, texture, or color. Fortunately, again mentioned in the comments above you, I also offer up a solution to this problem. For people who can't, or don't want to, use artificial flavoring, there are directions for using real butter. You could definitely try this to get a more accurate flavor, instead of sticking solely to vanilla extract. Thank you for the information. It's always helpful to know what ingredients are listed on packaging.
@Tara – I hope you're able to go soon, it's wonderful!! As for my camera, I use a Nikon D90 DSLR with a Nikkor AF 50mm f/1.8 lens. I'll be writing a photography related post soon. It will have more information about other equipment that I use. I hope this is helpful!
Oh dearie. This is great.
My entire family is full of Potter-lovers, so I'm bringing this beauty to Thanksgiving dinner!!
My husband and I actually made this last night with two other Potter enthusiasts and were surprised how similiar it was to the Butterbeer we had at The Wizarding World last month when we visited. Very nice job!
Thank you for the link to clarified butter. Works great for me. Yes it is nice to know what ingredients go into our food.
Made this before going to see the new HP movie this weekend! It was easy and delicious, especially when we stirred the whipped cream into the soda.
We added a little butterscotch topping to the caramel as well and it was soooo good. Thanks for the recipe, definitely made the whole event more fun!
This is beautiful. I'm not a HUGE HP fan, but i like it as much as the next person… and the pictures have already made me fall in love with this recipie.
Beemo.
loft-apt.blogspot.com
Definitely gonna give this a shot. I'll be around lots of Harry Potter age kids for the holidays. This looks like an easy awesome win.
I mean, it's not like I'd make a jug of it to keep in my fridge or anything, with frosted mugs in the freezer and such. I mean, that'd be silly.
What?
@Anon. – My mug is from the Wizarding World of Harry Potter! They're the souvenir mugs that you can buy!
@Mike – It's okay, Mike. You're amongst friends.
We understand…there's no need to be ashamed! 
This looks delicious! Have you tried it hot? My brother and sister are on their way to the WWOHP as we speak, and I'm curious as to whether the park serves it hot during the winter since there are so many recipes for "hot" butterbeer being posted.
Does it taste like A&W's Rootbeer Vanilla Cream Soda?:)
You're famous! Just thought you'd like to see where your innovative idea and recipe have gone.
http://noms.icanhascheezburger.com/2010/11/18/funny-food-photos-butterbeer-at-home/
@Shalum – It's close!
The additional ingredients and the foam put it over the top!
@Alexandra – Yay! That's so cool!!
Thanks so much for sharing!
i have been trying to figure out if this is real since the first time it was mentioned in the books!! thank you for providing this! and when you say imitation butter…you mean the liquid extract type stuff right? not margarine?
@Anon. – Yes, the liquid extract stuff.
I had listed it as extract for a while, but many people were confused so I changed it to imitation…maybe I should list it as both…?
Looks like a fun recipe, I can't wait to try it
I need to whip up a batch and re-watch all the movies
Do you drink yours hot or cold?
i will be making this very soon… and Rossie, the best way to drink it is HOT!!! We are doing a harry potter party next weekend, and i am going to make this for everyone
@Rossie – I've never had it hot. It's hard to imagine it hot because it's carbonated. I would imagine it's probably quite tasty, though! The foam would get all melty on top and mix in, so that can't be bad, right?!
Errrrr. Clarified butter is *NOT* butter without all the oil; it is butter without everything that ISN'T oil. What is taken away to clarify it is the milk solids.
Wiki: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Clarified_butter
@Anon. – You misread the sentence. I didn't say that clarified butter is butter without all of the oil. I said, "which will add the flavor of butter, not oil," which is to say that clarified butter will add the flavor of butter rather than the flavor of the oil that is in the butter.
I just tried it and it was amazing, its a must for any potter fan. My husband of course could only find the caned whip cream but i put it in a bowl and added the imitation butter flavor to it and stirred it together with the vanilla. I put the whip cream in first and poured the soda on top and it turned out amazing.
OMG. I hope I can sleep without drooling because I'm definitely going to dream about this drink tonight!
I would love to have this on hand for special occasions. Do you think it would be possible to make the butterbeer and foam, store them separately (like keep the butterbeer in the creme soda bottles and the foam in an empty cool whip container or something), and then add them together as you're serving them?
i was wondering.. instead of clarified butter could you use ghee in the butterbeer?
@Anon. – You could definitely make the foam ahead of time, and store it separately. It freezes well for 2 to 3 weeks, and refrigerates well for 3 to 4 days. Much longer than that in the refrigerator and it will start to separate.
@baabaablacksheep – Ghee will work perfectly!
What about the temperature? I've never been to WW but is their butterbeer warm? In JK's books, she always said drinking BB would warm up the characters and make them all warm and fuzzy and stuff, so I always imagined this being a warm drink.
@Anon. – In the books (U.S. versions, at least), butterbeer is served both hot (during winter months) and cold. This version is cold, but some people have talked about making it warm. Where I live, the weather is warm all year long, so I prefer a nice frosty beverage, but I may try warming it and seeing how it is.
@ Sugarbear -
You’re recipe looks delicious and I’m so excited to try it! I already have imitation butter extract stuff for making cookies and things (like roasted vegetables) without the fat!
But what I really wanted to tell you is how great you are with diplomatically dealing with snarky comments. It’s nice to see a blog where spiteful words/comments do not turn into full fledged wars…about butter (or other such trivial things).
Thank you for making your blog pleasant (as well as knowledgeable and fun) in all aspects!
Thank you for the kind feedback. It means a lot to me that you took the time to say something. I try to be as diplomatic as possible. After all, tone doesn’t come through well in comments, so the intentions may be perfectly good. I try to assume the best of people.
Thank you again for the comment! 
So glad you posted this. I had some when I went to Universal this past fall. I sent the link to my friend because she fell in love with it!
OMG!!!!!!! TASTES JUST LIKE BUTTERBEER, TAKES ME BACK TO UNIVERSAL
SQUEAL!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!
Amanda and Megan!!!!
i totally have that muggle shirt!! and im completely jealous of you getting to go to the park! ive wanted to go since it opened/: good job at being an official potter dork(;
Thank you for posting this recipe – can’t wait to make it! The photos look exactly like the butterbeer we had at Universal. My 9 year old is in a HP book club. I think we’re going to make it when its our turn to host!
I am SOOO happy that I came across your website! I have not made the Butterbeer yet but you can bet that I am going to asap! I am going to WWOHP this summer and I cannot wait and the Butterbeer was #1 on my list to try when I got there! Thanks again for sharing and love the site!
Thanks so much for sharing this wonderful recipe! I just have a problem:
I had an issue finding imitation butter and butter extract so I made some clarified butter (from great the link you provided). The issue that I am having is that it doesn’t make a homogenous mixture when I add cream soda. The clarified butter just separates and sits on top. Maybe I just made it wrong?
Do you have any suggestions?
Thanks for the brilliant recipe.
We made it the other night, and it was really good.
@Fellow Muggle :: We had the same problem using Ghee.
Does anyone have any ideas on how to get the ghee to mix well with the cream soda?
Oh…..for those that want a zero sugar foam, without using artificial sweeteners….
we used “Just Like Sugar.” Found it at Whole Foods. http://justlikesugarinc.com/
It doesn’t have that funky “diet” or “artificial” taste.
Thank you for posting this. I just got back from WWOHP and had Butterbeer, too, but my husband who can’t tolerate gluten was told he couldn’t have Butterbeer because of the whipped foam on top. (I don’t really remember much whipped foam on top of my cup, but whatever.) Anyway, now I can make this for him (and me!) at home! Can’t wait. I’m going to link your blog post to my blog when I do my Islands of Adventure recap later this week.
I’ve only had the frozen butter beer at WWOHP, do you have any suggestions for making the slushy version? I of course feel in love with it and have been dying to find a good recipe!
This recipe was amazing – exactly like Universal’s! I used the butter flavoring from the baking aisle and it worked great! Thanks so much for sharing this!
Oh boy! I can’t wait to make this wonderful recipe!
i did my research before attempting to make butterbeer, and this is the best recipe I found. its simple and delicious! my boyfriend and i added some butterscotch schnapps to it. it was yummy! we’ve made it for friends and they love it too
The one we tried at Univeral was frozen like a Frappicino. I didn”t see in the recipe anything about adding ice. Is your version hot?
This is a chilled version, but not frozen. They serve both frozen and what they call “on tap” butterbeer at the park. This version is based on the park”s “on tap” version. I enjoyed it more than the frozen version, but you could certainly freeze this after adding the butter flavor, then remove it while it”s still slushy and serve it with the foam on top. I”m experimenting with my own frozen version that doesn”t involve freezing soda, but I haven”t achieved anything worth sharing yet.
So excited to have been passed on this recipe from the doing florida site, We visited WWHP at easter and loved the Butterbeer, and my glass has been standing empty for to long! My problem im finding here in the UK our Cream soda is a clear colour! not a nice creamy vanilla colour! any suggestions on getting a better colour, I can do clarified butter as cant get Extract here either! I the toppping is easily done any suggestions for the colour?
Thank you
hey! i was pretty excited to find your recipe of butter beer. this is a little sad but in my city (Bangalore , India)
cream soda is not available… clarified butter is available plenty but no cream soda… do you have any ideas or suggestions for making it or a similar substitute!
Hi Shruti. I’m working on a homemade cream soda recipe. I haven’t perfected it yet, but when I do, I’ll be posting it soon. If you like, I can send you an email when it goes up, so that you’ll know about it. It’s a lot more time consuming than this recipe, but I think it’s going to be delicious!
Thanks for the recipe, I’m going to try it out tomorrow- only thing is converting everything to metric- I’ll let you know how it goes!
OMG! I can’t believe it! It’s amazing! Thankyou for sharing the recipe, and your pictures are incredible! I’m going to try this tomorrow with my Harry Potter’s fan- best friend! Well I’m a fan too! haha thanks!
I was really excited to try this recipe. I’ve always wanted to try Butterbeer but living in the UK I’d never heard of imitation butter and never seen it in any of the shops, so I decided to use Ghee as my mom said it was the same as Clarified butter. But it just didn’t work. It kept floating to the top of the cream soda and not mixing together well. We tried it cool, melted, sieved and everything, but nothing.
I really want to get it perfect in time for Deathly Hallows Part 2 
My mom decided to make up her own recipe and mixed butterscotch Angel Delight mix with cream soda, adding cream, vanilla extract and almond essence. It was nice but a bit sickly, you couldn’t really drink much of it. But we’re going to keep trying until we get it right. Thank you for the inspiration
I keep running into the same problem with clarified bitter, but I keep experimenting. I’m trying to keep the flavor as authentic as possible, and real butter does that, but it doesn’t mix well. I’ll keep working in it though, and keep you posted.
What exactly is imitation butter…and what brand did you use? I’m kind of confused on that. Same with the heavy cream.
Imitation butter is a flavor additive like peppermint or vanilla extract. It is artificial flavoring, and can usually be found with other flavorings and extracts in the baking aisle. I use McCormicks brand. As for heavy cream, it’s available in the dairy aisle next to the half-and-half. It is also referred to as whipping cream or heavy whipping cream. I hope this is helpful.
Very much so! I can’t WAIT to try this! (:
My friends and I have tried and failed several times to make Butterbeer, but this gives me hope. I can’t wait to try it!
Hi Darla!!
Thanks so much for posting this recipe. I linked back to yours on my blog, I tried it out and it tasted great! I love the rest of your blog! I can’t wait to try one of your other recipes!! So much excitement in this post!
Anyway, thank you again, I’ll be back to see what else you post.
-Rhi
Hello! I, like Shruti, have a problem where I live, seeing as I can’t find cream soda around here. Do you know any alternative or a recipe to make it at home? Thanks!
Hi Rafaela. I’m actually working on a homemade cream soda recipe now…something that would be usable for frozen butter beer too. I haven’t perfected it yet, but when I do, I’ll be posting it soon. If you like, I can send you an email when it goes up, so that you’ll know about it. It’s definitely more time consuming than this recipe, but I think it’s going to be delicious!
If you could, that’d be awesome :D!
My birthday is this friday and I’m holding a Harry Potter party on saturday, so I’m trying to make butterbeer for my friends. I’m gonna try my hand at some cream soda recipes I’ve found and follow up with this one. Thank you
Just booked a November trip to Universal! Squeeee!
One of the first questions from The Girl when we told her – “Can we get Butterbeer?!?!? In those cool mugs?!?!?”
I still haven’t tried this recipe, much to her dismay, but it will be done before we go!
Ooh, exciting! For a friend’s party last year I made butter beer… By mixing cream soda and butterscotch schnapps and putting it in a bottle labeled “butter beer.” Yours is much more exciting – I can’t wait to try it!
YUM! This is day three of our Wizarding Week of Harry Potter that we are watching one movie and making one HP treat per day until we take our 10yo son to see the latest movie. He’s a huge fan of the books. Today we made your butterbeer and the kids all loved it. The cream alone was to die for. Mixing them and seeing the cream foam and push upward amused us all greatly. Thanks for creating and sharing. I hope to one day take my son to the Wizarding World of Harry Potter so we can compare your butterbeer to theirs.
I blogged all my treats for our Wizarding Week and linked back to your fabulous butterbeer when we arrived at day three. http://blog.booturtle.com/2011/07/wizarding-week-of-harry-potter.html
My family and I went to the WWoHP last week and just loved the butterbeer. I found your recipe a couple of days ago and am enjoying my own delicious glass of butterbeer right now!!! Thanks so much for your hardwork replicating it. My family and I are very grateful. Your website is beautiful!
Thank you for posting this! I am a huge Potter fan-girl (Slytherin all the way I’m afraid! I’m going to have Draco’s smarmy, evil, blonde little babies ^_^ ) and I’ve wanted to try Butterbeer since reading the first books! But, I’m from the UK and Imitation Butter Flavouring seems to be non-existant here
I have however found “Wilton No-Color Butter Flavor” on Amazon.uk and was wondering if that’s the same stuff? I’m debating having a Potter themed birthday (I’ll be 26 but sssssh) and if I do, this would be FAB for the T-total friends I have 
(along with possibly your cauldron cakes, cookies and maybe even a striped house cake! Hehe)
Stacey <3
Hi Stacey, The Wilton butter flavor will work perfectly. You may need to adjust the amounts…I’m not sure if it will be an exact substitution, but I know that the flavor will work. In fact, I’d like to thank you for bringing it to my attention. It’s something that I can now recommend to other readers who can’t find imitation butter.
I hope that you have a fabulous Potter themed birthday!
I’d love to see pics!!
Visited the WWHP this June and was in heaven! I just loved it there and couldn’t get enough of the ambiance & Butterbeer! Now that we’re home I’m throwing a HP bday party for my hubby and I and I’ve set out to make my own Butterbeer
I just wanted to thank you for the suggestion of the imitation butter tip; I too was planning on using butterscotch syrup as suggested by so many other recipes. I made my 1st trial mug full today and I wanted to share a wonderful tip with you! At the WWHP their Butterbeer foam is carbonated itself and that just amazed me! So I didn’t want to make a whipped topping on its own, I wanted to recreate theirs! I did!! 
What I used was 1/3 cup double vanilla ice cream and small (VERY SMALL) dashes of both nutmeg and cinnamon, then poured a small amount of IBC cream soda into that. Blended it together with my Magic Bullet and set it aside to top. The foam was amazing! It hit all the same notes as the WWHP foam did only I will admit it lacked a little in fullness… I plan to make your foam and mix it in with mine and see what I get! Anyway- from one Potter fan to another- Thanks and bring on the Butterbeer!
Omg! i was just googling prices for the Harry Potter world, just to see the cost because I know I won’t be going there anytime soon. I’m 16 and I just finished the series all over again, I read them when I was 10.
I always wondered what butterbeer would taste like. I’m going to ATTEMPT your recipe here, but I’m not really a chef. I’ll see how it works out, and I bookmarked this page. Thank you so much for pictures of your experience in the theme park, and the recipe, and photos!
why did you say you need 1 tablespoon of imitation butter, but you said only put 1\2 teaspoon of it at the bottom of the glass?
Because you’re dividing the 1 tablespoon of imitation butter up into 6 different glasses, which equals a 1/2 teaspoon per glass.
This sounds quite interesting and I would really love to try it, but doubt I´ll get the ingredients here in Germany.
I wasn´t exactly sure what cream soda is, so I tried an online dictionary. It says it´s a vanilla flavoured lemonade, is that true?
And: Never heard of such a thing as vanilla lemonade in Germany. The only vanilla flavoured soft drink I ever tasted was vanilla coke (which tasted kind of…disgusting xD Well, at least not particularly good. Nothing I tried twice) But I got my eyes open in case I spot something like that.
Same goes for imitation butter flavor. Sounds awesome to have but…well, never seen anything like it. so far I only used Rum flavor for baking. Which comes as a clear liquid. I do have to search for something like butter flavor…but I guess chances aren´t that good. And I guess melted butter would clash horribly with the cold soda…
I have never heard of vanilla flavored lemonade, it sounds awful! Cream soda is definitely not anything like lemonade, although it is vanilla flavored. It is basically vanilla soda. Imagine if you took sparkling water and added sugar and vanilla…it’s very much like that. Except it’s better than it sounds.
I’m working on a homemade cream soda recipe, and if I ever perfect it, I’ll definitely be posting it.
thanks, that clears it up a bit^^ A recipe would be awesome, I guess I won´t find something like that around here otherwise.
Um….I don’t think I’ll be able to find imitation butter flavoring here…what about vanilla extract?
You could certainly try using vanilla extract, however, cream soda is already basically vanilla soda, so it won’t alter the flavor much.
I know I’m late on this, but I’m so glad I found it! My daughter and I visit her grandmother (my ex’s mom) twice a week and we’ve been working our way through the Harry Potter movies. She had never seen them and is in the terminal stage of cancer and wanted to watch them before she passes. The other day she said that she’d sure love to know what butterbeer tastes like. Guess what she’s getting on Tuesday? Thank you so much!
this looks absolutely amazing, I will definitely try it soon! I also just made your peach pie cupcakes and all my friends loveedd them! Your blog is so cute and has great recipes! Keep it up!
OMAIGAWSH! I’ve been looking for a proper butterbeer recipe for a long time….thank you SO much! I’ll be trying this ASAP!
We finally made this yesterday! It was good but I halved the foam part and was glad I did – even with half a recipe of the foam, it was too much. When we make it again, I’ll only make a quarter of the original recipe. Because it’s heavy cream, it makes the drink quite filling and makes the drink really foam up, no one (kids included) could drink it all. Just a dab of the foam is plenty.
But great flavor – we all enjoyed it!
Okay, I am BEYOND excited to try this! I have tried making 2 recipes that I found online, but both were absolutely horrible. This seems awesome. Can’t wait!
I personally prefer using the Vanilla, Butter, & Nut flavoring over the straight Butter flavoring; it can add some nice flavor-notes that are quite enjoyable. I encourage you to give it a try if you’ve never used it. Found in the same section of the grocery store, usually next to the Butter flavoring. To keep my foam from stiffening up too much, I’ll actually put the heavy whipping cream and about 1/2 to 1 tsp. of the VB&N flavoring into one of those squeezy bottles you can find for condiments in diners. I got one from Wal-Mart for a little over a dollar. You pour the ingredients of your foam in the bottle, then gently shake for about twenty seconds. If you squirt it on top of the drink in a sort of swirl motion, it’ll seem liquid as it comes out but it foams so beautifully when it hits the carbonated soda. It stays soft enough that you get to taste and enjoy the foam as you drink it, rather than sliding away from you every time you tilt the glass.
THIS IS FRICKIN AWSOME!!!!! My friend made this and the treacle tart for our harry potter party, it is sooooooo delicious. THANK YOU FOR MAKING IT AND GIVING US THE RECIPIE!
wow how cool!
Thanks so much! I actually am throwing a Harry Potter bash this weekend to celebrate the movie coming out on DVD, and your butterbeer and Hogwarts cake recipe are both featuring at the soiree! I’ve got a few simpler treats I’m churning out myself, but these recipes were perfect for something delicious and Potter-appropriate. So glad I found this website!
Thanks so much for the recipe! I just made it this evening and it was so, so yummy! I haven’t been to Wizarding World, but I’ll bet this one gives the official version a run for it’s money! Thanks for sharing!
But why don’t you make the recipe PRINTABLE?
Hello Crystal, My butterbeer recipe was one that I made before I began making my recipes printable. As such, it just hasn’t been updated yet. It takes time to update all of the many recipes that I posted before I began making them printable, so it’ll get there eventually.
This recipe IS PERFECT!!!. It taste so similar to the original, me and my boyfriend have been indulging on this for 3 days straight and still counting!
I tried this tonight and it was GREAT ! we are planning on going to Orlando for a week and a half during Christmas and I am floored to have this to last me till then. I dont know what the real butterbeer taste like but if its anything like this drink we will be ordering a bunch ! Thank you so much !
How adorable! I am definitely going to have to try this (the adult version).
I just tried this and it’s AMAZING!!!!!! I can’t wait to make it for my nephew!!
I’m so excited to try this!! It looks AMAZING! Do you have an alternative to cream soda? I live in Australia and can’t find it anywhere! Does anyone know where to get it if it is available??
Yum! I love it and I want it now.
Could you make this recpie hot as well?
I haven’t tried it hot…I would imagine you could try warming the soda up. I think it would lose its carbonation that way, but it would still have the same great flavors.
Just came up on this recipe and am sooooo eager to try it.
I live in Florida so I’ve had butterbeer from the park quite a few times already. Both the tap and the slush versions. They are AMAZING! You should not leave the park without having one….or about ten, like me :).
I’ve tried a few recipes but they all came out terrible so I’m super excited for this as it seems to be the best one I’ve found yet. Going to make it this Sunday for Easter. Hopefully some butterbeer can replace the Coke!
I want to drink this right now! I am also obsessed with that pudding that Mrs Dursley is making in the second HP film that gets dropped on the lady’s head. And also, pumpkin juice. It looks so good to me for some reason.
Omg I am definitely going to try this! I recently went to WWHP and I LOVED the butterbeer! (I have one of those souvenir mugs too
) My dad was super jealous and wanted some and his birthday is in a couple weeks so if this works I’m going to surprise him with it. Thanks!
Thank you for this recipe! We tried it this weekend and LOVED it. My husband and two oldest kids (who went to Wizarding World in February) said it is incredibly close to the real thing. Delicious! Thanks again!
This recipe was amazing… I started eating the foam by itself its so good. It’s just a little thick but it was delicious that way. I’ll definitely be making this again and again and again
I can’t wait to go back to the wizarding world of harry potter and telling them I know their secret haha
I. Freaking. LOVE. You. Will it work for the frozen/slushie type? That was my personal favorite at the park….now where can we get some pumpkin juice….?
Looks great, I’ll definitely give it a try if I can find the butter extract. My favourite version so far has been to use really good butterscotch schnapps (obviously the adult only version) with creaming soda our a really good ginger beer. Yum!
Thanks so much! I was perusing the web looking for a butterbeer recipe for a kids birthday party that wasnt’ too much work as we have so much planned for the party that I didn’t think I’d have alot of time right before to put together something! This one looks perfect! I can preflavor the cream soda and prewhip the cream if I use confectioners sugar.
I finally had a chance to try this recipe, and it is so yummy! It reminds me of a butter rum life saver, which happens to be my fav. My son absolutely loved this! Thank you so much!!!!
So it doesn’t have to be heated up and such? Is it best served cold? This recipe looks great!
Nope.
No cooking required (unless you make homemade cream soda syrup).
hi there, just wanted some advice if that’s ok?
any tips or suggestions as to what went wrong and how i can make it the correct way again?
I’m from the UK so i could only use imitation butter if i had it imported, i did check prices but it was too costly for what it was worth.
anyway i used a more simple/ beginners recipe but included bits of you’re own from here.
I melted some butter, brown sugar, vanilla and almond extracts and butterscotch syrup together in a pan then added some ginger beer(ale) once cooled down. i then added the mixture into the cream soda which frothed up and didn’t turn the colour like you re’s did. i left it to settle whilst i made the foam which was heavy cream with vanilla, almond extract and a bit of butterscotch syrup together, whisked with electric whisk and then spooned ontop of the drink. the previous froth hadn’t dissapeared at the foam i made just blended into the top of the drink
thanks
This is amazing!! My sister and I went to the WWoHP and we basically spent the whole day there! They should have made it it’s own park! Anywhoooo…. I am definitely making this! A couple of friends of mine and myself have been planning to have a movie marathon when the weather gets cooler complete with the fireplace going, pumpkin pasties and butterbeer! We just needed an amazing butter beer recipe! Thank you for experimenting and making this recipe!!
For a lighter (and non-dairy) cream, follow the foam recipe directions, but substitute an egg white for the heavy cream. Coat a spoon in the mix, and drop it into the glass and give it a stir – It’s got lots of air already whipped in, and the carbonation makes it froth up and cling to the sides of the glass, as in the photos..
This is the recipe we use for our butterbeer, though we add just a bit of butterscotch ice cream topping to the whipped cream mixture, and like another poster said, put the whipped cream in the cup first so that it starts to mix a bit with the cream soda – WONDERFUL!
I love your tardis apron, and the Gryffindor apron, btw!
You have a new follower! I am completely jealous of your experience, and cannot WAIT to make this! Seriously. This made my day.
Hey, I was just in Florida and had some of the Butterbeer there and was anxious to find a recipe I could make to replicate it. Your recipe fit the bill perfectly! It is close enough to what we had in the park that I have no reason to search for and try any other butterbeer recipes. THANKS!!
i can’t wait to make it!
Maybe I missed it, but why does mine look like cream and not brown like the pictures?
It tastes great! Especially with the rum, but it seems to be the wrong colour. I chose to put the foam in and then pour the Butterbeer in, but I can’t see that making this dramatic a difference in look.
Suggestions?
Thanks.
This is a great recipe. Thank you so much! I’ve been dying to have one of these since I went to Florida. Thank you!
I made this last night as a test run for our Hogwarts Christmas party (when my husband comes home from Army Basic for xmas), and they were FANTASTIC. They disappeared quick, and one of my friends called me a genius, but I deferred to you on that. Don’t know if it made a difference, but the whipping cream I used was shelf-stable from Trader Joe’s; it has carrageenan as a stabiliser, and it seems to make the whipped cream more, well, stable. Either way, it came out beautiful. Thanks so much for all your *hard* work researching at WWoHP. ^-^
Has fun with experiments like this AND gorgeous? Marry me.
This was oh so yummy! I shared on my blog! Thanks Darla!
http://everydaythinnes.blogspot.com/2013/02/its-wonder-week-aka-long-week.html
WOOW ! I just discovered your blog and am amazed !!! Seriously , there is no better mix for a blog than Harry Potter and baking ! THEE 2 best things ! I love this ! Thanks !
Anna (:
This sounds good but I really want to try a warming version!!
I found some completely natural food flavours at a cake show in London.
http://www.foodieflavours.com/shop/natural-flavouring/butterscotch/
This stuff is AMAZING! Would be a fab substitute for the butter stuff if you can’t find any!
I might make an HP YouTube account. If I do would I be able to use this recipe in a video? ( giving all the credit to you of course!) this butter beer tastes great btw! Just like the one at the park
I love this! What’s funny is a person who used to work at the park told me they just use a syrup and a bunch of random artificial flavorings. Not really that homemade at the park…lol
Ok… just got back from WWOHP. Became obsessed with the Butterbeer and had to find the recipe. This is it!!! I can’t believe how this turned out. It was perfect. Thank you for sharing!
My husband loves his alcohol version, a glass of beer with a shot of butterscotch rum mixed in!
Rootbeer that is lol not regular beer
OMG I just made this, using your cream soda recipe and….OMG WOW!!! It is SOOOOOOOOOO GOOD!!!!!!! Thank you so much for this!!! Hubby and I both LOVE IT, and it’s easier than driving 25 miles to the Green Market to buy the bottles (which don’t come with foam)!
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