Help - are there any fairycake experts on here tonight??

[sleepyhorse]

Hi

It's been a long time since I made them (probably when I was at school!!) and Im trying to do a load for DS's birthday party on Saturday so just practicing a few now so I can try out different icing decors etc hence get it right on the day when I make them fresh. My question is how the hell are you supposed to get the top of the sponge to stay flat and not rise to a peak??

not a clue! The only time I have managed it has been fluke... I would guess on not overfilling the cases and make sure its even around the base of it

When you fill the cases with uncooked mixture, make a large shallow dip in the centre with the back of the spoon. Or (assuming you are covering the whole top with icing) cut the peak off once cooked. More difficult the second way though, as you may find the icing picks up sponge crumbs when spreading.

Should clarify, by 'large' I mean as in diameter of the circle, not depth of dip.

I cut the peak off when cooked.

Thanks...
I did cut the peak off when cooked but then when I applied icing it absorbed into the centre bit of sponge that I cut off hence it didn't look even if that makes sense - unless i didn't do my icing thick enough??

Use muffin cases. ... Much better than standard fairy cases.

See what you mean... you could try making it thicker and/or dollop lots more on. Or maybe try buttercream? Swirled like the posh cupcakes? (Having said that, I have tried to do some posh and swirled, and they looked like a child had iced them! Clearly fancy cupcakes are not my forte )

The recipe should be 4oz each of Marge, caster sugar and self raising flour, 2 eggs and 1 tsp of baking powder.

LOL CHISH....my cakes look like they have been decorated by my 11 month old!

Buttercream icing wouldn't sink into the cakes if you cut the tops off.i think it's nicer too! Hummingbird bakery cupcake recipe always results in flat tops ime.

Thanks Cookcleaner - there are so many recipes out there that it gets confusing - the one I used today didn't include baking powder. Does that make them raise more then?

Can't help with the problem, but did you know you can freeze sponge? Make in advance then get out when you are ready to ice them!

Use baking powder as they rise better

This is a Mary berry recipe .... Queen of baking!

Hi Jetgirl - yes cupcakes with buttercream are great aren't they - we are going to do some of those too (leaving that one to hubby!!!). The plan is that we do cupcakes with the buttercream for people to eat at the party....and then what we decided to do, instead of getting a birthday cake, thought we would make lots of fairycakes and once I have iced them Im going to do WRITING ICING - so basically on each fairy cake I will put one letter and so once complete I will line all cakes up so that it spells "HAPPY BIRTHDAY DS". Then after DS has blown candles out every child at the party can take one home with them. In theory sounds great, however I am starting to wonder if Im mad - why didn't I just go and buy a cake like most normal people LOL

You must use muffin cases to do your plan as it will look great. Cool idea!

You could use fondant icing for the letters on regular icing. Use alphabet cutters.

Cookcleaner - I did wonder that but then where do i get alphabet cutters at such short notice? Trust me to leave all this to the last mo :-)

Try somewhere like wilkinsons or a cake decorating shop. Good luck!

yes we bought some of those lovely silicone cup cases which are bigger than the standard high street supermaket fairycake cases

If you're in Southampton you can borrow my alphabet cutters! Longshot, I know!

Personally I can't stand the silicone cases . Nothing beats paper cases IMO. Lakeland might sell the cutters.

If you go for writing icing tubes, I find the sainsburys ones the best/easiest to use. They have a good variety.

I think it's to do with the mixture cooking too fast? So maybe a slightly cooler oven (or one of those internal thermometer things for if your thermostat is off?) or lower in the oven?

If you put two batches in at once, do you find that the top tray peaks more and the bottom tray is flatter? If so then I think it's to do with the temperature.

If your writing icing is the icing sugar and water mix then it'll sink in if you cut the top off because it's more porous, but it might also help to make the icing a bit stiffer and make sure the cakes are completely cold (if you still can't get the peaks to go away)

Cookcleaner - my hubby bought the silicone ones, when he initially bought them a couple of months ago I thought they were quite nice as I liked the colours however today I bought some gorgeous paper cases online as like you I also think they look much nicer in paper - check these out www.cakescookiesandcraftsshop.co.uk/acatalog/Chocolate-Spot-Cupcake-Cases.html#aU_2d2208