These little lemon fairy cakes are the perfect afternoon treat!
My neighbour recently gave me a bag of fat, juicy lemons fresh from the farm and ever since I’ve been making Lemon Butter like it’s going out of fashion. Although I would be happy enough to eat the lemon butter straight from the jar, I’ve had to be a little inventive and tried to think outside of the box, or in this case, the jar! I contemplated making my Luscious Lemon Baked Cheesecake but I wanted a recipe that was so easy even the kids could make it.
You see, the other week we had back to back child house guests, first with our niece and the next night with our godchildren. All the kids are keen bakers so I wanted something simple but delicious they could make themselves and these little fairy cakes ticked all the boxes.
Growing up in the 70’s fairy cakes were all the rage and it’s only as an adult I’ve realised that they were called fairy cakes because they were so small, I thought they were called fairy cakes because they were like all your cake dreams come true! These days cupcakes are all the rage, but not only are cupcakes bigger, they’re usually more elaborately decorated where as fairy cakes have just a drizzle of icing, if at all. As I’m not an avid or talented cake decorator, a fairy cake is much more my style!
These fairy cakes are great for kids (or time poor) adults to make because they’re so quick, simple, use a handful of pantry staples and need no decorating. I love it when you bite in and get a delicious burst of tangy lemon butter. It’s lemonicious! Just be sure to use cupcake liners (which are smaller than muffin liners) so that the cakes fill the paper fully.
Bring back the fairy cake is what I say! Enjoyed by children then and now and they’re so small, you can eat more of them!
What was your favourite treat when you were a kid? Are you good at cake decorating?
Ingredients
65g butter
100g caster sugar
1 egg
1 cups (150g) self raising flour
1/3 cup (80ml) milk
10 teaspoons lemon butter
raw sugar, for sprinkling
How to – Traditional
- Preheat oven to 180C. Line 12 holes of a 12 hole muffin pan with 12 cupcake (small) paper cases.
- Using an electric mixer, beat the butter, sugar and egg together for about 2 minutes or until well combined.
- Stir in half the flour and half the milk and then repeat with the remaining flour and milk.
- Place a spoonful of mixture into each paper case and top with a teaspoon of lemon butter.
- Place another spoonful of batter on top of the lemon butter and sprinkle with raw sugar.
- Bake for about 15-20 minutes until firm and golden.
How to – Thermomix
- Preheat oven to 180C.Line 12 holes of a 12 hole muffin pan with 12 cupcake (small) paper cases.
- Add butter, sugar and egg to TM bowl and mix for 2 minutes on speed 4.
- Add half the flour and half the milk and mix for 10 seconds on speed 4.
- Add the remaining flour and milk and mix for another 10 seconds on speed 4.
- Place a spoonful of mixture into each paper case and top with a teaspoon of lemon butter.
- Place another spoonful of batter on top of the lemon butter and sprinkle with raw sugar.
- Bake for about 15-20 minutes until firm and golden.
