Fairy cakes are perfect for parties, and are easy to make. Just keep the sponge nice and light, and the decoration simple – they never fail to make people smile.
Fairy Cakes
Ingredients: Sponge
110g/4oz unsalted butter softened at room temperature
110g/4oz superfine sugar
2 large eggs lightly beaten
110g/4oz all purpose flour
1 tsp baking power
1-2 tbsp milk
Ingredients: Icing
300g/10½oz confectioners’ sugar
2-3 tbsp water
2-3 drops food coloring (optional)
Decorations of your choice (think brightly colored small candy)
Preparation method
- Preheat the oven to 350F/180C/Gas 4 and line 1 muffin cake pan with 12 paper cases.
- Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl until light and fluffy, and beat in the eggs, a little at a time.
- Fold in the flour using a large metal spoon. Add the baking powder and a little milk until the mixture is a soft dropping consistency and spoon the mixture into the paper cases until they are half full.
- Bake in the oven for 20-25 minutes, or until golden-brown on top and a skewer inserted into one of the cakes comes out clean. Set aside to cool for 10 minutes, then remove from the tin and cool on a wire rack.
- For the icing, sift the confectioners’ sugar into a large mixing bowl and stir in enough water to create a smooth paste like mixture. Stir in the food coloring (if you are using some)
- To ice the fairy cakes, drizzle the icing over the cakes, add the decorations (the choice is up to you) and set aside until the icing hardens.
The fairy cakes will keep for 2-3 days in an air tight container.
Adapted from the original recipe on bbc.co.uk
English Baking In America 