Fairy Cakes, or Butterfly Cakes are&nbsp;easy and quick to make as well as being&nbsp;a family favourite and delicious at the same time. We've seen our fair share of Fairy Cake recipes but this one is really easy to follow. We've also added those traditional butterfly wings to the topping which look great and it's also fun to do with the kids. We've included a video from the archives (an oldie but a goodie) which runs you through the whole process.&nbsp;

Easy

Simple Fairy Cakes on a plate next to a box of Silver Spoon Icing Sugar, and a sliced cupcake in a cupcake case

Simple Fairy Cakes close up with jar of sprinkles and Silver Spoon Icing sugar box

Simple Fairy Cakes on a marble tray, next to a sliced cupcake in a cupcake case

Simple Fairy Cakes close up, with running icing and sprinkles jar in the background

Simple Fairy Cakes on a cake stand, with sprinkles and running icing. Next to a box of Silver Spoon Icing sugar

Simple Fairy Cakes on a marble plate, next to hands holding a Silver Spoon Icing sugar box and an open jar of sprinkles

Butter (unsalted)

Billington's

Psst. We have the secret to make your already awesome bakes phenomenal. Introducing the finest quality caster sugar for baking – Billington’s Golden Caster Sugar.
What is golden caster sugar? The perfect natural alternative to refined sugar. You can use it in the exact same way and quantity as caster sugar, however, this ingredient adds a magical touch to your bake; a warm golden colour and subtle buttery flavour, ideal for light and fluffy sponge cakes, satisfying shortbreads and dainty macaroons.

Billington's Unrefined Golden Caster Sugar

Egg(s) (free range)

Nielsen-Massey

Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Extract - the secret ingredient to guarantee that every bake has the x-factor. A drop here, a dash there, this Vanilla Extract is bursting with all the flavour and aroma of vanilla pods.
A showstopper on its own or the perfect partner to compliment other ingredients or flavours vanilla is the ultimate flavour enhancer. Savoury or sweet. Cake, cupcakes, buttercream and indulgent treats, this is a must-have ingredient in your kitchen.
What is the difference between vanilla extract and vanilla essence? Well, this extract is derived solely from hand-picked vanilla pods sourced from the finest growing regions of Mexico, Tahiti and Madagascar and entered in a cold extraction process extracting the vanilla from pod, preserving of 300 flavour compounds. For that reason, we always recommend extract instead of the more artificial Vanilla essence to achieve the scrummiest of flavours.

Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Extract

Self-raising white flour is ideal for cakes, cookies and muffins, where a light and airy texture is required. The shelf life of self-raising flour is shorter than other flours as the raising agent will absorb moisture from the air over time

Allinson's Self Raising Flour

Baking powder

For the fairy cakes 

Food colouring

For the icing

Silver Spoon

Are you even baking if your kitchen isn’t covered in icing sugar? A staple ingredient for all baking when whipping up deliciousness.
We love Silver Spoon Icing Sugar as it is the only sugar homegrown in the East of England using sugar beets.
This fine, refined white icing sugar, helps blend the fluffiest of buttercream icing to top your cupcakes and fill your Victoria Sponges.&nbsp;
It is so versatile that with this tiniest touch of water it can transform into to smooth velvety icing to flood ice your biscuits or drizzle over your cakes. With its crisp white finish, it is the perfect blank canvas to colour, flavour and personalise to suit your individual baking style.

Silver spoon icing sugar (to dust)

To finish

Children love to bake, and enjoy decorating even more This fairy cakes recipe is easy to make, quick to cook, and a nice flat surface area to decorate with lots of messy icing.

Easy Fairy Cakes Recipe | How to Make Easy Fairy Cakes

Preheat the oven to 180°C (170°C fan, gas mark 5).&nbsp;Line a cupcake tin with cake cases, if you have no cake cases, grease and flour the individual holes.

Beat together the butter, sugar, eggs and vanilla extract until the mixture is smooth.

Sift the flour into the bowl with the baking powder. Stir in until well blended. Spoon the mix into the cake cases, if using.

Bake for 12-15 minutes until a skewer comes out clean when inserted. Cool on a rack before decorating.

To make the icing, cream the butter and sugar until fluffy and pale, add a drop of milk if needed. Add the colouring as required.

Using a small sharp knife carefully cut out the centre of the cake, removing the sponge and slicing in half to make butterfly wings. Spoon the buttercream into the centre and position the sponge wings on top. Dust with icing sugar to finish.

Allinsons-Naan-Bread-1-1-Baking-Mad-3.jpg

Bread & Dough

Cookie, Oreo & Brownie Layered Cake with a slice cut out of it. 

Cake Recipes

Top view of Rainbow Meringues in a bowl, with Rainbow Meringues scattered around next to a bag of silver spoon caster sugar

Confectionery

Side on view of a stack of vegan and gluten free chocolate chip cookies

Cookies & Biscuits

Nutella Cupcakes with glass bottle of milk in the background

Cupcakes & Muffins

2 glass jars of eton mess, raspberries, edible flowers and vanilla extract

Desserts

Bowl of ice cream, apple and slices, brown sugar packet

Ice Cream & Lollies

Icing & Buttercream

Jams & Spreads

Stack of American pancakes drizzled with maple syrup and topped with fresh berries

Pancakes, Crepes & Waffles

Pastries, Pies & Tarts

scone with strawberries and cream on a plate 

Scones & Shortcakes

Sweet Sauces

Salted Caramel Cookie Traybake pieces stacked on top of each other with a hand reaching for the top piece. A bottle of milk in the background and jar of caramel sauce in the foreground

Traybakes

Pop tarts decorated with biscoff, chocolate and pink icing with sprinkles. 

Air Fryer Pop Tarts

Individual Eton Mess

Tiramisu Mini Treats

Recipes

Tips & Tricks

Allinson's

A top down view of chocolate brownies next to a packet of Billington's Dark Muscovado Sugar

Billington’s

Nielsen Massey Vanilla Extract being added to Vanilla Extract Cupcakes mixture

Our Brands

Butterfly Cakes

Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Vegetarian

Christmas Fairy Cakes

Fruit Fairy Cakes

This is ridiculous. She says 2 eggs but then goes on to say she is breaking 4 and the recipe states 3.

Very easy to follow and make! I’ve made these multiple times now because they’re just so delicious and you get a lot of cakes out of it.

Brilliant recipe easy to do made with my 2 kids we even added vanilla extract into the butter cream so we had vanilla butter cream yum

This was excellant recipe for my granddaughter to make so easy and the family loved them thank you

Easy Fairy Cakes

About the bake

Method

Step 1

Step 2

Step 3

Step 4

Step 5

Step 6

Ingredients

For the fairy cakes

For the icing

To finish

Utensils

5 Baker Ratings

Let us know how you rate our bake?

Butterfly Cakes

Chocolate Chip Cupcakes

Christmas Fairy Cakes

Fruit Fairy Cakes

Baking a 1st Birthday Cake

Baking for a Bake Sale

How much cake mixture you need for a number cake

How to Feed a Christmas Cake

Great recipes and more at BakingMad.com