I really wanted to try and embrace the summer holidays with sunny optimism, healthy treats and lots of organised fun like some sort of pinterest ninja mum. But as you can see from these fondant fancies and the air of despair wafting around the South Wales area I have failed (on week 2). We were camping the first week of the hols which helped but with my car being in the garage and an unholy amount of housework to be done I thought we may all benefit from a few days ‘in the house’. Naive me thought I’d potter about and get on top of the housework (impossible). In fact one day at home, with the kids and a careless lead to the below google search at 5pm…
So the healthy snacks went out the window for the day and in comes these beauties! Sweet, buttery sponge with a slightly sharp lemon curd filling, creamy buttercream and a white chocolate drizzle. Pretty high on the sugar chart but they are small so a perfect size for little ones with minimal wastage 😀.
These fondant fancies can be a bit fiddly for little hands so keep a realistic expectation of the neatness levels. The below photo are mostly my creations…
And these are my kids masterpieces…
They absolutely loved the whole process though and it saved me being nagged for a few hours so win-win all round!
You will need an 8″ square cake tin or brownie pan, lined with baking paper.
Ingredients
- 200g butter
- 200g caster sugar
- 4 eggs
- 200g Self Raising flour
- Teaspoon lemon extract
- Rind of half an orange
For the filling
- 3/4 tablespoons Jam or lemon curd
For the buttercream
- 200g butter
- 400g icing sugar
- Tablespoon milk or boiling water
To cover
- 600g ready to roll icing or fondant
- Few drops food colour paste or gel
- 50g white chocolate
Preheat the oven to 170°C Gas mark 3
In a large bowl, beat the butter and sugar together until soft and creamy.
Crack in the eggs and fish out the inevitable bits of shell from toddler egg smashing, then mix well.
Add the orange zest and lemon extract, then mix in the flour to form a thick batter.
Pour into the prepared tin and bake in the middle of the oven for 15-20 minutes or until golden. The centre of the cake should spring back when touched (by a grown up, definitely not recommending the kids poke the oven-hot cake).
Whilst the cake is cooling make the buttercream and colour the icing.
Beat the butter until soft and gradually add the icing sugar until pale. Beat in the milk or water to form a creamy and fluffy buttercream.
If your colouring the fondant icing now is a great time to do this too. Just knead the colour gel or paste into the icing or, if your a smarter person than me, just buy icing in the colour you wanted in the first place 🤷🏼♀️.
When the sponge is completely cool slice horizontally and spread the jam or curd over the sliced section, replace the top of the cake and slice into small cubes (apx 4cm).
Spread a thin layer of buttercream over the four sides of each cube and add a small (half teaspoon) blob of buttercream on top.
Roll out small balls of icing to circles of apx 15 cm and cover the cake cubes, smoothing the icing down the sides as you go.
When all your cakes are covered, melt the white chocolate using short bursts of 10 seconds in the microwave and drizzle over the top. Pop into the fridge to set.
