Gloverly Cupcakes

I’ve always wanted to have a go at making fondant fancies and a few weeks ago it was my friend Karen’s 30th Birthday and all the food for the party was kids party themed, so this was the perfect opportunity to give them a go. I definitely need a lot more practise as they aren’t the easiest thing to make, but I had a bit of fun trying them out. The party food was great –  I can’t remember the last time I had Skips or cheese and pineapple on sticks – amazing! Click

Pistachio Fondant Fancies

100g pistachio kernels

150g golden caster sugar

150g butter (at room temperature)

3 eggs

150g self raising flour

2 tbsp milk

200g marzipan

3 tbsp apricot jam

Vanilla Buttercream

500g icing sugar

160g butter

1 tsp vanilla extract

50ml milk

Icing

750g sugar paste

115ml water

Green paste food colouring (I used mint green Sugar Flair)

1. Heat the oven to 190 or 170 degrees C fan, or gas mark 5. Line a 21 cm square tin.
2. Whizz the pistachios in a food processor, add the sugar and whizz again. Add the butter and pulse until smooth.
3. Then add the eggs and flour and process till you have a smooth batter. Add a splash of milk if you need to.
4. Spoon into the cake tin and smooth out. Bake for 20 mins until risen and lightly browned. Cool for 15 mins in the tin, then turn out and leave to cool completely.
5. While the cake is cooling, make the buttercream. Beat the icing sugar and butter together on a very slow speed until the mixture resembles coarse breadcrumbs. I always put a tea towel over the top of my KitchenAid to prevent icing sugar going everywhere! Then slowly add the milk and vanilla. Once it’s all been added increase the speed and beat on high for 5 minutes until light and fluffy. Keep 100g of the buttercream separate and put into a piping bag.
6. Once the cake is completely cool, I sliced it in half to make 2 thinner layers and then sandwiched back together with the buttercream, but you don’t have to do this.
7. Roll out the mazipan to a large square shape and cut out the exact size of the cake – 21cm square. Brush the top of the cake with apricot jam – I usually warm it slightly or add a splash of warm water. Place the marzipan on top. Place in the fridge for 20 mins to firm up.
8. Once firm, cut into 25 squares. You made need to trim the edges to get a more even square. Then spread buttercream as neatly as you can on the 4 sides (not on the top where the marzipan is or on the bottom). Use the buttercream in the piping back to pipe a small blob on top of each square cake.Then put back in the fridge for 20 mins to harden up.
9. Meanwhile, cut the sugarpaste into cubes and put in the mixer , add a small amount of the water and turn the mixer on. Gradually beat the icing till it becomes a smooth paste and keep gradually adding the water, the icing will be smooth and more liquid. Add the desired food colouring.
10. Take the cakes out of the fridge and place one onto a fork. Dip each square into the icing one at a time and carefully set onto a cooling rack, with parchment underneath to catch the drips. Try not to get finger prints on them – for this reason it is best to insert the fork at an angle so that you can slide the cake off onto the cooling rack easily.

11. Leave the fondant to set, but do not put in the fridge as the icing will lose its shine.

12. You can then decorate with drizzles of another coloured fondant or chocolate and add any other decorations.

The hardest part of the recipe was dipping the cakes into the fondant, it took several attempts to get it right and even then some of them still fell off the fork into the fondant! It was pretty mess and I definitely need more practise. If I made these ones again, I would make my own pistachio marzipan to go on top as I think that would work nicely with the cake. I would also take more time to spread the buttercream on ensuring it is really smooth as all the lumps and bumps show through the fondant quite a lot.