Cherry Topped Fairy Cakes3 June 2023 | 6:00 am
Cherry Topped Fairy Cakes. How can you not fall in love with something called a Fairy Cake? And when they are topped with glace cherries, so much the more!
A fairy cake is the name given to small buttery cakes in the UK. They are generally much smaller than a cup cake and rather than a buttercream icing will have a simple thick sugar and water glaze.
They are delightfully simple to make and are a great way to introduce children to the art of baking. Simple and very forgiving, and yes, very delicious!
You just have to love the names that they give to their baked goods in the UK. I used to love reading Enid Blyton stories when I was a child and a huge part of the appeal was the name of the food that the children ate in the books.
Cherry Cakes, Crumpets, lashings of Ginger Beer, boiled sweeties, etc. it all sounded very exotic to me. I wanted to experience all of it. Midnight feasts, picnics, tuck boxes and adventures. Sign me up!!
This fairy cake recipe that I am sharing with you today comes from the cookery book entitled Vintage Cakes, tremendously good cakes for sharing an giving, by Jane Brocket. There are over 90 recipes in the book and I have enjoyed every one that I have baked thus far.
These fairy cakes were deemed good enough to be portrayed on the cover. As you can see mine did not look all that different from the ones in the book! That's one of mine sitting there on the cover just above the plate of cakes, covering the Victoria Sponge.
The photographs in the book are beautiful and the recipes are really well written. They are written by weight, which is a much more accurate method of baking in my opinion. I started baking by weight when I first moved to the UK.
All recipes over there are done by weight. I had to sink or swim and so I bought a set of scales and just got stuck in to doing it. I still bake by weight, even though I am back in Canada. As I said, it is much more accurate. The potential for error is very small.
For instance cup sizes can vary greatly. Have you spooned your dry ingredients into the cup and leveled it off? Or have you scooped the cup down into them. Those two things alone can make a huge difference, whereas a gram is always a gram is a gram.
Not all cups are created equally either. I have found differences in different kinds of measuring cups, etc. So now I weigh everything. I have, however, provided cup measures for this recipe, as I do all my recipes. I try to make everything easier for all of my readers on both sides of the pond!
WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE CHERRY TOPPED FAIRY CAKES
Simple baking cupboard ingredients. Wherever possible I have endeavored to provide adequate substitutions for anything that might be difficult to find.
For the cakes:
- 1/2 cup plus 2 tsp (125g) butter, softened
- 2/3 cup (125g) fine granulated sugar
- 2 large free range eggs
- 1 cup (125g) self raising flour
- few drops vanilla extract
- 1 -2 TBS milk
For the finish:
- 1 cup (130g) icing sugar, sifted
- 2 1/2 TBS water (as needed)
- 6 glace cherries, washed, dried and halved
The original recipe called for caster sugar, which is a fine granulated sugar. You can use regular granulated sugar so long as it is not really coarse. If it is coarse, it will be helpful to blitz it for a few seconds in a food processor to make it finer.
Self rising flour is an ingredient that is very commonly asked for in British recipes. Self rising flour is a flour that has leavening already added to it.
It is very easy to make your own self rising flour. I make my own, 3 or 4 cups worth a a time. For every cup (140g) of flour, whisk in 1 1/2 tsp baking powder and 1/4 tsp of salt. Easy peasy.
If you cannot get glace cherries (which are candied cherries) you can use maraschino cherries. Just rinse them and dry them really well before using.
HOW TO MAKE CHERRY TOPPED FAIRY CAKES
These are some of the easiest cakes to make. That is why they are such a good thing to make which children. Children love to bake and this is a very forgiving recipe.
Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4. Line a 12 cup medium muffin tin with paper liners. Set aside.
Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. If it starts to curdle you can add a spoonful of the flour, but its not really necessary.
Stir in the flour, folding it in with a metal spoon until well combined. Stir in the vanilla and enough milk, as needed to give a soft dropping consistency.
Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling no more than 2/3 full.
Bake in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes until well risen and golden brown on top. The tops should spring back when lightly touched and a toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean.
Remove to a wire rack and cool slightly before removing from the tin completely.
Once they are cold you can make the icing. Sift the sugar into a bowl. Whisk in the water a bit at a time until you have a smooth thick spreadable type of icing. Spread some on top of each fairy cake and top each with 1/2 cherry.
Leave to set the icing before serving. Delicious! Store any leftovers in an airtight container.
You can use orange juice or lemon juice instead of water when making the icing to add a different depth of flavor to it. You may need to use a bit more icing sugar in that case and it may tint the icing a tiny bit so that it isn't pure white.
Sugared flowers are really pretty on top of these and make them a beautiful addition for a tea party or a special picnic. Children love cake sprinkles and candies when used to decorate the cakes.
These are best eaten on the day, but will keep for a day or two in an airtight container in a dark cool place. They are great for children's parties, or picnics, and properly decorated, they are a beautiful addition to an afternoon tea party.
With their buttery fluffy sponge texture and that lovely hint of sweet to the tops, they are fabulous when served with hot cups of tea, or glasses of milk, or cold glasses of lemonade!
The next time you are invited to a get-together bake a plate of these and watch everyone's eyes light up when you bring them in. They delight children and adults alike!
Some other small traditional bakes here in The English Kitchen that you might enjoy are:
QUEEN CAKES - These lovely little cakes are traditionally baked for Mothering Sunday in March and were said to be a favorite of Queen Victoria. They are rich and buttery and studded with plenty of dried currants. You can also use chopped raisins if you can't get currants. A dusting of icing sugar is the only adornment needed.
SCOTTISH SNOWBALL CAKES - How can you not love something called a snowball cake! Its impossible. Two buttery small cakes, sandwiched together with some jam. The filled caked are then rolled in glace icing and coconut. They look like little snowballs. Delightfully delicious!
CUPCAKE MADELEINES - These English Madeleine cakes are very different from their French counterpart. These buttery little cupcakes are brushed with warm jam and rolled in coconut. A glace cherry half decorates the top of each. They are the perfect teatime treat!
Yield: 12 small cakes
Cherry Topped Fairy Cakes
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 20 MinTotal time: 30 Min
Ingredients
For the cakes:
- 1/2 cup plus 2 tsp (125g) butter, softened
- 2/3 cup (125g) fine granulated sugar
- 2 large free range eggs
- 1 cup (125g) self raising flour
- few drops vanilla extract
- 1 -2 TBS milk
For the finish:
- 1 cup (130g) icing sugar, sifted
- 2 1/2 TBS water (as needed)
- 6 glace cherries, washed, dried and halved
Instructions
- Preheat the oven to 350*F/180*C/ gas mark 4. Line a 12 cup medium muffin tin with paper liners. Set aside.
- Cream the butter and sugar together until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs, one at a time, beating well after each addition. If it starts to curdle you can add a spoonful of the flour, but its not really necessary.
- Stir in the flour, folding it in with a metal spoon until well combined. Stir in the vanilla and enough milk, as needed to give a soft dropping consistency.
- Spoon the batter into the prepared muffin cups, filling no more than 2/3 full.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes until well risen and golden brown on top. The tops should spring back when lightly touched and a toothpick inserted in the center should come out clean.
- Remove to a wire rack and cool slightly before removing from the tin completely.
- Once they are cold you can make the icing. Sift the sugar into a bowl. Whisk in the water a bit at a time until you have a smooth thick spreadable type of icing. Spread some on top of each fairy cake and top each with 1/2 cherry.
- Leave to set the icing before serving. Delicious!
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Honey Cornbread Muffins (small batch)2 June 2023 | 6:00 am
I am a huge fan of cornbread of any kind! There is something just very moreish to me about the slight crunch that cornmeal adds to any kind of bread you add it to. It doesn't matter to me if it is in a muffin, pancake, a loaf, or as a cake.
I love it all.
Honey is something that also goes very well with cornbread. That's why when I saw this recipe for Honey Cornbread Muffins on Bountiful Kitchen, I knew it was something I wanted to try. It sounded a brilliant combination!
My mother never made cornbread for us when we were growing up and I don't know why. Its such a simple and delicious bread to serve along side of soups, stews or salads. It also goes phenomenally with baked beans and we sure ate enough of those!
The first time I ever had it was when I was visiting my in-laws on Prince Edward Island for the first time. My then husband and I had been married for a couple of years by then, and we had even dated as teenagers, but I had never met his parents.
I was so nervous meeting them, and spending time with them. We had two children by then and my ex sister in law decided to visit them at the same time as us with her two kids. I wasn't overly fond of that idea if I can remember correctly. She was a "take charge" kind of person and I just felt I would be more comfortable meeting them on my own.
Anyways, she came too.
My mother in law was still working outside the home at that point and she was going to work this one day and she wanted to have baked beans and corncake for supper. She asked my sister in law to mix up the corncake and pop it into the oven just in time for supper when she got home from work.
My sister in law then decided to go out visiting relatives with my ex husband and told me to do the corncake. I thought this was kind of "rich" of her, considering I had never had cornbread of any sort up to that point.
She insisted that I mix it up and bake it right then, as soon as they left. I thought it was a bit too early, personally, but who was I to say. I thought she knew better.
Oh well. Not a good start to my relationship with the in-laws to say the least! I was forever known as the girl who ruined the corncake.
I think corn muffins are a bit more forgiving than my mother in law's corncake was. She had me bake it in gem pans so they were even drier. Not my greatest success.
These lovely muffins are anything but dry, I can promise you! They are light and delicious with a beautiful crumb. Buttery and lightly sweetened with a bit of sugar and some honey, and just a nice amount of crunch from the cornmeal.
WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE HONEY CORNBREAD MUFFINS (small batch)
Simple every day baking cupboard ingredients.
- 1/2 cup (85g) yellow cornmeal (coarse polenta in the UK)
- 1/2 cup (70g) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/4 cup (50) granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (120ml) whole full fat milk
- 1 large free range egg
- 1/8 cup (30ml) melted butter
- 1/8 cup (30ml) liquid honey
You can buy cornmeal in the UK on Amazon. However when I lived there I either bought it as Skyco (an American goods supplier) or I just used coarse polenta, which worked fine.
Do use full fat milk for a nice rich flavor and result, and yes, do use butter. There is no substitution for real butter.
By liquid honey I mean liquid honey, runny honey. Not creamed or solid honey.
I use organic granulated sugar that I buy at a Costco supply store. Its a bit cream colored and not bleached white. But you can use any kind of granulated sugar you wish. In the UK I would use natural caster sugar.
HOW TO MAKE HONEY CORNBREAD MUFFINS (small batch)
Muffins are really a simple make. Its basically just mixing dry and wet ingredients together.
Preheat your oven to 400*F/200*F/ gas mark 6. Butter a nonstick medium muffin tin really well. Set aside.
Whisk the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, sugar and salt together in a medium bowl.
Whisk the milk, egg, melted butter and liquid honey together in a beaker. Mix well to amalgamate.
Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour in the wet ingredients. Mix together just to combine. Divide the batter equally between the muffin cups.
Bake in the preheated oven for 12 to 15 minutes until well risen, golden brown at the edges and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
Leave to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes before tipping out. Serve warm.
HINTS AND TIPS FOR THE BEST MUFFINS
Here are my hints and tips for making sure that your muffins turn out beautifully every time:
1. Mix wet and dry ingredients separately. To prevent the mix from being overworked, first mix the wet ingredients together in one bowl and mix the dry ingredients in another. Make a well in the dry ingredients, carefully pour in the wet ingredients, then stir the mix a couple of times to roughly combine.
2. Don't over mix your muffins. The most important rule of muffin making is to not over stir the mix. What you really want is to just moisten the ingredients. Do not stir or beat the batter until it is smooth and lump free. You want the final mix to be lumpy, and thick with a few floury streaks.
3. Add your flavors last. While spices should be added with all the other dry ingredients, additions like fruit and nuts should be added last. Give the batter one more light-handed stir once you've added them in just to combine.
4. Line the pans. You can choose to either grease the muffin tin or line it with paper liners. If you choose to forgo the liners, make sure you grease the base and sides of the cups with oil spray or a little melted butter. If you're not going to eat the muffins for a while, do use paper liners as these will keep the muffins fresher for longer.
5. Don't overfill your pans. Aim to fill the cups ¾ full to get muffins with nice round tops and to prevent them from spilling out over the top of the cups. Often if your tins are over filled the muffins will rise to the top and then collapse on themselves.
6. For extra interest, add a flavorful sprinkle on top. Once the muffin cups are all filled, you can choose to sprinkle the tops with more fruit, nuts or a crumble topping, even sanding sugar or cinnamon sugar, for even more taste and or crunch. As the muffins rise these toppings will cook into the tops of the muffin.
7. Protect your baking pan. If there isn't enough batter to fill all the cups, half fill the empty ones with water. This will help the muffins bake evenly and will help to protect your pan from buckling.
8. Cooling them down. Once you remove the muffins from the oven, let them sit in their pan for a few minutes before removing to a wire rack. This is especially important for muffins that aren't in a paper liner, as it will help them from falling apart. However, remove them after five minutes otherwise you risk them going soggy as they cool in the pan.
9. Freeze extras for later. Muffins freeze beautifully, so if you can't enjoy them all on the day they're baked, wrap them in plastic wrap tightly, and put them in the freezer for later. They will keep for about 3 months and reheat wonderfully in the microwave for about 30 seconds on high from frozen.
I was awfully tempted to make honey butter to go with these muffins, but I just served them warm with butter and more honey. Delicious to say the least!
They would also be good with butter and jam or marmalade. For breakfast. With a hot cup of tea. But they also would go really well with a bowl of Corn Chowder or Beef Chili.
These were excellent cornbread muffins! I highly recommend!
If you are a fan of the muffin, you might also enjoy the following:
OAT, APPLE AND SUNFLOWER SEED MUFFINS - Somewhat healthy, aside from the sugar and golden syrup . . . with plenty of oats, sunflower seeds and chopped apple. If you don't have light muscovado sugar, you can use soft light brown sugar, and in the place of golden syrup you can use light corn syrup, or even honey would work well. In one word, moreish.
ORANGE MUFFINS - Buttery, moist and stuffed with beautiful orange flavor from the outside in. These are winners all round! I chose to stud mine with dried currants, but you may like raisins, or nuts, or blueberries, etc. You may even prefer the to be plain. One thing is for sure, you will enjoy these moist and delicious muffins.
Yield: 6 delicious muffins
Honey Cornbread Muffins
Prep time: 10 MinCook time: 15 MinTotal time: 25 Min
These tender muffins are delicious and light. Perfect served with butter and honey for breakfast or as a side to your favorite soup, chili, or even a salad!
Ingredients
- 1/2 cup (85g) yellow cornmeal (coarse polenta in the UK)
- 1/2 cup (70g) all-purpose flour
- 1/2 tablespoon baking powder
- 1/4 cup (50) granulated sugar
- 1/2 teaspoon salt
- 1/2 cup (120ml) whole full fat milk
- 1 large free range egg
- 1/8 cup (30ml) melted butter
- 1/8 cup (30ml) liquid honey
Instructions
- Preheat your oven to 400*F/200*F/ gas mark 6. Butter a nonstick medium muffin tin really well. Set aside.
- Whisk the flour, cornmeal, baking powder, sugar and salt together in a medium bowl.
- Whisk the milk, egg, melted butter and liquid honey together in a beaker. Mix well to amalgamate.
- Make a well in the center of the dry ingredients. Pour in the wet ingredients. Mix together just to combine. Divide the batter equally between the muffin cups.
- Bake in the preheated oven for 12 to 15 minutes until well risen, golden brown at the edges and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean.
- Leave to cool in the pan for about 5 minutes before tipping out. Serve warm.
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Greek Salad (Small Batch)1 June 2023 | 6:00 am
On Wednesday nights I usually go out to supper with my father and his friends, so I don't actually cook much around here. I do have lunch however, and I try to keep that light. Today I fancied a salad and so I decided to small batch my favorite Greek Salad.
I can enjoy one serving of it today, and then tomorrow I can enjoy it again, although in all truth it will be more like a pickle by then, but that's okay. I like pickles!
Greek Salad is actually something I make all year round, not just in the summer months. I love all of the elements of it. The crisp cucumber, the sweet cherry tomatoes.
Then you have the sharpness of the red onion, not quite as sharp as regular onion, but still making its presence known.
I love the meaty tang of the kalamata olives and don't get me started on that salty creamy Feta cheese! Oh my, just those ingredients alone get my taste buds tingling.
Add in a zippy red vinegar, olive oil, lemon and oregano vinaigrette dressing, and I am in salad heaven! This makes a lovely lunch with some crisp crackers or bread sticks on the side. I can't get enough of this stuff!
What's lovely about it as well is that there are no lettuce leaves to wilt. It is completely portable, which makes it a great salad to tote along to work, school or for taking on intimate picnics for two people.
Of course I would pack any dressing on the side so as to keep the vegetables nice and lovely and crisp. But that is just me.
You could also turn it into a full meal by adding some chopped cooked chicken, lamb or salami, or even tinned salmon or tuna, and then serving it spooned over a bed of lettuce, but trust me when I say, it is completely delicious on its own.
This is a recipe that I adapted to make only two servings that I found on Delish.com a while back What I liked about it was that it was simple and not artsy fartsy. There is no pretense here. Simple ingredients put together simply and in a delicious way.
WHAT YOU NEED TO MAKE A SMALL BATCH GREEK SALAD
The same as what you need to make a large batch, just in smaller quantities.
- 1/2 English Cucumber, washed, trimmed and thinly sliced into half moons
- 1/4 red onion, peeled and thinly sliced into half moons
- 3/4 cup (150g) cherry tomatoes halved
- 1/2 cup (90g) Kalamata olives, pitted and halved
- 3 ounces (85g) feta cheese, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
For the dressing:
- 1 TBS fresh lemon juice
- 1 TBS red wine vinegar
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1/8 cup (30ml) extra virgin olive oil
You could totally use a regular cucumber in this, but I would peel it and remove the seeds. The one thing I really love about English Cucumbers is that there is no need for that. Just wash, trim and slice.
You could also use regular sized tomatoes. Just cut them into 1 inch chunks. I would remove the seeds in that case.
I buy the feta cheese in brine and cube it myself. It does tend to crumble more than cube, but it tastes delicious. Nice, tangy and a bit salty. Made from sheep's milk.
I love Kalamata olives. They are beautifully tangy and yes salty as well. They are real Greek olives, deep purple in color, some of them almost black. I would not use any other kind.
Also don't be tempted to substitute regular onion for the red onion. Regular onion has too harsh a flavor.
Red wine vinegar and extra virgin olive oil are a must for the dressing and dried oregano is perfectly ample. If you do have fresh oregano, you will need roughly twice the amount. Be judicious with the salt as both the olives and the cheese are salty.
HOW TO MAKE A SMALL BATCH GREEK SALAD
This is really a delicious doddle.
Combine the cucumber, onion, tomatoes and olives in a medium sized bowl. Fold in the feta cheese with a gentle hand.
Whisk together the lemon juice, vinegar and oregano in a small bowl. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Slowly whisk in the olive oil until emulsified.
Drizzle the dressing over the salad and gently toss to combine. Serve immediately.
This is really a fabulous combination of textures and flavors. I wonder if they really eat this salad in Greece? Greece has been on my bucket list of places to go since I saw Haley Mills in the Disney film, The Moon Spinners when I was about 10 years old. I doubt that I will ever get there now, but hope springs eternal!
Some other salads here in my English Kitchen that you might enjoy are:
BACON AND EGG SALAD - This is a real favorite of mine. Crisp Baby Gem Lettuce leaves broken into a bowl (you can use Romaine) and topped with sliced boiled egg, salty crisp bacon and sweet roasted baby plum tomatoes. A creamy Parmesan Dressing is drizzled over top and then you top the salad with some crisp and buttery homemade croutons. This is a fabulous combination of textures and flavors.
CHICKEN NICOISE SALAD PLATTER - The perfect meal salad for a warm summer night. With roasted sliced chicken, cooked string beans, boiled egg, salty feta cheese and a mix of black and green olives. You could add some sliced roasted potato wedges for the carb lover. I added some steamed asparagus and topped it all off with a tangy lemon vinaigrette. You can either make this carb free, or add carbs depending on your preference! Delicious either way.
Greek Salad (small batch)
Yield: Serves 2
Prep time: 20 MinTotal time: 20 Min
Crunchy, rich, creamy, salty, tangy and moreish. One of my all time favorite salads, downsized to feed only two people.
Ingredients
- 1/2 English Cucumber, washed, trimmed and thinly sliced into half moons
- 1/4 red onion, peeled and thinly sliced into half moons
- 3/4 cup (150g) cherry tomatoes halved
- 1/2 cup (90g) Kalamata olives, pitted and halved
- 3 ounces (85g) feta cheese, cut into 1/2 inch cubes
For the dressing:
- 1 TBS fresh lemon juice
- 1 TBS red wine vinegar
- 1/2 tsp dried oregano
- kosher salt and freshly ground black pepper to taste
- 1/8 cup (30ml) extra virgin olive oil
Instructions
- Combine the cucumber, onion, tomatoes and olives in a medium sized bowl. Fold in the feta cheese with a gentle hand.
- Whisk together the lemon juice, vinegar and oregano in a small bowl. Season to taste with salt and black pepper. Slowly whisk in the olive oil until emulsified.
- Drizzle the dressing over the salad and gently toss to combine. Serve immediately.
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