Sticky Ginger Fairy Cakes

Over here in England they call cupcakes Fairy Cakes. How can you not just love something which is called a Fairy Cake!!! A name like that gives something that is already scrumptious, an even more mythical mystical scrumdiddlyumptious quality!!!




I mean . . . if the fairies are feasting on these kinds of cakes, then they must be very good indeed!

I love to visit the Tate & Lyle site and am a fan of their We Love Baking page on Facebook. Every so often they post a link on their back to their baking site and the recipe of the month, which this month, happened to be these Sticky Ginger Fairy Cakes.



As soon as I saw this recipe, I knew I had to bake it. We both are big fans of gingerbread in this house! This recipe was right up my alley.

I wanted to kick up the spice a notch though and so I added some additional warmth by adding some ground cardamom and cloves . . . and some vanilla.



Oh my but they are moreishly tasty. Of course you can get the recipe in it's original form on their baking page. Or you can just print out my variation. Their page is definitely worth a peek though, as there are other yummy recipes there as well.




*Sticky Ginger Fairy Cakes*
Makes 12
Printable Recipe

Adapted from the Taste and Smile page on Tate and Lyle.

5 ounces Dark Brown Soft sugar
(3/4 of a cup)
4 ounces Golden Syrup**
(1/2 cup)
3 ounces Black Treacle**
(slightly less than 1/2 cup, halfway between
the half and the 1/4 mark on your measure)
6 ounces unsalted butter
(3/4 of a cup)
8 ounces plain flour
(1 1/2 cups plus 2 TBS)
1/2 tsp bicarbonate of soda
1 TBS ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground cinnamon
1/4 tsp ground cardamom
1/4 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp vanilla
2 eggs, beaten
150ml milk
(5 fluid ounces on the measuring cup)

For the Icing:
the juice of one lemon
175g of icing sugar, sifted
(about 1 1/4 cups)

Preheat the oven to 180*C/350*F/Gas mark 4. Line a 12 cup muffin tin with paper liners. Set aside.

Place the butter, golden syrup, dark treacle and sugar into a saucepan. Cook and stir over medium heat until the butter has melted. Allow to cool somewhat. Whisk in the milk, vanilla and the eggs.

Sift the flour into a bowl along with the soda and the spices. Pour the wet ingredients over top and quickly stir together. Pour this mixture into a large measuring jug and them divide the mixture equally amongst the lined muffin cases, filling them about 3/4 full.

Bake in the heated oven for 30 minutes, until well risen and the tops spring back when lightly touched. Remove from the oven and allow to sit in the pan for 5 minutes before removing to a wire rack to finish cooling.

Once they have cooled completely whisk together the icing sugar and the lemon juice, adding only as much of the lemon juice as you need to make a thick drizzable consistency. Drizzle over top of the cakes with a spoon and allow to set before serving. Delicious!

**Note - you can substitute an equal amount of mild molasses for the syrup and the treacle.