We solemnly swear, Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking is too good to pass up! The six-episode Food Network baking competition series, inspired by Harry Potter, is hosted by James and Oliver Phelps, who played the trouble-making Weasley twins Fred and George throughout the eight films. The Phelps brothers, with culinary judges Carla Hall and Jozef Youssef, will guide nine teams of matched-up pastry chefs and cake artists as they make delicious, jaw-dropping creations. Think: a massive confectionary Whomping Willow.
The winners take home the Wizards of Baking Cup and get a chance to appear in a future Potter cookbook. Below, the Phelps brothers map out the magic.
The competitors are all professionals in the kitchen, but how much did they need to know about Harry Potter to succeed?
James Phelps: The vast majority of them are huge fans. Every episode is based on a set, so for the Diagon Alley episode, one team was given Weasleys’ Wizard Wheezes [the joke shop Fred and George ran], another was given Ollivander’s Wand Shop, and they had to then come up with a bake based around that. So you have to have the knowledge.
Oliver Phelps: One of the teams made 50 Golden Snitches [the flying Quidditch ball], and they looked like props from the films.
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How much on-set sampling did you do?
Oliver: A lot! I’m not shameful in saying I was very happy to abuse my position as host to just stand there like a dog by the Christmas table.
You shot this series at Warner Bros. Studios Leavesden, where the original sets for Platform 9¾, the Great Hall, Diagon Alley, Gringotts Wizarding Bank and more are located. Were there any spots you experienced for the first time?
Oliver: We’d never filmed on the Forbidden Forest set, so to go there when it was all dressed and obviously looking very Forbidden Forest-y, that was quite cool. [Laughs] We also went in like the back part of Dumbledore’s office to do the conferring bit, just before Carla and Joseph tell us who they’ve selected to win the task that week, and just being in there was quite cool. So, it was lovely to go to parts of sets that we hadn’t gone to.
James: Also we had to film at night because the studio tour was open in the daytime, and 7,000 people get through it a day.
Your former cast members Bonnie Wright (who played Fred and George’s younger sister Ginny), Evanna Lynch (Luna Lovegood), and Warwick Davis (Professor Flitwick/Griphook) guest judge. What was it like to be back with them?
James: It was cool. When we did [2022’s Harry Potter 20th Anniversary: Return to Hogwarts] shoot, after we finished filming, the lot of us went for a meal, and I think Dan [Radcliffe, Harry Potter] said, “We are the only people in the world who know what this feels like.” We still have [so many] memories.
Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking, Series Premiere Thursday, November 14, 8/7c, Food Network
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