Vintage "Fairy Cake" recipe (2024)

FAQs

What is the difference between a cupcake and a fairy cake? ›

What is the difference between a fairy cake and a cupcake? Cupcakes are bigger than fairy cakes and use a generous amount of frosting on top. In comparison, fairy cakes are often drizzled with icing rather than piled high with the buttercream or cream cheese frostings that American-style cupcakes are famous for.

Why are my fairy cakes not rising? This could be down to a lack of raising agent - or even old self-raising flour where the raising agent has become less effective.

One reason is that the cake batter might be too moist, causing it to collapse during baking. Another reason could be that the oven temperature is too low, leading to uneven baking. Opening the oven door too frequently while baking can also cause cakes to sink.

And of course, the big misunderstanding is that foreign countries think fairy cakes look like fairies. These delicious treats go by this name because of their size, which is small enough for a fairy to eat. However, a version of “butterfly cakes” is a design that has wings on top of the cupcakes.

These cute little sponge cakes are a smaller version of a cupcake – they are in essence the dainty version of their American cupcake cousins.

A cupcake (AmE), fairy cake (BrE), or bun (IrE) is a small cake designed to serve one person, which may be baked in a small thin paper or aluminum cup.

The ratio of wet to dry ingredients determines a cake's moisture level. If there's simply too much flour and not enough butter, a cake will taste dry. On the other hand, if there's too much milk and not enough flour, a cake will taste too wet.

Q: Why do cakes crack when baking? A: Oven too hot or cake placed too high in oven; the crust is formed too soon, the cake continues to rise, therefore the crust cracks.

Our answer

When an oven is too hot sponge cakes rise very quickly and often have a sharp peak in the centre. This happens because the outside of the cake (or cupcake) bakes very quickly, pushing the centre inwards and then upwards. The top will also brown quite quickly.

How do I get my fairy cakes to rise? ›

We don't want our fairy cakes to come out flat, so the raising affects of self-raising flour takes care of that. No other baking powder required either – these are only little cakes and don't need any more assistance to rise to the occaision.

Likewise, if your cake isn't brown enough it is likely because it is under-cooked or the recipe used insufficient egg or sugar.

A bizarre form of counter-magic, the witch cake was a supernatural dessert used to identify suspected evildoers. In cases of mysterious illness or possession, witch-hunters would take a sample of the victim's urine, mix it with rye meal and ashes and bake it into a cake.

Fairy cakes may refer to: A British cupcake, typically of a smaller size than the American variety.

Sally Ann—Vanilla cake filled with vanilla whipped icing and iced in chocolate buttercream. Mary Ann—Chocolate cake filled with vanilla whipped icing and iced in chocolate buttercream with a star of vanilla whipped icing on top.

Cream the butter and sugar together in a bowl until pale. Beat in the eggs, a little at a time, and stir in the vanilla extract. Fold in the flour using a large metal spoon. Add a little milk until the mixture is a soft dropping consistency and spoon the mixture into the paper cases until they are half full.

Our recipes suggest you bake using muffin cases rather than dainty little fairy cake cases so that you get a more satisfying sponge. When filling your cupcake cases, only pour the batter until it is two thirds full… then stop! Overfilling leads to overflowing, so always leave some rising room for your cupcake sponge.

In Australia, they are called patty cakes (as in “patty cake, patty cake, baker's man…”).