Hi everyone! Once again I’ve not kept up with my blogging. I’ve started a new job. I only work part time (every morning) but I’m busy with my online baking commitments and juggling lots going on at home at the moment.

I’m pleased to say it’s actually now half term week here and although I love my day job, I really need this week to catch up. Not to mention getting to see friends, having my Mum to stay and to get on with those long overdue chores.

I’ve still got round to baking the odd thing for ourselves and I got round to testing out the Fairy Cakes recipe in The Great British Bake Off Book Of Amazing Cakes a couple of weeks back.

I have my own tried and tested foolproof cupcake recipe and this has been my go-to recipe for the past ten years or so. But every now and then I like trying out other recipes to see how they compare to my favourite one.

I must admit I’ve not called these little cakes Fairy Cakes since I was little and I guess cupcakes can be seen as a bigger version. I’m not sure. I live in North Yorkshire and before cupcakes became popular, I heard other people calling them buns. No matter what their name was, they’re still fun to bake. I decided to make some cupcakes from the Fairy Cake recipe in the Bake Off book and to adapt the icing to suit what I had in the cupboard at the time.

The Bake Off recipe in the Amazing Cakes book differed slightly in that the quantities of butter, sugar and flour was 25% less than what I put in my recipe for a dozen cupcakes. I use 125g of each of the former, adding in a teaspoonful of vanilla extract to two eggs. This recipe stated 100g of each to the two eggs as well as vanilla bean paste. For my icing, I use 250g butter to 500g icing sugar as a ratio and add milk to soften. The smaller quantity must have been because the recipe was for fairy cakes. I didn’t have the right size cake cases, only larger ones so I actually did up my quantities a bit.

When it got to creating the icing, I noticed the recipe was for two tone butter cream and this also was shown in the photo. I looked in my cupboard and only had half a pack of plain icing sugar as well as half a back of Sugar and Crumbs’ White Chocolate Flavoured Icing Sugar. I just decided to cop out of making it two tone and just made up the recipe quantities with half plain, half flavoured icing sugar. I had some leftover blue, green and lilac sprinkles which I call my “Frozen Sprinkles” to put on the top of the cakes.

I piped my usual swirl on top of the cupcakes with my large star shaped nozzle but I was interested in the recipe book instructions on buttercream and also different ways to decorate cupcakes. I also liked the illustrations to show what alternative effects you could get, depending on the type of nozzle used to pipe the buttercream on the cakes. I would have loved to have experimented with my piping bag but I was so short of time.

I originally was going to take the cupcakes to work to share with my work colleagues but I forgot to take them into work. That day was a Friday. Then I was away for the weekend so they stayed at home. Over the next couple of days they vanished one by one. I never got to try one!

Happy Baking!

Love Sam xx