Fairy Cakes

Ozzie kids look forward to cooking small, Fairy Cakes adorned with sprinkles and decorations for birthday parties. This recipe was created by Mrs Grey who lived next door when I was five years old. She had a pet cockatoo who used to eat large holes in her wooden front door which my father generously mended at least once a month. Fairy cakes can be baked in small or medium-sized paper cups, and the icing should be very hard some left white, others coloured bright pink.

Fairy Cakes

Ingredients:

  • 240g margarine

  • 1 ½ cups white sugar

  • 4 tablespoons soy milk

  • 2 cups cornflour

  • 2 cups Self Raising white flour

  • 3 tablespoons rose water

Method;

  1. Prepare small or medium patty tins by lightly spraying with oil then line them with paper cups;

  2. Pre-heat oven to moderate;

  3. Process margarine and sugar till very light and fluffy, add milk, then rose water;

  4. Add flours, combine well, then cover the bowl and put aside.

You will now need:

  • 2 tablespoons warm water

  • 2 tablespoons apple cider vinegar

  • 1 tablespoon baking powder

Method:

  1. Combine water & vinegar in a medium-sized bowl;

  2. Stir in baking powder, immediately add to previously made batter mix;

  3. ¾ fill patty tins and bake about 25 minutes in preheated, moderate oven;

  4. Bake till risen and pale golden, test witha toothpick, when it comes out clean remove cakes from the oven and cool on a rack.

Icing

  • 4 cups icing sugar

  • 1 cup cornflour

  • 2 dessert spoons rose water

  • Small amount water

  • Sprinkles and choc-pieces for decoration

Method:

  1. Mix ½ amount icing sugar and ½ amount cornflour;

  2. Add 1 dessert-spoon rose water and just enough water to make a very stiff paste;

  3. Pop into the microwave oven for a few seconds (enough to make mix hot) or place over a double boiler to heat;

  4. When icing turns very liquid, work fast, dip the top of cakes in icing, decorate with sprinkles;

  5. When the first batch of icing is finished, repeat the process, but this time add bright food colouring;

  6. When all cakes are iced put in an air-tight container.

"People just do not seem to care about animals, it breaks my heart! People convince themselves that animals don't have feelings! How absurd when we know full well that they do, that they all have their own special way of communicating emotions of happiness, being unsure, sadness, pain and grief. I pray to St. Francis of Assisi the patron saint of animals and also the animal protector spirit with the white feather to care for the animals and save them from suffering."-Debbie Curran, a trained nurse and humanitarian who lives in Victoria/Australia.