Fairy Cakes 🧚🏻‍♀‍🧁

It’s been a little while since I last baked anything, over a year actually! I used to bake fairy cakes all the time when I was little so I thought it would be the perfect start to getting back into baking! 😄

They’re a tea party classic and super simple to make, like miniature Victoria sponges.

🧁 Vanilla Cupcakes 🧁

Ingredients (makes 12):
– 115g / 4 oz butter, softened
– 115g / 4 oz caster sugar
– 2 eggs, lightly beaten
– 1 tsp vanilla extract
– 115g / 4 oz self-raising flour
– 1 tbsp milk

Before you start preheat the oven to 180C / 350F / Gas Mark 4 and put 12 cupcake cases in a baking tray.

First put the butter and sugar in a large bowl, and using a spoon or electric mixer, beat together until the mixture is pale, light and fluffy.

Beat the eggs in a jug. Then pouring about 1 tbsp into the bowl at a time, beat the butter/sugar and eggs together until combined.

Next beat in 1 tsp of vanilla extract, and using a large metal sieve, sift the flour into the bowl a bit at a time, gently folding the mixture with a spoon between each addition until thoroughly incorporated.

Add 1 tbsp of milk and again gently fold into the mixture. The cupcake mixture should have a smooth consistency and drop easily from the spoon if tapped on the side of the bowl, if it is too runny add a bit more flour to the mixture.

Next, carefully spoon the mixture into the cupcake cases. I find it works best to fill each case halfway up.

Bake in the preheated oven for 15-20 minutes, until the cupcakes are risen, golden and firm to the touch.

Using oven gloves remove the tray from the oven. Leave the cupcakes in the tray for about 10 minutes, then carefully transfer to a wire cooling rack, leave to cool completely.

~ Vanilla Buttercream ~

Ingredients:
– 150g / 5.5 oz unsalted butter, softened
– 1 tsp vanilla extract
– 280g / 10 oz icing sugar
– 1-2 tbsp milk

Place the butter in a bowl, add 1 tsp of vanilla extract, and using an electric mixer (or a fork) beat the butter until soft and pale. (I don’t have an electric mixer at the moment, so at first I used a spoon, but then I tried it with a fork and it worked fantastically! I’ve never made smoother buttercream so I’m quite proud of that!)

Gradually sift in the icing sugar, beating well after each addition. The more you beat at this stage, the lighter and fluffier the frosting will be. Beat in 1-2 tbsp of milk to give a softer consistency for piping.

~ Decoration ~

Using a knife cut a thin-ish circle out of the top centre of the fairy cake. (I used a very sharp knife so if necessary, let an adult do this step or have an adult’s supervision).

You can then add a tsp of jam into the hole/dip you have created. I used red cases to identify jam and green for no-jam.

Using 2 teaspoons, spoon of a spoonful of the buttercream onto the fairy cake. Cut the circle of cake in half and stick the pieces into the buttercream to look like wings.

Repeat with the rest of the fairy cakes and you are ready to eat!

Happy baking! Let me know in the comments if you would like to see more recipes and what your favourite thing to bake is? I really enjoyed baking and decorating these fairy cakes so I’m planning to bake more regularly this year! 😄🧁

I hope you enjoyed today’s post! I’m currently aiming to post weekly, on Saturdays at 4pm GMT, with a mixture of craft, sewing and knitting tutorials, book reviews, baking recipes and more!

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Emily M x