Teach 8-14 year olds how to make fairy cakes and guarantee a fun kitchen activity

• Preparation and cooking time
  • Prep:40 mins
  • Cook:20 mins
  • Plus cooling
• Easy
• Makes 12

Ingredients

• 100g caster sugar
• 100g very soft butter
• 100g self-raising flour
• 2 eggs
• 1 tsp vanilla extract

For the icing

• 200g very soft butter
• 200g icing sugar
• food colouring, sprinkles, marshmallows etc

Method

• STEP 1

  Ask a grown-up helper to turn the oven on to 180C/160C fan/gas 4. Put a paper case in hole of a 12-hole bun tin.

• STEP 2

  Put the sugar and butter (it must be soft or you won’t be able to mix it properly) in a bowl and mix it together. Sift in the flour.

• STEP 3

  Break the eggs into a separate bowl (spoon out any bits of shell that fall in) and add them to the bowl with the vanilla. Mix everything together.

• STEP 4

  Divide between the cases using a spoon, scraping it off with a knife. Ask a grown-up helper to put the tray in the oven for 20 minutes.

• STEP 5

  Mix the butter and icing sugar to make a creamy icing. Add colouring, if you like. Push an icing nozzle into an icing bag, then scoop in the icing.

• STEP 6

  Let the cakes cool completely in the tray. Pipe icing onto each cake and decorate with marshmallows or sprinkles, or whatever you like.