Fairy cakes

So after a positive reaction from one of the girls I work with I am going to write this blog with gusto! I thought I’d start off with something straightforward so I’ve made vanilla and almond fairy cakes and decorated them with simple icing decorations. Whilst I was baking I was thinking about the equipment that I use so I’ll probably post my favourites and can’t-live-withouts.

I’ve got various recipe books and I use the internet quite a lot for ideas and inspiration. This recipe is taken from Bake Me I’m Yours….. Cupcake.

For approximately 18 fairy cakes:

115 g (4 oz) unsalted butter, softened

115 g (4 oz) caster sugar

115 g (4 oz) self raising flour, sieved

2 medium eggs, beaten

½ tsp vanilla extract (I baked 2 batches and substituted the 2^nd lot with almond extract)

Heat oven to 175^oC (350^oF)

Beat sugar, butter and flour together. Slowly add eggs and extract and keep beating. Mix until well combined and quite light. The mix is described to be a ‘soft dropping consistency’ when it is ready. It doesn’t take me long to get to this stage. Divide the mix into the fairy cake cases and bake for 10-15 minutes depending on your oven. Mine is a bit temperamental so I have a tendency to check every 5 minutes or so. Use a cocktail stick to check they are cooked. I always check the biggest cake and the stick should come out clean. Turn out onto a cooling rack.

Icing:

I make up my own icing and it’s different every time! I used 50 g butter, 50 g full fat cream cheese and approximately 250 g icing sugar but it was a bit of a pour and see situation! I used this on the almond cakes and just decorated with glace cherries.

For the vanilla cupcakes I used ready roll fondant icing. When I’m not working I make my own but it’s so much quicker using shop bought stuff when I’m busy! I just got some good sized cutters and decorated as I went along. This icing just needs a little water to make it stick and always use icing sugar to roll it out.

Now time for the results!

I'd love to hear any comments people have!

Lizzi :)