Butterfly Cakes

Butterfly Cakes are easy to make and fun to assemble. Good for beginner bakers or children to make for tea. Step-by-step instructions to make the butterflies are included.

Butterfly Cakes are fun to make and great for an afternoon’s baking with the children. I make these in fairy cake cases so they’re small and won’t spoil a meal – and they’re always good instead of pudding. You could make them for children’s parties, where they always go down well.

Ring the changes

I’ve used vanilla buttercream, but you could make a chocolate version by substituting a couple of tablespoons of cocoa powder for icing sugar. The icing won’t be quite as sweet, but that isn’t really an issue with these little cakes. You could also put jam in the buttercream as a flavouring, which avoids artificial flavours. Unless you sieve the jam there will be bits – but you might not mind that.

Make cupcakes instead of fairy cakes

If you want to make cupcakes, buy the larger paper cases (and tins) and make half as many (about 10 instead of 20).

Step-by-step instructions for assembling Butterfly Cakes

1. Use a small, sharp knife to cut a cone-shaped out of the cake. Start near one edge and push the point down and towards the centre. Keeping the point in the same place, move the knife around the cake

2. Fill the cavity with buttercream and cut the cone shape in half

3. Position the ‘wings’ on the cake

What equipment do you need?

12-hole bun tins – These tins are the perfect size for jam tarts and for fairy cakes. Unlike muffin tins, the paper cases sit above the edge of the depressions, which is absolutely fine. For this recipe, you will need two bun tins.

If you like this…

…Why don’t you try:

Jammy Buns

Easy recipe for jammy buns. Ideal for baking with children and for birthday parties. Essentially fairy cakes with a jammy surprise in the middle.

Cherry Buns

Cherry Buns are fun and easy to make with kids. Great for a family tea or party.

Rock Buns

Rock buns are quick and easy to make and delicious to eat 30 minutes later. They're an ideal first bake for children.

Stockists

12-hole bun tins

Buy Now →

Fairy cake cases

Buy Now →

Pin for later

Hover over any picture on the page and hit the Save button to pin the image to one of your Pinterest boards.

Print Recipe

Butterfly Cakes

Butterfly Cakes are easy to make and fun to assemble. Great for kids to make for tea.

Prep Time20 mins

Cook Time20 mins

Total Time40 mins

Course: Teatime

Cuisine: British

Keyword: beginner baker, cooking with kids, easy, small cakes

Servings: 20 fairy cakes

Author: [email protected] Cooks

Ingredients

For the Cakes:

• 125 g butter at room temperature
• 125 g caster sugar
• 2 large eggs
• 150 g self-raising flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder (5ml)
• Large pinch of salt
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (5ml)

For the Buttercream:

• 100 g butter at room temperature
• 200 g icing sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla extract (5ml)

Equipment

2 12-hole bun tins

Fairy cake cases

Instructions

PREPARATION:

• Preheat the oven to 190°C/ 170°C fan/ gas mark 5/ 375°F
• Line the bun tins with 20 paper cases

For the cakes:

• Beat the cake ingredients together thoroughly using any method: wooden spoon, hand or stand mixer, or processor

  (Butter, caster sugar, eggs, flour, baking powder, salt, vanilla extract)
• Put a heaped teaspoon of mixture into each paper case
• Cook for 15-20 minutes until the cake surface springs back when you touch it lightly with your fingertip
• Leave in the tin for 5 minutes, then remove and leave to cool on a wire rack.

For the buttercream:

• Beat the softened butter and vanilla extract with an electric whisk
• Add the icing sugar gradually, beating well as you go

To decorate the cakes:

• Use a small, sharp knife to cut a cone-shaped out of the cake. Start near one edge and push the point down and towards the centre. Keeping the point in the same place, move the knife round the cake.
• Fill the cavity with buttercream
• Cut the cone shape in half
• Position the 'wings' on the cake