Butterfly Fairy Cakes Recipes

GORGEOUS LITTLE BUTTERFLY CAKES OR FAIRY CAKES!

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 190° C or 375°F.
• Have ready between 12 -18 paper cases depending on size. Small pie or cake tins will take standard paper cases. These cakes SHOULD be small and dainty and NOT standard "muffin" size. (However, you can make them bigger and adjust the cooking time by 5 minutes.).
• Cream butter or margarine with sugar until light, fluffy and pale in colour. By hand is best but a hand whisk is fine too!
• Beat the eggs and add them bit by bit with spoons of sifted flour. Bit by bit ensures the mixture does not curdle.
• Gently fold in an any flour left over when the egg is used up.
• Add the vanilla or any other flavourings desired - lemon and orange is good too! If the mixture is a little too stiff add a little milk or juice of orange/lemon.
• Half fill the paper cases with the mixture and bake for about 15 minutes until risen and firm but NOT too dark.
• Cool cakes and then cut a slice from the top of each cake and cut this in half.
• Place a little butter icing of your choice on the top of each cake and arrange the "wings" around the icing - round edge facing the outside and the cut edge to the inside and angled towards the bottom - like BUTTERFLY or FAIRY wings! Dust with extra icing sugar and watch them fly away!
• If you want to add colouring to the vanilla cakes, pink is really good with pink icing too! I once sprinkled on crystallised rose petals for a Christening Party & I also used rose essence in the butter icing, very sophisticated!
• N.B. You can multiply this recipe very easily, e.g: 6 ozs of butter, flour & sugar to 3 eggs; 8 ozs of butter, flour and sugar to 4 eggs & so on! It also makes VERY good big Victoria Sponge cakes - just slice and fill with a filling of your choice -- lemon curd, butter icing, fresh whipped cream & jam -- the list is endless!

BUTTERFLY CAKES

Steps:

• Preheat oven to 325 degrees F (165 degrees C). Line a muffin tin with medium-sized cupcake liners.
• Combine 3/4 cup butter and 3/4 cup plus 2 tablespoons white sugar in a large bowl; beat with an electric mixer until fluffy. Beat in eggs and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract. Beat in flour gradually. Divide batter evenly among the cupcake liners.
• Bake in the preheated oven until golden, 15 to 20 minutes. Transfer to a wire rack to cool, about 20 minutes.
• Beat 1 cup plus 2 1/2 tablespoons confectioners' sugar, 1/4 cup butter, and 1 teaspoon vanilla extract together in a bowl to make buttercream filling.
• Scoop some of the center out of each cupcake, keeping it in one piece. Fill each hole with raspberry jam. Top cupcakes with buttercream. Cut the scooped-out centers into 2 pieces and position them in the buttercream to look like butterfly wings.

BLUEBERRY BUTTERFLY CAKES

Steps:

• Line the tin and weigh the ingredients: Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and put a paper case in each space in the fairy cake tin. Next, take the large mixing bowl and weigh in the flour, baking powder, butter, sugar and lemon curd.
• Add the eggs: Break the eggs into the small bowl, then add them to the other ingredients, making sure that there isn't any eggshell in the bowl.
• Get whisking: Whisk everything together really well until creamy with the electric hand whisk. Then carefully stir in the blueberries with a metal spoon or spatula.
• Spoon into the cases: Use the ice cream scoop or spoon to spoon the mixture evenly into the paper cases. Make sure you get the mixture inside the cases. Now put the cake tin in the oven and bake for 15 mins until the cakes are golden (to check they are ready, see the tip box, left). Cool for a few mins, then lift the cakes onto a cooling rack.
• Make the topping: Clean the large mixing bowl and dry well. Then put the mascarpone and lemon curd into the bowl and beat together with a wooden spoon until well mixed.
• Now decorate: Carefully cut a circle out of the top of each cake - ask an adult to help you. Lift off the circle and fill the space with the lemon filling followed by some blueberries. Halve the circle of the cake that you have cut out and place on top to create butterfly wings. Put some icing sugar in a tea strainer and dust over the cakes.

BUTTERFLY CAKES

Steps:

• Heat the oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Line a cupcake tin with 10 cases. To make the sponge, tip the butter, sugar, eggs, vanilla, flour, baking powder and milk into a large mixing bowl and beat with either a hand whisk or electric mixer until smooth, pale and combined. Divide the batter between the cases and bake for 15 mins until golden brown and a skewer inserted in the middle of a cake comes out clean. Leave on a wire rack to cool.
• While the cakes are cooling, make the buttercream by beating together the icing sugar, butter and vanilla until pale and fluffy. Mix in the extra milk if the icing feels too stiff.
• Once the cakes are cool, use a sharp knife to slice off the tops, then cut the tops in half. Pipe or spread the buttercream on top of the cakes, then gently push two semi-circular halves into the buttercream on each cake, doing this at an angle to look like butterfly wings. You can serve the cupcakes at this stage, or decorate them with a little blob of jam in the centre and a scattering of sprinkles, if you like.