Big’n’scary Fairy Cake
About this build
A giant Victoria sponge becomes a butterfly fairy cake, with buttercream filling and wings cut from the top of the cake.
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Notes from the contributor
Selected passages from the original account. Quantities may describe shopping, tests or the final build; follow the linked passage for its full context.
I started off with the ingredients for a basic Vicky Sponge, but added half-as-much-again as the recipe specified. As an old woodwork teacher of mine once said, if you can’t do a good ‘un, do a big ‘un….
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Once everything was mixed together, it was ready to go into a baking tin. Note the greaseproof paper and butter-substitute used to grease the inside of the tin. Your pimping experience – like any experience in life – should not be spoiled by lack of adequate lubrication.
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Big’n’scary Fairy Cake: the archived recipe
Condensed from the original account by CyberFlotsam, published 2006-05-13. The quantities and method are the contributor’s; this is not a new kitchen test.
Ingredients recorded
- 6oz / 180g caster sugar
- 6oz / 180g margarine, for the cake
- 3 eggs
- 6oz / 180g self-raising flour
- 3oz / 90g margarine, for the butter cream
- 8oz / 250g icing sugar, for the butter cream
The account scales a basic Victoria sponge up by half as much again and gives each amount in ounces and grams, kept as written: 8oz is listed with 250g. The tin size and a cooling time are not given.
Method recorded
- Cream the caster sugar with the 6oz / 180g of margarine.
- Beat the eggs together and combine them with the mixture.
- Mix in the flour; the contributor used a 600 watt mixer for the eggs and the flour.
- Grease a baking tin with margarine, line it with greaseproof paper and put in the mixture.
- Bake in an oven preheated to 160C for about an hour.
- Meanwhile make butter cream from the 3oz / 90g of margarine and the icing sugar.
- Slice the top off the cake and cut it in half to form the wings.
- Spread a generous dollop of butter cream on top of the cake and fix the wings in place.
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The original account
A classic of English cooking, made bigger and better.
I started off with the ingredients for a basic Vicky Sponge, but added half-as-much-again as the recipe specified. As an old woodwork teacher of mine once said, if you can’t do a good ‘un, do a big ‘un….
6oz / 180g Caster Sugar
6oz / 180g "Well I never, I never would guessed that was margarine"
3 eggs
6oz / 180g Self-Rasing Flour
Another 3oz / 90g "Well I never, I never would guessed that was margarine",
plus 8ox / 250g icing sugar, for the butter cream icing.
The first step was to cream together the sugar and butter-substitute (gotta keep healthy). Easy done. Next up was the eggs; beat them together and start combining them with the mixture.
Hmmm…mixing the eggs was taking a bit too long. Maybe it was time to bring in the big guns. Yeah, you’re reading that right. There’s 600 watts of power in that baby. Now that’s the kind of power tool a pimper needs in the kitchen. Not only does it make short work of the eggs, but it also dealt very nicely with mixing in the flour.
Once everything was mixed together, it was ready to go into a baking tin. Note the greaseproof paper and butter-substitute used to grease the inside of the tin. Your pimping experience – like any experience in life – should not be spoiled by lack of adequate lubrication.
The oven was preheated to 160C, so once the mixture was put into the baking tin, the tin could be popped straight in to bake.
Baking took about an hour, which was more than enough time to make some butter cream icing. After a spell in the oven, the cake was ready to be decapitated.
The top was duly sliced off the cake, and cut in half to form the wings. A more-than-generous dollop of butter cream was spread on the top, and the wings fixed in place.
