fairy cakes

Turn any gathering into a special occasion with these glamorous cupcakes for grown-ups

Pistachio cupcakes

pistachios

golden caster sugar

butter

eggs

self-raising flour

tbsp milk

edible glitter

icing sugar

mint green food colouring

Heat oven to 160C/140C fan/gas 3 and line a 12-hole muffin tin with cases. Put 85g pistachios into a food processor with about half the sugar, then whizz until very finely chopped. Tip into a large mixing bowl with the remaining sugar, butter, eggs, flour and milk and beat until smooth. Divide between cases, then bake on a low shelf for 22-25 mins until a skewer poked in comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

For the icing, mix just enough water into the icing sugar to get a very thick but still runny icing – just add 1 tbsp of water at a time. Stir in enough food colouring to give a pretty, pale green colour. If any cakes poke above the top of the cases, trim with a small knife, or scoop out with a teaspoon – being very careful not to release any of the case from the sides of the cake. Put a generous spoonful of icing on each cake and let it gently spread to cover. Chop the remaining pistachios and scatter these over with a pinch of edible glitter. Set, then serve.

These zesty cupcakes look so gorgeous you won't want to eat them, but once you start you won't be able to stop

Lemon & poppyseed cupcakes

lemons

poppy seeds

natural yogurt

lemon

yellow food colouring

icing flowers

Heat oven to 180C/160C fan/gas 4 and line a 12-hole muffin tin with cupcake or muffin cases. Mix the flour, sugar, lemon zest and poppy seeds together in a large mixing bowl. Beat the eggs into the yogurt, then tip this into the dry ingredients with the melted butter. Mix together with a wooden spoon or whisk until lump-free, then divide between the cases. Bake for 20-22 mins until a skewer poked in comes out clean – the cakes will be quite pale on top still. Cool for 5 mins in the tin, then carefully lift onto a wire rack to finish cooling.

To ice, beat the softened butter until really soft in a large bowl, then gradually beat in the icing sugar and lemon juice. Stir in enough food colouring for a pale lemon colour, then spoon the icing into a piping bag with a large star nozzle.

Ice one cake at a time, holding the piping bag almost upright with the nozzle about 1cm from the surface of the cake. Pipe one spiral of icing around the edge, then pause to break the flow before moving the nozzle towards the centre slightly and piping a second, smaller spiral that continues until there are no gaps in the centre. Slightly ‘dot’ the nozzle into the icing as you stop squeezing to finish neatly. Repeat to cover all the cakes, then top with sugar decorations or scatter with sprinkles.

Old Fashioned Queen Cakes

flour

113 grams(1/2 cups + 1 tbsp) caster sugar

113 grams(1 stick) softened unsalted butter

70 grams(1/2 cup) currants, soaked,

eggs(large

60 milliliters(1/4 cup) double cream

grams(1/2 tsp) baking soda

grams(1/4 tsp) ground mace

Preheat the oven to 180C/160C Fan/350F.

Grease the insides of fluted mini pans, or a bun pan, or line a bun pan with parchment paper.

Place the butter into a bowl and whisk it until light and fluffy( I used my hand mixer).

Add the flour, mace and baking soda and mix it in, on a low speed, until it is incorporated and the mixture is of a sandy texture.

Add the sugar and currants and mix again until evenly distributed.

Whisk the egg with the cream and the lemon zest.

Pour it into the bowl with the dry mixture and beat for about one minute, if using a hand mixer, or about 5 minutes by hand.  The mixture should be fully combined into a thick batter.

Spoon the mixture, in equal portions, into 17 cases or moulds.  That will be about 40g each.

Bake in the oven for 20 minutes until the cakes have risen and coloured nicely.

Remove the cakes from the oven and turn out onto a wire rack to cool completely.

Bake a batch of these dainty banana and white chocolate cupcakes from Good Food reader, Mita Patel. They are perfect for afternoon tea or a bake sale

Banana cupcakes

wholemeal flour

tsp baking powder

semi-skimmed milk

bananas 1 mashed, 1 sliced

white chocolate

cinnamon

Heat oven to 190C/170C fan/gas 5. Line a bun tin with 8 paper cases. In a large bowl, mix the flour, baking powder and sugar with a pinch of salt.

In a separate bowl, beat the egg, melted butter and milk for 20 secs; add the mashed banana and beat for a further 5 secs until everything is nicely mixed.

Pour the banana mix into the flour and fold everything together. Once it is almost combined, add 85g of the white chocolate – the mixture will still look a little lumpy. Spoon the cake mix into the paper cases and bake for 18-20 mins until golden and risen, and a skewer inserted comes out clean. Cool on a wire rack.

Meanwhile, melt the remaining white chocolate over a pan of barely simmering water. Allow to cool a bit, then spread on top of the cakes. Add a couple of slices of banana and sprinkle with cinnamon.

Top 4 fairy cakes recipes from across the web

The most viewed fairy cakes recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine

Top Tags

Pistachio cupcakes

Lemon & poppyseed cupcakes

Old Fashioned Queen Cakes

Banana cupcakes

Top 4 fairy cakes recipes from across the web

The most viewed fairy cakes recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engineic_arrow_forward_48px

Top Tags

Pistachio cupcakes

Lemon & poppyseed cupcakes

Old Fashioned Queen Cakes

Banana cupcakes

The most viewed fairy cakes recipes by Recipe Cart users, saved from over 20,000 sites. Or, go to our Recipe Search Engine