Made for the Rainbow Trust Children’s Charity: The Big Hour Cake Sale. These mini cupcakes (opens in new tab) are packed full of different fruits and veg and are iced with a delicious cream cheese frosting in a rainbow of colours. They're perfect for the kids.
Ingredients
Note: you can make 80-90 mini fairy cakes or 36 reg fairy cakes with this recipe.
For the sponge:
- 350g self-raising flour
- 1tsp baking powder
- 2tsp ground cinnamon
- ½tsp salt
- 1tsp ground ginger
- 80ml whole milk
- 120ml sunflower oil
- 230g light muscovado sugar
- 3 large eggs, lightly beaten
- 300g prepared fruit or vegetables. Choose from blueberries, courgette (roughly grated and excess moisture removed), apple (skinned, cored and grated), parsnip (peeled and grated), carrot (peeled and grated) or banana (roughly chopped)
For the buttercream:
- 240g icing sugar, sifted
- 500g cream cheese
- juice of up to 1½ lemons
- natural liquid food colours: blue, green, yellow, pink, red
WEIGHT CONVERTER
Method
- For the sponge:
- Preheat the oven to 170°C//340°F/Gas Mark 3½. Line as many small-hole baking trays as you have with paper cases. Or line three fairy cake trays with fairy cake cases.
- Sift together the flour, baking powder, cinnamon, salt and ginger.
- In a large bowl, beat together the milk, oil, sugar and eggs.
- Prepare your chosen vegetables or fruit. Make sure they are very well dried to avoid soggy cakes!
- Beat the flour mixture into the wet ingredients, taking care not to over-mix, then fold in the vegetables or fruit.
- Spoon into the cases and bake for eight to 10 mins, or until they spring back to the touch. You may need to bake them in batches. Cool on a wire rack. If you are making fairy cakes, they need to be baked for 15–20 mins.
- Beat the icing sugar into the cream cheese. Gradually add the lemon juice, to taste, then divide into six little bowls.
- Colour each bowl a different colour of the rainbow, mixing the food colours to achieve the orange and purple tones.
- Divide the little cakes into six equal groups. Spread the frosting on to the cakes with a small blunt knife. You will have at least 12 of each colour.
- To display the cakes arrange them in a rainbow shape in colours.
Top Tip for making Fiona Cairns' fruit and vegetable mini cupcakes
These cakes need to be iced on the day they are to be eaten, though the un-iced cakes freeze well, if you need to get ahead.
You might also like…
Easy cupcake recipe (opens in new tab)
Chocolate cupcake recipe (opens in new tab)
Vanilla cupcakes recipe (opens in new tab)
Trusted, informative, and empathetic – GoodTo is the ultimate online destination for mums. Established in 2007, our 15-year-strong archive of content includes more than 18,000 articles, 1,500 how-to videos, and 7,000 recipes.
-
Butterfly buns
Our easy butterfly buns recipe is perfect for kids. We've kept our butterfly cake recipe simple - just slice the tops off and fill with buttercream and jam...
By Jessica Dady • Published
-
Red velvet cupcakes
Red velvet cupcakes from the Hummingbird Bakery have deep red sponge with a delicious cream cheese frosting. They are delightfully decadent.
By Jessica Dady • Last updated
-
Mary Berry's almond cupcakes
Mary Berry's deliciously moist almond cupcakes are packed with apricots and sultanas for a fruity twist. Make 12 cupcakes using this recipe...
By Mary Berry • Published
-
Munchies skillet cookie
A gooey, delicious cookie baked in a skillet. A great dessert for sharing with loved ones...
By Jess Meyer • Published
-
Mozzarella and tomato ‘bruschetta’ salad
A filling salad that doesn't shy away from flavour. Perfect as a hearty lunch or light dinner...
By Jess Meyer • Published
-
Coq au vin pie
A warming pie packed with tender chunks of chicken, succulent bacon and a rich red wine gravy...
By Rose Fooks • Published
-
Why is there an egg shortage in the UK? Here’s why supermarkets are running out of eggs
Find out why is there an egg shortage, as some supermarkets see their shelves left empty as a result of the ongoing issue.
By Ellie Hutchings • Last updated
-
Is Harry Hill the new Bake Off presenter?
As the comedian returns as host of the new series of Junior Bake Off we look a who could replace Matt Lucas on the Bake Off main show.
By Selina Maycock • Published
-
Make this Mother's Day one to remember with John Lewis and AirPods
By Emily Stedman • Published