icklebabe.com, it's in the blog

Since the winter started to turn its icy head towards spring I have been in a (strangely?) awesome mood. And I also seemed to have regained a bit of much needed artistic mojo. Like a big creative hurricane, I have been sucking up blogs, illustrations , photography and good memories that I thought I’d long forgotten. I think for the longest time I have been just sleepwalking, you know when something really bad happens, and you kind of shut down. Not to everything, just the more hopeful, whimsical, fairytale fun side of life that is always just beneath the surface, waiting . I think sometimes you can get knocked off track for a long long time, sometimes without even knowing it.

Oh hark at me… the tin pot philosopher?  anyway…..among lots of other things that have been opening my eyes and making me smile this week, are fairies.

Strange, yes…I know, but Milly started the ball rolling as she is obsessed with them at the moment after watching Tinkerbell & the great fairy rescue (its actually quite good) . “Wings mummy, I want wings please! “, she keeps saying. I would get her a play pair but I honestly  think she would be sorely disappointed when they didn’t actually make her fly. And all of this wonderment reminded me of my own childhood fairy longing. I remember  finding a book of my Dad’s about the The Cottingley Fairies, you know the story of the little girls in 1917 who *found* fairies in their garden and took pictures of them that captivated the world. My Dear Dad never let on whether they were real or not to me, but I remember it left me with a feeling of genuine wonderment and excitement that maybe the world was a little bit more magical than my seven years on earth  had proven thus far. And I have loved them ever since.  Cicely Mary Barker’s flower fairies were my absolute fave, but I also remember this book Moonlight & Fairyland , the illustrations  in it are amazing! If a little scary, I think they gave me nightmares….

I have started sketching some ideas for fairy work of my own, its very early stages yet though. The finished work will probably be done in watercolour &  inks, that’s if I am ever brave enough to get them out of the box! Its been so long since I have worked with anything other than good old acrylics. Little miss procrastination is my name. I hope you like the starting point anyhow.

 Oh, and the lady with the fairy wings in the pic  is another fantastic crafts find from etsy I found called Renea Taylor ,  she does all types of wing things  as well as some to order,  amazing isn’t it? You can actually own your very own pair of wings. I am sorely tempted! imagine prancing around the house embarrassing the kids?  Great fun!  

I will leave you with this lovelies…. “And remember always, as I told you first that this is all a fairy tale, and only fun and pretense; and, therefore, you are not to believe a word of it, even if it is true.” – Charles Kingsley, The Water babies 1863. Don’t you just LOVE that? Xxx

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The  Recipe bit!

I know everybody has a recipe for fairy cakes, but hay… this is a really good one. And it works everytime, even when two year old Milly makes them (she cracks a mean egg you know!) .

For cakey bit- 4 oz of golden caster sugar, 4 oz of plain flour, 4 oz of softened butter, 2 big teaspoons of baking powder, 2 eggs, 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract and a teaspoon of finely grated lemon zest (or a squirt of juice if low on time…read can’t be bothered ) A splash of milk if necessary.

For buttery fairy wing bit- 3 oz of softened butter, 6 oz of icing sugar (confectioners sugar) 1 tablespoon of milk.

Method-

Cream the butter and the sugar, then add the eggs , one at a time. Then add the flour and baking powdered gradually. Then the vanilla and the grated lemon zest and finally the milk (if the mixture is to thick).

Put into tiny cake cases ( I use an ice cream scoop for this, saw it on cupcake wars on foodnetwork ) and bake in pre-heated oven at around 1900c for about 15 mins, or until golden and slightly bouncy to the touch. Place on cooling rack to ..well cool!

Then make the butter cream, and if your me, try not to eat it all before it gets near the cakes…as this WILL make you feel sick later.

Anyhow… to make the butter cream, put softened butter in a bowl and beat until smooth. Then gradually add the icing sugar ( you should really sift it, but sometimes I don’t bother) and then the milk. And beat it baby!!!

Once the cakes are cooled, slice their heads off (sorry) and put in a big blob of butter cream. Then slice the top piece in half and place on top like “wings” ahhh…. Beautifully Retro Delicious-ness! Xxx

Tags: best Ever fairy cakes, fairies, flower fairies, magical, the cottingley faries, tinkerbell

This entry was posted on Saturday, February 19th, 2011 at 12:28 pm and is filed under cooking and baking, Inspire. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.