Some fairycake questions for you!

fussyonion

Whenever I bake fairycakes, they never peel away from the paper cases.
I fill them with the cake mix, bake them til they're golden and cooked, then leave them on a rack to cool, but when I go to peel the cases off, the cake comes away with it.

The cake also tastes heavy, rather than light and fluffy.

I also notice when I remove the buns from the bun-tray, their bottoms are wet.
That seems to dry out on the rack, but I don't know why it's happening.

Also, the cakes never really rise at all, despite me using self-raising flour.
They never rise above the case?!

How do I make light and fluffy fairycakes that peel away perfectly from their cases?

Here is the ingredients list I used:

125g self-raising flour
125g caster sugar
125g soft butter
2 eggs
Drop of milk (mixture seemed a bit doughy, so a bit of milk helped)
Dash of vanilla extract

Faith

Firstly, use plain flour and add baking powder. You can control the raising agent that way.

Second, make sure you cream your butter and sugar really well. You're aiming to coat each single granule of sugar with fat.

Third, sift in your flour and baking powder and only barely mix it, until the flour is just mixed in. Overmixing develops the gluten, which makes for heavy, doughy cakes.

Don't bother with the milk.

Finally, don't ever open the oven door while they're baking!

Also, always use blocks of real butter (not a spread). You need the fat that comes from real butter (or margarine in a pinch). Spreads contain lower amounts of fat, and more water, so won't produce a final product that has risen as well as real butter will.

phormium

Your recipe sounds pretty normal, what method and oven temp are you using?

fussyonion

Thanks Faith; I was using Bertolli spread for the fairycakes.
I bought some real butter today, so I'm going to make another batch at the weekend and see if it makes a difference.
I also like your tip for using plain flour and baking powder instead of self-raising.
I'll let you know how I get on.

Phor, using a fan oven at 180c.

Faith, how much baking powder should I use if I'm using 125g of plain flour?

Faith

Oh, the spread is definitely a huge part of the problem. Any recipe that calls for butter, means butter. If I'm not mistaken, bertolli spread is olive oil based, isn't it? That's not appropriate for anything other than spreading.

I'd start with 1 teaspoon of baking powder (make sure it's in date!). You can add a drop of milk if the mixture is too thick. Ideally, you'd weigh your eggs in the shell and use an equality quantity of flour, butter and sugar.

180 fan seems high - I'd go with 160 personally.

fussyonion

Faith wrote: »

Oh, the spread is definitely a huge part of the problem. Any recipe that calls for butter, means butter. If I'm not mistaken, bertolli spread is olive oil based, isn't it? That's not appropriate for anything other than spreading.

I'd start with 1 teaspoon of baking powder (make sure it's in date!). You can add a drop of milk if the mixture is too thick. Ideally, you'd weigh your eggs in the shell and use an equality quantity of flour, butter and sugar.

180 fan seems high - I'd go with 160 personally.

Thanks a million, Faith, I'm going to whip up a batch later and let you know how I get on!

Faith

Hope you get the results you're looking for!