OK ladies (and gentlemen) it’s time to assume our favourite Christmas role: the indulgent (yet still lazy) auntie (or uncle). And what could be more fun than baking with kids?!
We have two recipes that are incredibly easy, yet, at a push could be served to guests, and the children will adore joining in the Christmassy fun.
The first is iced Christmas Fairy Cakes, and as usual, we have a trick or two up our sleeves. Firstly, you can buy or bake the undecorated cakes, most of the Lagos supermarkets sell them in packs of 12 or 16. You can also buy ready-made fondant icing. Casa sells this in a variety of colours, or you can follow the instructions on the back of the packet for the white and add black food colouring for the eyes and noses.
Whether you buy or make the basics depends on the age and attention span of the kids.
If you’re making the fairy cakes, the recipe is dead easy.
Vanilla Fairy Cakes
To make 12 to 16:
- 100g softened butter
- 100g caster sugar (granulated will do)
- 2 large eggs
- 100g self-raising flour
- 1 level tsp baking powder
- Heat your oven to 200°C/180°C Fan and place fairy cake cases into a 12-hole bun tin.
Put all the ingredients into a large bowl and beat until the mixture is well-blended and smooth. Fill the paper cases with the mixture.
Bake for 15 to 20 minutes, until they are well-risen and golden, then lift the paper cases out of the tin and let them cool on a wire rack. Now you can encourage the children to get themselves and the kitchen messy. This can be as simple or as complicated as you like.
Polar Bear Topping
To make 12:
- 50g softened butter
- 125g icing sugar, plus a little extra
- 1 tbsp milk
- 500g white fondant icing
- 75g desiccated coconut
- 50g black fondant icing
Whisk the butter until pale, add icing sugar slowly while still whisking, add the milk to make a soft creamy paste.
Roll out two-thirds of the white fondant and cut out 12 circles to fit the top of the fairy cakes. Pinch the edge in two places to make the bears’ ears. Spread a little of the buttercream on the cakes then put the bear heads on top.
Make 12 small balls with the remaining fondant, stick the balls onto the cake using a dab of water.
Brush the whole top with a little water and dip into the coconut to coat completely.
Create the features of the bears with the black fondant: make 12 balls for the noses and 24 smaller ones for the eyes. Stick them on with a paste made from the extra icing sugar.
Christmas Tree Topping
To make 12:
- Buttercream (as Polar Bear Topping)
- Green food dye
- Stars/sprinkles…. what you will
Add the food dye to the buttercream. Pipe the cream onto the cakes in a tree shape. Scatter with sprinkles to look like baubles. You could also use brown food dye, pretzels for antlers and hey presto, Rudolph!
Christmas Bubble Cake
Even easier is this Christmas take on Rocky Road. It is infinitely adaptable: If the kids don’t like nuts, or you can’t find Turkish delight, it doesn’t matter. Throw in some more of the other stuff. To make 12:
- 360g white chocolate
- 125g marshmallows
- 150g Turkish delight
- 30g nuts (soft ones like pistachios or pecans)
- 30g of cranberries
- 30g of shredded coconut plus extra for decoration
- 125g Rice Krispies
Line a square cake pan with baking paper. Melt the white chocolate over some hot water and then cool for 5 minutes. Chop everything but the Rice Krispies coarsely and tip it into the bowl. Spread in the pan, sprinkle over the extra coconut, cool for two hours, then cut into squares.
That’s it from us for this year. We hope your Christmas – and your baking – is great.
We are hoping to be open all over the Christmas and New Year period starting on 7 December so come and see us at London Tiger Coffee.
The Lazy Girls have a few more tips to decorate your vanilla fairy cakes, have a look:
