Sepia Saturday, Happy Baking Days with Tala and Be-Ro: Strawberry Iced Butterfly Fairy Cakes

Strawberry Iced Butterfly Fairy cakes

Sepia Saturday, Happy Baking Days with Tala

and

Be-Ro: Strawberry Iced Butterfly Fairy Cakes

Strawberry Iced Butterfly Fairy Cakes

When Tala approached me recently and asked if I would like to “test drive” some of their bakeware and baking accessories, I was thrilled; the reason is this, I was brought up on  Tala bakeware, both my grandmother and mother used (mum still uses them) their bakeware, and dry ingredients for baking and cooking were always measured in a Tala (magic and amazing) Cook’s Measure! 

I am lucky enough to have a couple of vintage cook’s measures where the ingredients are measured in ounces, (passed down to me) as well as a shiny new one that has measures in grams. My Tala parcel arrived and contained a Non-stick 12 Cup Bun Tray, a 3 Tier Card Cupcake Stand, some pink paper cake cases and a lovely Tala Icing Pattern Tea Towel. There was a recipe sheet included with my package, which was for some Strawberry Fairy Cakes, but as I am posting a weekly Sepia Saturday – Seventy Years of Baking with Be-Ro, I decided to make some wee cakes from one of my Be-Ro cookbooks.

Strawberry Iced Butterfly Fairy Cakes

This recipe is basically a standard Be-Ro Victoria sandwich cake recipe (as shown below) with Be-Ro buttercream (again, the recipe is shown below) but with a goodly amount of home-made strawberry jam added to the buttercream icing, thus making these wee cakes perfectly pink and Strawberry Iced Butterfly Fairy Cakes. I made them in the lovely heavy-duty bun tray that was sent to me from Tala, and then displayed them on the pretty cardboard stand, for pink strawberry heaven…….oh yes, I also popped a spoon of strawberry jam underneath the buttercream too, for an extra strawberry burst!

Strawberry Iced Butterfly Fairy Cakes

These are what I would call Butterfly Cakes, but as they have wings, they can be Fairy Cakes too I have decided! The recipe was taken from one of my most recent Be-Ro books, but these cakes appear in all of the Be-Ro books over the years.

Butterfly Cakes Recipe

I have shared the basic Victoria Sandwich cake and buttercream recipes below, but here is the method for making these cakes…………..

Be-Ro Butterfly Cakes:

Make as Victoria Sandwich basic recipe (see below).
Heat oven to 190ºC, 375ºF, Gas Mark 5. Have ready 12 to 18 paper cases or well-greased patty tins.
Half fill the paper cases with the mixture and bake for about 15 minutes until firm.
When cold cut a slice from the top of each cake, cut this in half.
Place a little Butter Icing (see below) mixed with strawberry jam on each cake and arrange ‘wings’ around the icing.  Dust with icing sugar to decorate. NB: I used an old Tala icing set, similar to the one shown below.

Butterfly or Fairy cakes like these, are always very popular at children’s birthday parties or even for a girl’s afternoon tea party; any flavouring can be added to the basic cake mixture as well as the buttercream icing, and in the manner of Blue Peter, here are some I made earlier this year! Royal Elderflower & Lemon Curd Butterfly Cakes

That’s it for this week’s Sepia Saturday (posted on a Sunday as I didn’t get to finish my draft post last night before I went to bed!!) Last week’s Sepia Saturday was also a cake recipe, Raspberry Cheesecake Muffins, and, if you fancy joining in, just add your recipe/post link to the Linky below, or if you don’t have a blog, please just leave a comment and let me know that you baked along with Be-Ro! Happy baking, Karen

The Tala Baking Lady!

Victoria Sandwich Cake

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Serves	8 to 10 slices
Prep time	5 minutes
Cook time	25 minutes
Total time	30 minutes
Allergy	Egg, Wheat
Dietary	Vegetarian
Meal type	Dessert, Side Dish, Snack
Misc	Child Friendly, Freezable, Pre-preparable, Serve Cold
Occasion	Birthday Party, Casual Party, Christmas, Easter, Formal Party, Thanksgiving, Valentines day
Region	British
By author	Karen S Burns-Booth

A true Victoria Sandwich would only contain jam, usually raspberry, but as the cake became more popular and cooks became more affluent, cream was added as a delicious addition. I was always taught that caster sugar was sprinkled on top – again, icing sugar is often used nowadays.

Ingredients

• 4 large eggs, weighed in their shells
• butter or soft margarine ~ same weight as the eggs
• caster sugar/super fine sugar ~ same weight as the eggs
• self-rising flour~ same weight as the eggs
• raspberry jam ( or another jam, jelly or curd of your choice.)
• whipped cream (optional) or double cream (optional)
• caster sugar or icing sugar for sprinkling on top

Note

Cook’s Notes:
If you use butter remove from the fridge to soften before using. This is not necessary with soft margarine.
If large eggs are used they may weigh 7 ½ ozs/210g. If so make sure you use this weight for the other ingredients.
A smaller sandwich cake can be made with 2 medium eggs. Weight about 4 oz/55g. If so, use 2 x 7” sandwich tins and the cakes and the cakes will need less time in the oven – probably 20 minutes instead of 25 minutes.
Alternative measurements:
4 eggs
8 ounces soft margarine or butter
8 ounces caster sugar
8 ounces SR flour
Proceed as above for method

Directions

Step 1	The measurements for this recipe are equal amounts of sugar, flour and fat to the weight of the eggs; therefore, weigh the eggs first – if the eggs weigh 8 ounces, you will use 8 ounces of sugar, 8 ounces of butter or margarine and 8 ounces of flour. If the eggs weigh 6 ounces, all the other ingredients will be 6 ounces – easy!
Step 2	Preheat oven Gas 4, 160C (fan oven), 180C or 360F: grease and base line the bottom of 2 x 8” sandwich tins – cake tins.
Step 3	Cream margarine or butter together with the sugar, until light and fluffy. Beat the eggs, and then add them to the mixture, gradually and beating well after each addition. Sieve the flour and fold into the mixture with a metal spoon.
Step 4	Divide equally between the 2 prepared tins and bake for 25 minutes in the middle of the oven.
Step 5	Remove and allow to cool for 1-2 minutes. Remove from the tins and fill with raspberry jam (and cream if using) when cold, to avoid the cream melting or the jam seeping into the sponge.
Step 6	A light dusting of caster sugar or icing sugar on the top will finish it. Place on an attractive cake stand or plate, and serve in dainty wedges with freshly brewed tea.

Butter Icing (Buttercream)

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Serves	12 fairy cakes
Prep time	10 minutes
Allergy	Milk
Dietary	Vegetarian
Meal type	Dessert, Side Dish, Snack
Misc	Child Friendly, Pre-preparable, Serve Cold
Occasion	Birthday Party, Casual Party, Christmas, Easter, Formal Party, Valentines day
Website	Be-Ro

A simple standard recipe from the Be-Ro cookbook, for buttercream suitable for fairy cakes and butterfly cakes.

Ingredients

• 50 g (2oz) butter or margarine
• 100 g (4 oz) sieved icing sugar
• flavouring and colouring as required

Note

A simple standard recipe from the Be-Ro cookbook, for buttercream suitable for fairy cakes and butterfly cakes.

Directions

Step 1	Cream fat, gradually add icing sugar and cream together. Add flavouring and colouring. Double this quantity to sandwich and coat a 15-18 cm (6-7 inch) cake.
Step 2	Suggested flavourings: Few drops vanilla essence. Few drops almond essence. Finely grated rind orange/lemon and 1 x 5 ml spoon (1 tsp.) orange/lemon juice. 2 x 5 ml spoon (2 tsp.) coffee essence. 25 g (1 oz) melted chocolate. 2 x 5 ml spoon (2 tsp.) cocoa and 1 x 2.5 ml spoon (½ tsp.) vanilla essence. Chopped walnuts. Strawberry or raspberry jam

Disclaimer: I was sent some Tala bakeware and baking accessories to try out and sample, with no request to promote them on my blog; all opinions expressed are my own and this is  not a sponsored post. Karen S Burns-Booth

 If you fancy joining in, just add your recipe/post link to the Linky below, or if you don’t have a blog, please just leave a comment and let me know that you baked along with Be-Ro! Happy baking, Karen