Fairy Cup-Cakes for Tiny Tots

Whenever I am called upon to make cup-cakes for littlies (think the two- and three-year olds), it’s to my mother’s fairy cup-cake recipe that I turn, having long ago discovered that chocolate is far more of an adult taste, but all children love vanilla. Furthermore, this recipe lends itself to making tiny cakes, which children adore, since, really, their small motor coordination is such that large cakes can be hard to handle, it minimises waste, since so often, kids take one bite and then leave it, and why should we be super-sizing them at this age anyway? 

The two changes I make to my mother's recipe is that I put the cake mixture into the smallest cases possible – for the simple reason that small children don’t often eat a lot. If they want more, they can have two or three or four, but if they only want a bite, then one will suffice. I have those pans that make 24 cakes at a time, and bake approximately three per child; that way the teacher and teacher’s helpers get to eat too (never under-estimate how much they will appreciate that small gesture of kindness). 

The second change is related to the first, in that the cakes are so small I don’t slice the top off of them and then make fairy wings out of them, but you could with a bigger cake and bigger children as indicated in the recipe below. 

Fairy Cup-Cakes Recipe 

110 g butter (4 oz) 

150 g castor sugar (5 oz or 10 level tablespoons) 

Pinch salt.

200 g flour (7 oz or 21 level tablespoons) 

2 eggs

2 tsps baking powder.

75 ml milk (1/3 cup) 

1 tsp vanilla essence (or more)

Heat oven to 180 °C or 350 °F, Gas Mark 4 or a moderate oven. 

Cream butter and sugar very well, then beat in eggs one at a time, beating very well after each adddition. Nigella Lawson usually advocates a minute of beating per egg, seems about right. Add vanilla flavouring. 

Sift dry ingredients together and add to mixture alternately with the milk to make soft dropping consistency. 

Half fill paper cake cases and bake in moderate oven, 350F, 180C or gas mark 4, for between 7 and 10 minutes, making sure the bottoms don’t catch (I usually bake high up in the oven for this reason). The cakes are ready when they are still a very light colour overall:

One batch of the fairy cakes recipe will make 48 tiny cup-cakes, as shown

If you make the cup-cakes in larger cups, then bake in a quick oven, 400F, 200 C, gas mark 6, for 10 – 12 minutes. When cold, you can cut a slice from the top, slightly hollowly the centre of the cake. Cover with jam and whipped cream or butter icing. Cut the round slice in two and stand across top of cake like wings.

The recipe for the icing or frosting you should use is considered a buttercream frosting or butter icing and can be clicked on. The particular recipe given makes a lot of icing or frosting, however, I would advise it for the following reason, that if you take it to your child's school for their birthday ring, this is what can happen:

Faran's party at his school in Saudi Arabia, decorating the fairy cup-cakes

The buttercream frosting or butter icing recipe makes enough that you can make every colour under the sun and have extra for your kids to eat as a treat. What I have done in the past is take a whole load of different colours and containers into the class and allow each child to make up their own cup-cake with their own colours and choice of sprinkles – for the four and five year old kids, that can work, especially if you take a friend or two to help.

Different coloured buttercream frosting or butter icing, with sprinkles, to decorate fairy cup-cakes for a child's birthday ring

Happy Baking!