Can you freeze fairy cakes - or cake mixture? Or neither?

[Moomin]

JUst that really. Want to use the eggs up but don't need the cakes until next weekend.

You can freeze the fairy cakes (without icing and decorations etc).

not the mixture.

the cakes hmmm, well you can freeze cakes yes, but as fairy cakes are kind of small I wonder if they would be horribly stale when you defrosted them. Never tried tbh.

Can't you make some cakes now and just, you know, eat them now , and make some more next week?

They are for my birthday party, otherwise I most certainly would be eating them now! so shall I go with ballavita? Have you done it yourself bella?

Never frozxn the mixture and I can't imagine that working, though I just base that on a feeling rather than knowledge. But can definitely freeze fairy cakes once cooked, not a problem at all. They are absolutely fine when defrosted.

Also if you ice them they will keep for a few days in a tin. Ice with water icing rather than butter cream and cover the top of the cake with the icing and they will be fine next weekend.

make them and freeze them now. When you need them, ice them as soon as you take them out of the freezer, will help prevent cake crumbs in the icing.

no

no what? no icing? no freezing? or just no in general?

I did a trial run last night - made a small batch and froze 2. They are defrosting now.

How can I make the mixture lighter? I did butter, s/r flour, caster sugar, eggs and put them all in the mixer together. Should I add milk or something? They were tasty but seemed a bit 'dense' and not very 'fairy-like', IYKWIM

Freezing the cakes - definitely fine. I've done it, and plan to do it for dd's birthday party to avoid last minute preparations.

They don't go dry at all - freeze them in a bag or something, defrost. Yum.

Wouldn't try freezing the mix though - never heard of that.

Ah, just seen your post about the lack of lightness.

Were you following the Nigella method of putting everything in the food processor? It works ok, but is never quite as light and fluffy as the traditional, cream butter and sugar, then whisk in eggs etc.

Having said that, I do use the food processor approach for fairy cakes as they're so tiny they seem to end up light and fluffy enough. I wouldn't do it for a bigger cake.

Maybe not enough raising agent in yours? Or could be overcooked?

Thanks for the tips Pidge.
I was doing it the slaggy way so will do the separate thing instead and see if that helps.

and the icing - I did butter and icing sugar icing then spread it on the top with a palate knife. Would it be better with some cream cheese in? Or what's with the water icing - isn't that very runny? I want the icing to be thick and creamy and scrummy.

I've not done much baking before (spect you can tell!)

Well, as I said, I like the food processor way for fairy cakes, so it should be ok, and it is nice and lazy .

My favourite thing is to do butter icing - tastes yum as it is.
Cream cheese and icing sugar, with maybe a bit of lemon juice is a nice alternative though.
I guess with water icing you would get that crispy shell like coating on top. Haven't tried it, I bet it looks pretty though.

I have the opposite problem to you - I need to join bakers anonymous, as I have a serious cake problem. Not that my friends and family think it's a problem!

Interesting moomin - my theory (based on experience rather than scientific threory) is that frozen fairy cakes somehow get denser. Not sure why that would happen (& the house's resident scientist is currently discussing bedtime with our son), but I always find defrosted ones disapointing...

Oh, water icing - gives lovely smooth finish. Mix icing sugar (sieved) with water - add SMALL amount of water slowly, (it takes less water than you'd think, & more icing sugar) until you get to a good thick consistency so it gently runs over the top rather than cascading off

Re icing if you buy royal icing sugar rather than normal icing sugar it will be a bit thicker and less transparent. I just use the slags method for fairy cakes and they are fine.

well I've now made half the cakes I needed and have frozen them. I bypassed the full slaggy way and did them semi-slaggy: beat the sugar and butter first (well in the whizzer) then added eggs then flour. The batter tasted nicer when I stuck my face in the bowl sampled it. I only filled them part-way up the cases so I can slather more icing on.

Still can't make mind up about water or butter/cream cheese icing?

Will do the rest of the cakes fresh on Friday.