Our NYC test kitchens and studios are pretty impressive, but you can’t top cake decorating along Diagon Alley. Last year’s Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking competition was a first-of-its-kind experience, offering competitors and viewers alike a special peek inside the Warner Bros. Studio Tour London – The Making of Harry Potter in Hertfordshire, UK. But the real treat (aside from celebrity hosts James and Oliver Phelps and other wizarding guests) was the incredible series of over-the-top cake creations, from an edible Patronus to IRL gourmet chocolate wands. And now there’s one more magical flourish for fans: a cookbook!

Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking: The Official Companion Guide is out now in full color and it’s packed with witchy flair. The hardcover (which would make the perfect gift for a Harry Potter fan) boasts more than 100 pages of behind-the-scenes tidbits, wizarding set photos and official recipes seen in the show. The competition’s winners, cake artist Zoë Burmester and executive pastry chef Jordan Pilarski, are featured throughout the book — sharing their winning recipes and providing tips to re-create these whimsical confections at home.

Zoë and Jordan — both proud Hufflepuffs — chatted with Food Network this week about the book’s launch, life after the show and their favorite Harry Potter-inspired designs.

You two made such a great team. Are you friends for life now?

“It's funny because Zoë was just in Ojai, [California]” said Jordan. “So, in the show, Zoë said, ‘If we win, I'll come visit you in Ojai’ where I work. And she just came to visit, so that was really cool to see her eight months later.”

“I think we're stuck with each other,” laughed Zoë.

What’s it like to see your name on a cookbook?

“You kind of don't really conceptualize what that looks like,” said Jordan. “And then the book comes out and you look at it and you see your names on it. Seeing our pictures. Seeing our recipes. Seeing our foreword and our Q&A in the back. It's pretty cool. And it's a beautiful book.”

“It's a real sort of deep dive into the whole series,” said Zoë, “which I think fans are going to really, really love. And just on a personal note, for us to be able to directly share the actual recipes that we actually did make at the time is very special.”

What’s the one recipe in the book you’re most proud of?

“I think for me, it's the olive oil cake that we did in Diagon Alley,” said Jordan. “Conceptually, we both worked on those books to really bring Flourish & Blotts to life. It was difficult, but when we talked through it, we figured out the flavors and what we wanted to bring and I knew right away I wanted to make that olive oil cake. It’s so good. It's so moist. It's pretty much all olive oil. And we use lemon olive oil in ours. It's also an amazing cake to snack on, if you just want to make it and eat it at home all day every day. You dump everything in a bowl and whisk it together."

“My gingerbread and eggnog cake got a lot of love on the show,” said Zoë. “So, I'm really happy that it has been included in the book so that people can have a go and it's a good sort of autumnal cake. It's a good Christmas cake. You can mix and match, right? You could maybe just have a go making eggnog cream and just pair that with a vanilla cake or you could make the gingerbread cake on its own. So, hopefully, people will kind of dip in and out.

Zoë, when you made the Chocolate Whiskey Cake for the Gringotts challenge, Chef Carla Hall said that’s the best buttercream she’s ever had. And your recipe is in this book! What’s your secret?

“The base for that buttercream was a Swiss meringue buttercream,” she said. “And a Swiss meringue buttercream is such a powerhouse of a buttercream because it has a lot of flavor, but it's super silky smooth and it's not heavy, right? So, I think that probably helped and then, obviously, I made a salted caramel whiskey. And, you know, just when you make anything from scratch — I think as long as you kind of balance everything right, you make it from scratch, it's always going to taste good. You cannot ever, ever, ever compare a homemade caramel to a store-bought caramel. It's just two different things. So, I'd say to any kind of home baker out there that wants to make a decent cake, just make the effort and make all the things and you'll be so surprised at how much better it tastes. Even if it takes a few goes to get it right.”

Jordan, when you made the Candlesticks, Carla said that she could taste home in the cranberries. And your recipe is in the book! What’s your secret?

“The shell itself is white chocolate, so it's already pretty sweet,” he said. “So, you really have to play with those tart flavors and I think that's the key. And then [it's] cranberry and oranges because it's very Christmasy and that was the basis around our whole showpiece for the final.”

Anything else you’d like to share about the new companion book?

“We're both Harry Potter fans, but since having been a part of this show, I feel like we've stepped further, deeper into the world of Harry Potter and just to see genuinely how it touches people and to play a little role in that [is] really special,” said Zoë. “So, I hope that by having the cookbook — it sounds super cheesy, but — it's spreading the love. It's spreading that connection between people, right? And that's what this Harry Potter experience — both in the TV show and now the cookbook — has done.”

“It is truly a thank you to everybody that has sent us messages directly or commented on things. There's been so much love, and Zoë and I truly tried to be ourselves on the show and just showcase our talents as well as our friendship and the people that we are,” said Jordan. “This book is really bringing that community of Harry Potter fans closer together. And now it's through baking. It's through pastry. It's through the things that we love. So, we're excited for people to try and make things and please comment and take pictures and send it to us!”

Stream every episode of Harry Potter: Wizards of Baking on Max and discovery+. Keep up with both winners on Instagram. Follow Zoë at @sugarstreetstudios and Jordan at @chefjordan_pilarski.

More Wizarding World Magic

Harry Potter and the Cursed Child, the hit play and eighth story in the Harry Potter series, is currently on Broadway at the Lyric Theatre, but select US cities will also get a chance to experience the magic this year while the show tours North America. Browse cities, dates and ticket options at www.harrypottertheplay.com.