Number Twenty Three: Fairy Cakes

I went to a friend's birthday barbecue on sunday and promised to provide some cake! Not one to break a promise, I whipped up some fairy cakes from How to Be a Domestic Goddess. The quantities below are supposed to make 12 cakes but I actually made 14 - think I used slightly smaller cases.

Nigella's method is to blitz everything in a food processor, which works fine. However I like the mixing part so I made them the traditional way. Do as you will.


Ingredients

125g soft unsalted butter
125g caster sugar (I used golden but you don't have to)
2 large eggs
125g self raising flour
1/2 tsp vanilla extract
2 - 3 tbsp milk


Method

1. Preheat the oven to 200C, or 180C in a fan oven.

2. Cream the butter and sugar together until really pale and fluffy. This will take a good few minutes with an electric mixer.

3. Beat in the eggs one at a time.

4. Beat in the vanilla and milk. Then, sift in the flour and baking powder, and gently fold with a metal spoon. Don't over mix it as this can make the cakes tough. You may need to add more milk if it looks too thick.

5. Spoon into the cases until about 2/3rds full.

6. Bake for about 15 minutes, until golden and cooked through.

Now you can ice them however you like! Wanting to fit with the barbecue theme, I made corn on the cob cakes :)

Enjoy! Thanks for reading :)