Magical Christmas Fairy Cakes Christmas Fairy Cupcakes Recipes

MAGICAL CHRISTMAS FAIRY CAKES - CHRISTMAS FAIRY CUPCAKES

Steps:

• Makes 24 mini cakes or 12 larger ones.
• For mini cakes you will need a 12 hole tartlet tin (these are 5cm at the rim and 1 1/2 cm deep) and you will need to use it twice, unless you have two. For larger cakes use a 12-hole bun or muffin tin (these are 6 1/2 cm at the rim and 2cm deep). You can use the little paper cases according to the size tin you have - I have suggested silver. If not, butter the base and sides of the holes before filling with the mixture.
• Preheat the oven to 190C/375F/Gas mark 5. Either butter the tin or place the paper cases in the holes (see above). In a mixing bowl beat the butter and sugar until pale and fluffy. You can use an electric whisk or a wooden spoon.
• Add the beaten egg, a little at a time, whisking to incorporate, then beat in the vanilla.
• Sift in half of the flour and fold into the mixture. Add the milk and the rest of the flour and fold until well combined.
• Spoon into the tin and bake for 12 minutes or until risen and golden on top. Allow to cool for ten minutes before removing from the tin. Cool the cakes on a cooling tray/rack.
• Mix a little water to the icing sugar until you have a soft glace icing - add a little vanilla extract if you wish, or other flavourings.
• Spoon the icing over the top of the cooled fairy cakes, allowing the icing to drip down into the cases or over the sides of the cakes.
• Roll out the fondant icing on a board with icing sugar sprinkled over to stop it sticking; press or cut your festive shapes and place one on top of each iced fairy cake. Sprinkle over the edible glitter or sparkles and arrange the fairy cakes on an attractive serving plate.

FAIRY CAKES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 400 degrees F.
• Line a 12 cup muffin tin with baking cups.
• Put all the ingredients except for the milk into a food processor and blend until smooth. Pulse while adding the milk down the funnel to make for a soft consistency.
• It doesn't seem like enough, but you can get enough into each baking cup, just scrape it all out and try to fill each one equally.
• Bake for 15-20 minutes or until they are golden on top.
• Cool on a wire rack, but remove from the tin as soon as possible.
• Before you decorate, slice off any mounded tops so you have a flat surface to decorate. Icing: Mix the sugar, egg white and lemon juice in a small bowl until smooth and creamy, it should have the consistency of heavy cream I always break the batch into smaller batches so I can have different colors When my girlfriend made these for my shower, she frosted them with a bright pink icing, sprinkled them with iridescent edible glitter and topped it with an edible (gum paste) rosebud.
• Very very cute!
• In the cookbook they show them topped with rosebuds and little sugared daisies and fresh berries and they even made a spiderweb with black and white icing.
• Use your imagination, the flat tops give lots of room to be creative!

PRETTY LITTLE LAVENDER FAIRY CAKES - CUPCAKES

Steps:

• Preheat the oven to 200ºC/gas mark 6 and line a 12-bun tin with paper cases.
• Put all the ingredients for the fairy cakes, except for the milk, into the bowl and mix well with a hand held mixer for about 2-3 minutes.
• Mix once more, adding enough milk to make a batter with a smooth texture.
• Pour the fairy cake batter into the waiting cake cases.
• Bake for about 10 to 15 minutes, by which time the sponge should be cooked through and springy to the touch.
• Remove from the oven, leave for 5 minutes or so, then arrange the fairy cakes in their paper cases on a wire rack to cool.
• Whilst they are cooling, make the icing.
• I like this to be pale violet in colour and to run off the cakes slightly - not too thick. So add the water to the icing sugar and gradually add the food colouring until the desired colour has been reached. The icing should be fairly loose, but not too runny.
• Top each fairy cake with the icing - it does NOT matter if it drizzles down the sides of the cake cases!
• Top each fairy cake with a little sprig of lavender before the icing's set dry.

SNOW-CAPPED FAIRY CAKES

Steps:

• Heat oven to 190C/fan 170C/gas 5. Line 18 holes of a 2 x 12-hole bun tins with paper cake cases. Melt butter and cool for 5 mins, tip into a large bowl with all the cake ingredients, then beat together for 1-2 mins until smooth.
• Spoon the cake mixture into the cake cases, filling them three-quarters full (a heaped tablespoon is about right). Bake for 15-18 mins until lightly browned and firm to the touch. Cool on a wire rack.
• To make the icing, put the egg white and orange juice into a heatproof bowl, sift in the icing sugar, then set over a pan of simmering water. Using an electric hand whisk, whisk the icing for 7 mins until it is glossy and stands in soft peaks. Remove from the heat, then whisk for a further 2 mins until it is slightly cooled.
• Thinly slice the fruit jellies. Spoon the icing onto the cakes, swirling it with a knife, then decorate with slices of jelly fruits and a few silver balls. Leave to set. The cakes will keep for up to 3 days in the cake tin.