Fairy Cakes with Buttercream (Gluten-, Dairy-, and Egg Free)

I have a lot of friends (and a mother) with a lot of allergies, and every friend has their own unique combination of allergies. So, I decided to kill all the birds with one stone by making an allergen free batch of fairy cakes, drawing on a few recipes I found online. It took a few attempts, but they turned out nicely!

These cakes are gluten-, egg-, and dairy free, meaning basically anyone can have them; the buttercream is made using vegetable margarine, too.

I did a lot of research before I made these. I remember last year sometime being introduced to the idea of American wacky cake, which was a recipe invented during the Depression era when butter and eggs were in short supply, making it suitable for dairy and egg allergy sufferers. I then decided to see if making wacky cake with gluten free flour would work, and it did. I followed the first recipe (which I found here) to the letter, but when made with gluten free flour it was a little greasy; I retried using a little more flour, and it was a success.

Now, I use self-raising gluten free flour, which has added raising agent and a touch of xanthan gum. If you can only find plain gluten free flour, per 6 ounces (170 grammes) of plain flour add in 2 teaspoons (10 millilitres) baking powder, and 1/4 teaspoon (2 millilitres) xanthan gum, and sieve together.

FREE FROM

☑ Soya (check for soya lecithin)
☑ Yeast
☑ Eggs
☑ Gluten

☑ Dairy

CONTAINS
☒ Refined sugar products

INGREDIMENTS:

• 6 ounces (170 grammes) self-raising gluten free flour (I use Doves Farm brand)
• 6 ounces (170 grammes) caster sugar
• 3 tablespoons (45 millitres) cocoa powder
• Pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon (5 millilitres) vanilla essence
• 5 tablespoons (2½ fluid ounces; 75 millilitres) sunflower oil
• 8 fluid ounces (240 millilitres) water

METHOD

• Preheat oven to 180°c (350°F, Gas Mk. 4) and line a 12 hole muffin tin with paper cases.
• Sieve the flour, sugar, cocoa, and salt together into a large mixing bowl; make a well in the centre, and add the vanilla, oil, and water.
• Mix gently with a wooden spoon until the flour it just moistened. Don't over mix, or the cakes will by dense and dry.
• Divide the mix between the cases, filling each case to three-quarters full. Bake in the preheated oven for 15 to 20 minutes, or until spongy to touch and a cocktail stick comes out clean when poked through the middle of a cake.
• Allow to cool in the tin for about 5 minutes before moving the cakes to a wire rack. Allow to cool completely before icing.

I made some with the cocoa, and some without. The plain vanilla cakes I iced with raspberry buttercream, and the chocolate cakes I iced with chocolate buttercream. To make the buttercream, use the instructions inthis blog entry, and the ingredients listed below.

RASPBERRY BUTTERCREAM

• 1 ounce (30 grammes) vegetable margarine
• 1 ounce (30 grammes) raspberry jam
• 4 ounces (115 grammes) icing sugar
• 1 or 2 teaspoons warm water

CHOCOLATE BUTTERCREAM

• 2 ounce (55 grammes) vegetable margarine
• 4 ounces (115 grammes) icing sugar
• 1 tablespoon (15 millilitres) cocoa powder
• 1 or 2 teaspoons warm water

Fit a piping bag with a half-inch (1 centimetre) closed star tip, and fill with one of the buttercreams. Pipe roses onto the appropriate cakes, by starting in the centre of each cake, piping outwards in a tight spiral until you have covered the whole top of the cake. The result should look like a rose.

And there you are! Some delicious gluten free vegan fairy cakes. I am yet to experiment a bit more with this recipe and make some more adventurous concoctions, but these are a good start. I bought these really pretty boxes in the local Dealz (PoundLand) and they went down a real treat.