Let them eat cake

I hadn't really made fairy cakes since my children were small. 

These days they're twice the size and called cup cakes but taste just as delicious.

August seems to have been a month for making these little cakes starting with our little Freddie's birthday when my son & his partner put grandma in charge of making the cup cakes for his birthday party.

The second batch were made for a local tea room who hold an annual charity Vintage car and bike meet in aid of  Hope Against Cancer a local charity supporting research into clinical trials.

By the end of the day these were all that were left and I believe they were all sold too.

Its funny what we remember from school but the recipe for fairy cakes was one of them, equal quantities of butter, sugar and flour and as daft as it sounds you then weigh your eggs to more or less the same amount.

Conscious that these days so many people are gluten/dairy free I also made a batch that didn't contain any dairy or gluten by replacing the flour with gluten free flour and the butter/margarine to a non dairy alternative and they still came out perfectly.  

To have ago this is what you need from your store cupboard.

For the vanilla cupcakes:

225g/8oz butter/margarine or non dairy alternative

225g/8oz caster sugar

225g/8oz self raising flour/gluten free self raising flour

4 eggs

1 tsp vanilla extract

pinch of salt

For the chocolate cupcakes replace 50g/2oz of flour with cocoa powder and add 1/2 tsp of vanilla extract.

• Preheat the oven to 180/160/gas mark 4
• cream the butter/non dairy spread with the sugar until smooth.
• Add one egg at a time and mix till smooth after each addition. TIP - I break the eggs into a separate small bowl then add to the mixture just in case you get a bad egg, otherwise you would have to start over.
• Add the vanilla extract and/or cocoa and pinch of salt. 
• Carefully fold in the sifted flour so as not to loose the air in the mixture.
• Now add a tablespoon to each cup cake case (should make around 24 cakes)
• Bake in the oven for 15 minutes

For the icing of the vanilla cup cakes you can make buttercream icing using

150g softened butter/non dairy alterative

300g icing sugar

1 tsp vanilla extract

Food colouring if required.

As it was a very hot day I stuck with my old favourite of

350g icing sugar 

12 tsps of fresh fruit juice (for these I used pineapple which worked really well)

mix well until smooth but not runny 

drizzle over the top of your cakes

For the chocolate buttercream 

200g milk chocolate or dairy free chocolate

400g butter/non dairy alternative

800g icing sugar

10 tbsp cocoa powder

1/2 tsp vanilla extract

• Melt the chocolate in a bowl over simmering hot water not letting the bowl come into contact with the water. Stir until melted.
• Cream the butter/or dairy free alternative with the sugar until smooth
• sift in the cocoa powder and mix until smooth
• add the vanilla extract
• Pour in the melted chocolate and mix until smooth

There are lots of toppers for cakes that can be purchased wither on line or in your local supermarket. Supermarkets tend to be limited as to what they have, there is more variety available on line especially if the cup cakes are for a themed party.  

As schools are getting ready to head back it might be a nice activity to do with your children or grand children before they are sat back in the class room.

If you do I hope you have as much fun as I did.

Mx