Fairy Cake Recipes

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 350 degrees F (175 degrees C). Lay out about 18 cupcake (muffin) papers on a baking sheet or place them in a muffin pan.
• In a medium bowl, cream together the sugar and margarine until light and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time using an electric mixer, or the whole thing may be mixed in a blender. Add cinnamon and ginger to the batter and mix well. Stir in the flour until well blended. Spoon a generous tablespoon of the batter into each paper, and level it out.
• Bake for 15 to 20 minutes in the preheated oven, until the tops spring back when lightly pressed. Dust with confectioners' sugar and cardamom when cooled.

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 355 degrees F (180 degrees C). Grease 24 fairy cake cases (muffin cups) or line with paper liners.
• Beat butter and sugar together in a large bowl with an electric mixer until light and fluffy. Add 1/2 of the flour and 1/2 of the eggs; whisk until smooth. Add remaining flour and eggs and whisk until batter is light and fluffy; spoon into prepared muffin cups.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden, 10 to 12 minutes.

Steps:

• Ask a grown-up helper to turn the oven on to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Put a paper case in hole of a 12-hole bun tin.
• Put the sugar and butter (it must be soft or you won't be able to mix it properly) in a bowl and mix it together. Sift in the flour.
• Break the eggs into a separate bowl (spoon out any bits of shell that fall in) and add them to the bowl with the vanilla. Mix everything together.
• Divide between the cases using a spoon, scraping it off with a knife. Ask a grown-up helper to put the tray in the oven for 20 minutes.
• Mix the butter and icing sugar to make a creamy icing. Add colouring, if you like. Push an icing nozzle into an icing bag, then scoop in the icing.
• Let the cakes cool completely in the tray. Pipe icing onto each cake and decorate with marshmallows or sprinkles, or whatever you like.

Steps:

• Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Line 2 x 12 hole bun tins or mini muffin tins with paper cake cases. Put all the fairy cake ingredients into a large bowl and whisk together with electric hand beaters until smooth. If you don't have these you can use a wooden spoon or balloon whisk (see tip).
• Dollop the mixture into the prepared cases until it's all used up. Bake for 10-12 mins or until golden and springy. To be sure they're cooked through, poke a cocktail stick into the centre of one of the cakes in a middle row - if it comes out cleanly, it's cooked. Leave to cool in the tin for 5-10mins then transfer to a wire rack to cool completely before decorating.
• Mix the icing sugar with enough water to make it the consistency of thick cream. Colour some or all of the icing with a few drops of your chosen food colouring(s) then drizzle over the top of the cooled fairy cakes. Sprinkle with your chosen toppings while the icing is still wet. Leave to set firm before serving. Will keep for 2 days in an airtight container.