Jam and Almond Fairy Cakes

I have another recipe for you today. It's a good one!


These jam and almond yummies are so addictive, the topping is lighter than air and so delicious. We whipped these up on Saturday just passed, well, actually it was Sophie that did the most of it. Again. (Under supervision of course). 


She did a wonderful job, there's no finer kitchen helper! I can't believe how fast she's growing up. She turned 7 on March 17th this year. SEVEN! I hope the next 7 years don't go quite as fast! 

She did have a great time on Friday night with us girls though. It was my sisters birthday and we went to a favourite pub for a carvery. We gave Auntie Sharon some homebaked biscuits for her birthday and 2 homemade cards. I always think there's more feeling in giving something homemade, although I have to admit I've only recently started doing this despite thinking about it for some years. It was a really lovely evening, good food and excellent company.




Right onto the recipe eh? It isn't difficult, it takes longer to bake than mix up the ingredients but then again I suppose that's true for most cake mixes isn't it? What? Get on with it?
Ok then.


Ingredients:
175g butter/margarine
175g sugar
1tsp almond flavouring/extract
4 eggs, slightly beaten
175g self-raising flour


284ml Elmlea Double Light
4tbsp icing sugar
1 tsp almond flavouring/extract




Method

Cream together butter and sugar. They blend easier if the butter is softened but mine wasn't, I just chopped it up into small portions and it worked just as well.

 Whizz together...

 Add the almond flavouring. I used a normal sized teaspoon as I have lost my measuring spoons, no idea how where they are. I think new ones are on the cards.

 Slowly add your beaten egg to the creamed butter, allow to mix well before adding another bit. Then you can add your flour, a tablespoon at a time. 

Mix well.

Divide into paper cases as expertly demonstrated by my little girl. This recipe makes about 20 fairy cakes.

Bake at 175*C for 10-12 minutes or until firm and springy to touch. If you poke them with a cocktail stick it should come out clean. 

Allow them to cool.

While you're waiting for them to cool you could be whipping the elmlea together with the almond flavouring and the icing sugar. I can't really say how long this takes as I just whizz it in my Kenwood Chef with the whisk attachment. I would advise keeping this on a medium speed as it can quick curdle if you're not watching.

Keep whizzing it together until the cream mixture holds it's shape when you lift the whisk.

When they're cooled completely then take out the middle. Initially I tried using a knife but this was frustrating and fiddly. An apple corer works a treat though. You can see the difference in the picture above, it's a shame the apple corer wasn't just a little bigger, never mind.

Splodge some jam in the holes.

And splodge some almond cream on the top covering the jam completely. It will be a nice surprise for anyone who doesn't know it's there!

And that's kind of it, I decorated mine with a single smartie chocolate but you could add whatever you wanted. 

I hope you like them, we find them irresistable, we made 20 in the morning and by 4pm we were down to 3. 

I'll be sharing some of my favourite books with you tomorrow so please pop back!

Love,

Kaye x