Obviously, I’m partial to fairy tales, but I also adore cupcakes. So when I happened to find fairy cakes, I was totally intrigued and curious; I had to seek more information. Guess what? There seems to be a little controversy out here in the webby world, particularly about what fairy cakes exactly are. Here are some of the explanations I found:- The British word for cupcakes
- Lighter than cupcakes
- Their small size is perfect for fairies
- Called fairy cakes so that kids will enjoy them more
- Cupcakes topped with decorations
- The method of scooping out the top and then cutting this piece of cake into wings, filling the hole with icing and then putting the fairy wings on top. But some disagree and call these butterfly cakes.
Although I discovered several different recipes, I did find enough with similar ingredients that I feel are probably the closest to classic British Fairy Cakes (sponge cake with lemon icing). The recipe below (reprint courtesy of Becks and Posh blog ) is the one I used to make my fairy cakes, which are pictured above.
Fairy Cakes
Ingredients (makes 30 mini fairy cakes):
4 ounces butter
4 ounces Baker's or Caster Sugar
4 ounces sifted Self Raising Flour (or All-purpose flour + half tsp baking powder + pinch salt)
2 eggs
1 cup sifted Powdered or Icing sugar
Juice of a lemon (*and zest, optional)
Food colouring of your choice if desiredSilver Ball Cake Decorations
For the entire "How to Make", please visit http://becksposhnosh.blogspot.com/2006/05/fairy-easy-fairy-cake-recipe.html
Note: The little Silver Ball Cake Decorations (dragrees) are illegal in California because “…dragees have the potential to put consumers, especially children, at risk because silver is a toxic metal that can build up in the body over time and cause problems.” The entire article is here: http://www.sfgate.com/cgi-bin/article.cgi?file=/chronicle/archive/2003/12/23/MNGS03SUEM1.DTL
I live in Texas, and I couldn’t find them anywhere. I decided to use pastel colored candy balls that I found at Hobby Lobby. So mine aren’t exactly right, but I’m still hoping they’ll attract a couple of fairies.
