Our simple fairy cake recipe gives you soft, delicate and delicious cupcakes, drizzled in smooth, deliciously-sweet Silver Spoon Glace Icing. These cupcakes make a great treat for birthdays, or a fun recipe to get the kids involved in baking.
Not only are they simple to make, but they’re also fun to decorate, letting you and your children get creative. We like ours with icing and sprinkled with hundreds & thousands, but you can get creative and try fairy cakes with chocolate chips, lemon drizzle, or buttercream icing.
How to keep your fairy cakes moist
If your fairy cakes are too dry, you may be baking them for too long, or on too high a heat. We bake ours at 170°C (fan 150°C, gas mark 3) for 15-20 minutes. You should check them after 15 minutes to see if they’re cooked, then put them back in the oven if they aren’t.
You can check to see if they’re done by gently inserting a thin metal skewer into the centre of the cakes - if it comes out clean, they’re cooked through.
How to make your fairy cakes soft and fluffy
If your fairy cakes aren’t coming out fluffy, you may need to use more raising agent; in this case, Allinson's Self-Raising White Flour.
How to make sure your fairy cakes rise
If your fairy cakes are dipping in the middle, this is likely due to your cake batter being too moist, so it ‘collapses’ once you bake it. You may also have your oven on too low a temperature, which will cause your cupcakes to bake unevenly.
You should also avoid opening the oven door once your fairy cakes are baking, as this releases the heat from the oven, which can also cause them to sink.
7 ingredients7 steps
Vegetarian
Method
Step 1
Preheat the oven to 170°C (fan 150°C, gas mark 3). Line a muffin tray with 10-12 paper cases.
Step 2
Beat together the butter and sugar, then add in the eggs one at a time mixing between each addition. Add the vanilla extract.
Ingredients for this step
Butter(100g)
Silver Spoon Caster Sugar(100g)
Eggs(2)
Nielsen-Massey Vanilla Extract(2 tsp)
Step 3
Carefully fold in the flour until just incorporated.
Ingredients for this step
Allinson's Self-Raising White Flour(100g)
Step 4
Spoon the mixture into the paper cases and bake for 15-20 minutes until golden on top. Insert the tip of a knife into the cases to check that they are baked throughout. If they are ready the knife should be clean when removed from the sponge.
Step 5
Allow to cool on a rack.
Step 6
To make the icing, add a few drops of water to the icing sugar until the consistency becomes smooth and glossy. Add more water if needed, or if the icing becomes too runny add a touch more icing sugar to thicken.
Step 7
Spoon the icing on to each cake and decorate with a handful of coloured sprinkles.
