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Party fairy cakes
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Fairy cakes are a must for any kids party or celebration, and you can't go far wrong with Frances Atkins' cupcake recipe, as she provides three different frosting flavours to choose from; blackcurrant, vanilla cream cheese or maple syrup. Get creative with your decorations and you can easily adapt these to fit any occasion.
First published in 2015
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Ingredients
Metric
Imperial
Sponge mix
Frosting base
- 190g of butter, softened
- 500g of icing sugar
Blackcurrant frosting
- 40ml of blackcurrant cordial
Vanilla and cream cheese frosting
- 100g of low fat cream cheese
- 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
Maple frosting
- 50ml of maple syrup
Decorations
- 200g of marzipan, at room temperature
- red food colouring
- blue food colouring
- green food colouring
- yellow food colouring
SAVE RECIPE
Equipment
- Electric hand whisk
- Muffin tin
- Piping bag and nozzle
- Electric mixer
- Mini muffin baking sheet
- Mini cupcake wrappers
- Cupcake wrappers
Method
1
Preheat the oven to 180°C/gas mark 4
2
Line both a mini muffin tin and regular muffin tin with the appropriate wrappers and set aside
3
Add the butter and caster sugar to a large mixing bowl and cream until light and fluffy. Add the self-raising flour and baking powder and mix until combined
- 225g of butter, softened
- 225g of caster sugar
- 225g of self-raising flour
- 2 tsp baking powder
4
Using a spatula or an electric mixer on a slow speed, beat in the eggs one at a time until the mix is smooth. Then, use to fill each cupcake wrapper to 2/3 of the way up
- 4 eggs
5
Place in the oven for 20 minutes, removing the mini cupcakes after 12 minutes. The tops should be a light golden brown colour and an inserted skewer should come out clean
6
Remove the larger cakes after 20 minutes and set aside on a wire rack to cool
7
For the frosting base, use an electric hand-held whisk to mix the butter until pale and fluffy. Add the icing sugar and whisk on a slow speed until smooth
- 190g of butter, softened
- 500g of icing sugar
8
Divide the frosting base equally between 3 bowls and add the measured quantity of ingredients for each flavoured topping to separate bowls. Mix each topping well to combine
- 40ml of blackcurrant cordial
- 100g of low fat cream cheese
- 1/2 tsp vanilla essence
- 50ml of maple syrup
9
Using a piping bag with a 1/2cm round or fluted nozzle, top each cake with the different frostings. Alternatively, you could use a spatula or spoon for a more rustic finish
10
Wearing disposable gloves, split the marzipan into 4 even blocks
- 200g of marzipan, at room temperature
11
Work 1 block of marzipan into a round shape. Use your finger to press a hole in the middle, making sure not to press the entire way through
12
Squeeze 2 drops of the desired food colouring into the hole and pinch to seal the hole and enclose the colouring
- red food colouring
13
Knead the marzipan between your hands until the block is one consistent colour and smooth
14
Repeat with the other 3 pieces of marzipan until you have 4 vibrantly coloured blocks
- blue food colouring
- green food colouring
- yellow food colouring
15
Make different shapes out of the marzipan - these could be animals, snowmen, twirls, or whatever you wish. Use the shapes to decorate the top of each cake
16
If you wish, continue to decorate with edible stars, hundreds and thousands and edible glitter. Serve on a tiered cupcake stand
First published in 2015
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