i heart cupcakes

Actually, we call them fairycakes.  And from the pics below you would be forgiven for thinking my love goes beyond normal into the realms of obsession.  Not true, although I do know of some complete cupcake queens. (Cupcakes take the cake, cupcaketastic, Cupcake Bakeshop by Chockylit  , to name but a few). 

We just make them a lot in the deli, which gives us plenty of time to play with the decorations, and I do love photographing them.  Somehow, they always look just right in our old-fashioned, shabby chic, seaside deli.  And although the actual cupcakes and the buttercream icing are all organic, the colouring isn’t. 

Yet, it seems to be the colouring that silently beckons to the inner child, whispering: ‘pick me up.  I’m yours’.  And they do.  I’ve know grown men to go weak at the knees when eating one of our cupcakes, and last week, at the end of the day when I only had one pink fairycake left, a surfer fought his girlfriend for it.  Clearly no problems with getting in touch with his feminine side.  (It was really PINK).

It’s not just the grownups who are drawn to these fairytale creations.  Kids adore them, and between the cupcakes and the giant oat, peanut and smartie (like chocolate m&ms) cookies, children entering our cafe seem to wear permanently glazed looks.  We have made boxes and platters of these for parties, press shoots, kitchen teas, and I filled a pink, three tiered stand with mini cupcakes for my daughter’s birthday cake this year.  They were, as requested, multi-coloured, topped with handpainted icing berries, hearts, leaves and bees.  It’s like edible crafting, such fun!

Some of the dedicated cupcake blogs have some amazing cupcake combos, which are truly inspiring.  At the deli we like to keep it simple.  We make giant cupcakes with a foolproof victoria sponge batter, then we top it off with the perfect buttercream.  Mostly it’s just really good butter and organic vanilla, but sometimes it’s orange, lemon, rose or coffee.  Simplicity is the key here.  And these fairycakes make for a shot of pure nostalgia.

Don’t forget to click here for the recipe, and have  a look at some other cupcake blogs for more inspiration.  Or just visit the deli and we’ll happily ply you with ours along with a cup of All -African organic coffee.  In fact, I think I’m just off to have one now…   

Tags: baking, buttercream, cupcakes, vanilla

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