Pink, pink and pink |
Fairy cake or cupcake? |
Mum and I were at a loss when we tried to describe these babies - they're delightfully dense, moist and a little squidgy, and the teeny marzipan morsels make for scrummy, cheeky, chewy bites. Somehow, the marzipan adds plenty of sweetness, worry not, sugar lovers. I'm a huge fan of anything almondy, and the subtle rose and elderflower flavours complement the almond beautifully - just perf for summer, if you ask me. Learn from my mistakes, though, and do NOT try the almond extract by itself. It BURNS!
There's something about decorating little cakes with glacé icing that makes me think of my childhood, and I simply adore doing it. You don't really need any skill at all, not like fiddly piping bags (I HATE them), and you can then top your cakes with whatever takes your fancy - I just picked a few wild flowers from the garden. Sometimes I think my life is too quaint for my own good. If you do the same, obviously don't eat the flowers, and don't leave them on your cakes for ages once you've put them away in a tin as the flowers will go all sad and wilt. Totes traj*.
I wanted to make a whole batch of little fairy cakes, but unforch we ran out of paper cases, so I used muffin-sized cases for the rest. Mum and I love the little cakes as they really are only a few mouthfuls each, so you can have just that extra one before bed without feeling too guilty. I made six fairy cakes and five and a half cupcakes. Slightly awks, but it's all cake so who's complaining?
This is a recipe I customised from one in Stella, and would be perfect to pack up for a picnic. Remember to take your eggs out of the fridge in advance (or use my tip if you forget!)
Ingredients - Cake
75g unsalted butter, melted and cooled
280g marzipan
3 eggs
2½ tbsp cornflour
¼ tsp salt
1 tbsp elderflower cordial
¼ tsp almond extract
- Icing
125g icing sugar (but it may depend on how many and what size of cake you're making)
1 tsp rose essence
A few drops of pink food colouring
A selection of wild flowers (or whatever you fancy) to decorate
Method
1. Preheat the oven to 180C and line your cake tray with paper cases. Chop the marzipan into tiny pieces - around 1cm x 1cm - and hopefully resist eating them as you go better than I did.
God, I love marzipan |
Whisking the eggs and marzipan |
4. Pour the mixture into the prepared cake cases, filling each about two thirds. Bake for about 20-22 minutes for the big cakes and around 10-11 minutes for the small ones until they're golden on top and slightly puffed in the centre. Cool in the tin for five minutes or so before turning the cakes out and placing on a wire rack to cool completely.
Mmm icing |
Cake, anyone? |
** God forbid I need to explain this one!
These look really tasty, I love marzipan so much!! If you wanna decorate cupcakes with flowers, pansy flowers are edible and taste nice too, I like them in a salad :D
ReplyDeleteElanor xxxx
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Thanks Elanor - glad to hear you're a marzipan fan too :)
DeleteOoh pansy flowers, what a great idea, thanks! :) X
You are so cute on these pictures!!
ReplyDeleteWhy thanks :) X
DeleteYum yum! Bit of a coincidence as I was thinking of making cupcakes with flower topping this weekend. Only, I like marzipan in moderation and so was going to go for butter cream and top up with edible flowers, sweet williams, nasturtiums, pansies etc. Also, congratulations on being shortlisted for the Cosmo blog awards!! Ann x
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Ooh that sounds amazing, Ann! Thanks very much and thanks for commenting too :) X
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ReplyDeleteThese look/sound AMAZING. I want to host a fairy-themed tea party just for this.
ReplyDeleteThank you, you definitely should :)
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