Merry Cherry Bakewell Fairy Cakes!

Bakewell Tarts are delicious and I have made them here on the blog before but then recently I saw this recipe on Pinterest and thought to myself – I do need to make those don’t I? They look like the iconic British Fairy Cake – a small simple cake much like an American cupcake but lighter in texture and without the great walloping swirls of frosting/buttercream – of which I am greatly fond so alas on that score!!

Anyhow I took the recipe from a Butcher Baker Blog pin on Pinterest – lots of good British pudding recipes there, do check it out!! - and I added some marzipan to it and here you have my version of the Cherry Bakewell Fairy Cake – a bit of a bogus title really as the only cherry part is on the top – they should really be called marzipan fairy cakes – but they’re not and there you have it!! Here's a link to a standard British Cherry Bakewell.

First make the MARZIPAN – if you decided to use it or buy a package of marzipan and roll into 8 even balls.

Preheat the oven to 350F.

INGREDIENTS for the marzipan if you chose to make it yourself:

2oz toasted almonds ground fine in a coffee grinder – usually you wait until warm things are cool to grind them because they get oily or damp but in this case you want to make the grind a bit soggy so I did them while they were still warm.

2oz icing/confectioners sugar

1 teaspoon almond extract/essence

1 egg yolk – from a reliable source so you have no risk of salmonella – if you are worried about using raw egg yolks them maybe just buy your marzipan or almond paste – whichever you prefer.

1. Put all ingredients in a bowl and mush/knead together until the mixture holds – break and roll into 8 even balls and put aside until later.

INGREDIENTS FOR THE FAIRY CAKES – they should all be at room temperature: This recipe makes 8 - an odd amount I know – it is supposed to make 12 but I didn’t see how you stretched the batter that far – you could go to 10 maybe and then they’d be bit more even with the top of the cupcake liner.

4 oz butter softened

4 oz sugar

4 oz flour plain/all purpose flour sifted together with 1 scant teaspoon baking powder or 4oz self raising flour

2 eggs whisked well

1 teaspoon almond extract/essence

8 scant teaspoons raspberry jam

8 glace cherries – the traditional ones and they’re nice because they’re not wet like the ones I chose which are maraschino cherries – I chose them because I found a brand which has no red dye or artificial preservatives which I like but they are wetter and should be drained for a while before using. 

If you would like to use cups instead of weights HERE'S a great place to covert:



METHOD FOR CAKES: Firstly put your cupcake liners into muffin pans to help the cakes stand up whilst baking.

1. Cream the butter and sugar together until light in texture and colour.

2. Slowly add eggs bit by bit and beat well in between additions.

3. Beat in the almond extract/essence.

4. Fold in the sifted flour and baking powder with a metal spoon – apparently this stops air escaping – a wooden spoon lets the air escape - until evenly mixed!

5. Separate your mixture in two even parts – just to each side of the bowl – and then spoon a good big teaspoon dollop of batter into each cupcake case.

6. Add a good teaspoon of jam to each and then bob the ball of marzipan on top of each blob of jam thus:

7. Top with more batter and try to smooth the batter to seal the jam and marzipan in nice and cozily:

 8. Bob into the 350F oven and bake for about 20 minutes until risen and golden and the tops spring back to slight pressure.

9. Because of the addition of the marzipan the middles dip a bit but no worries – you‘ll be filling them with icing and a merry cherry!!

10. Remove from oven and move onto a cooling rack – allow to cool completely

In the meantime make the icing – 2oz icing/confectioner’s sugar and I scant tablespoon boiling water – or a bit less – my icing was a tad runny – mix the two together and allow to thicken a bit before you use – just keep stirring if it starts to dry out on top.

When the cakes are cooled completely put a small teaspoon of icing on the top and smooth into a circle – as I said mine was a bit runny and I put a bit too much on so it ran down the edge of the cakes but you want to keep the icing in a nice neat circle on the top that stays about a good ¼" from the edge of the cakes – you can see how I TRIED to do that.

Allow icing to dry a little before adding your cherries maraschino or glace or......

...the juices will flow as above...and mess up your nice white icing :((

These are the maraschino cherries I used - no red dye and preservative free and delicious MERRY MARASCHINO CHERRIES!!

 

Look at that lovely nugget of marzipan - I love marzipan!! - I didn't add enough jam to mine as you can see so I adjusted the recipe above to give yours more and be more like the original Bakewell Tart.
Ta Dah you’ve made Fairy Cakes!!

Let's bakes a Simnel Cake for Easter!

Lucie came over to help me bake my first Easter Simnel Cake but was so competent and enthusiastic she ended up doing all the work whilst I gave out the orders and drank gallons of tea...cruel me!!
Here is Lucie's perfect cake glazed with apricot preserves ready for the eleven 'apostles' waiting in the background to be set in place.
...and here is the final result...a marzipan layer on the top of the cake and eleven balls of marzipan with toasted almonds affixed to their summits.....in the background is the list of baking classes and circled in red are the ones Lucie and I are looking forward to at the Good Table
A close up of the beautiful Simnel cake...in case you are wondering why the marzipan isn't the usual luminous yellow, it is because it is homemade with the whole almond and not skinned almonds as used commercially...thought I'd hang on to a few extra vitamins and minerals wherever I could!

SIMNEL CAKE
This is a traditional Easter Cake eaten in Britain. I'm not sure how often these days but certainly it was very popular in the past. Apparently this cake was originally associated with British 'Mothering Sunday', which is the fourth Sunday in Lent and is also known as 'Refreshment Sunday' (a day when the fasting of Lent could be relaxed somewhat). In Medieval times it was the Sunday on which one returned to the 'Mother' Church or Cathedral to worship. By the mid-seventeeth century it was more closely linked with the family and every child living away from home, including servants and apprentices, would return bearing gifts and food. Many girls would bake a Simnel cake for this special day of family feasting. Why it has become more associated now with Easter is unclear but what is clear is that the eleven, sometimes twelve, balls on the top of the cake are representative of the apostles...eleven being the number if you don't think Judas deserves a place.
Here is the recipe for a 6" round cake, for an 8" please double the recipe: Taken from 'The Festive Food of England' by Henrietta Green

INGREDIENTS:

Almond Paste/Marzipan:

12oz confectioner's sugar/icing sugar

12oz ground almonds (with skins or without)

3 large egg yolks (not recommended in areas where salmonella is a problem or for anyone in ill health...if this is the case I would purchase the marzipan)

1 teaspoons of lemon juice

1 teaspoon of orange flower water (this may be hard to find but it is worth the effort)

1 teaspoon almond extract

Cake:

3 1/2 ozs unbleached flour

1 oz rice flour

pinch of salt

1 teaspoon mixed spices (I used, yes you guessed it!, nutmeg with cardomon and allspice together)

pinch of baking powder

4 oz butter

4 oz soft brown sugar

2 eggs seperated and whites whisked to stiff peaks

1/2 oz ground almonds

1 tablespoon dark rum (you can leave this out if you want)

zest of one lemon, preferably organic

4oz currants

4 oz sultanas (white plump raisins)

2 oz candied orange and or lemon peel

2 tablespoons apricot jam

The night before I baked this cake I soaked the dried fruit in tea...I like doing this to plump the fruit and give it a sophisticated flavour but it is not necessary to do this step.

TO MAKE ALMOND PASTE/MARZIPAN:

1. Sift confectioner's/icing sugar into a bowl, add the almonds and mix around.

2. Lightly beat egg yolks, orange flower water, lemon juice and almond extract.

3. Add liquid to dry ingredients and knead to a smooth paste.

I had to work a little with this to get it non-crumbly...adding a bit more liquid and kneading quite a lot, but I did eventually get there! Maybe my ground almonds with the skins is drier than without?

TO MAKE THE CAKE:

1. Preheat oven to 325F. Prepare your cake pan, butter it first, then cut a disc of parchment to fit into the bottom of the pan, butter the parchment and then flour the pan.

2. Sift flours into a bowl with baking powder, spices and salt.

3. Cream butter and sugar together 'til light and fluffy.

4. Beat eggs into butter and sugar one at a time and cream well.

5. Add almonds, rum and lemon zest and mix well.

6. Fold about one third of the dry ingredients into the butter mix.

7. Gently fold in the egg whites, alternating with the rest of the flour and the dried fruit.

8. Make eleven or twelve small balls with the marzipan, then cut remainder of it into two pieces. Roll out each piece to fit the diameter of your cake pan.

9. Spoon half the cake batter into the prepared pan, lay one of the discs of marzipan onto this and gently pat down, then spoon in the rest of the cake batter and smooth flat.

10. Bake your beauteous little cake in the oven...for my 6" I baked it for one hour and then put a buttered parchment disc on the top to prevent it browning too much and baked it for about another 25 minutes (The recipe says for the larger size to bake for 2 hours before you put on the parchment)

11. Take your cake out and let it cool on a rack.

12. Warm some apricot jam in a pan and glaze the top of the cake.

13. Lay the other disc of marzipan on top of the cake and pat down, add your 'apostles' with more of the apricot jam et voila!!!!

I CAN'T WAIT TO HAVE A PIECE: Lucie and I have decided to be as pure as the driven snow and eat the cake tomorrow on the day it was intended for....

WHAT'S MADE OF ALMOND PASTE AND SWINGS FROM CAKE TO CAKE??

TARZIPAN!!!

Thank you LEA for the birthday funds to procure the ingredients for this lovely cake...James and I will have a piece for you on Easter Sunday!!