These scrumptious seasonal treats will keep your kids entertained.
Ingredients
- 175g butter, softened
- 175g golden caster sugar
- Finely grated zest of 1 orange
- 3 medium free-range eggs
- 175g self-raising flour
- 1 tbsp milk (if necessary)
For the decoration
- 200g icing sugar, sifted
- Silver balls, candles and fondant icing,
- to decorate your cakes
Method
- 1. Preheat the oven to 180°C/fan160°C/gas 4. Put about 18 foil paper cases into 2 muffin or fairy cake tins. Put the butter into a bowl. Add the sugar and orange zest, and beat well using a wooden spoon until pale and fluffy. You can use an electric whisk instead of a wooden spoon. This is called creaming.
- 2. Crack the eggs into a bowl and whisk well. Gradually add them to the creamed mixture, beating well after each addition. Sift the flour over the mixture and carefully fold in with a metal spoon. The mixture should be soft enough to drop easily from the spoon – this is called dropping consistency. If it isn’t, stir in the milk to soften it slightly.
- 3. Fill the paper cases three-quarters full with the mixture. Bake for 15-18 minutes, until golden. Ask an adult to remove the tins from the oven and transfer the cakes to a wire rack. Put the icing sugar into a bowl,
- add a little hot water to mix to a thick pouring consistency. Spoon the icing onto the cakes and decorate with silver balls, candles and fondant icing. Leave to set. Store in an airtight container.
Chef's tip
You can decorate the cakes with plain icing, silver balls, coloured fondant icing or desiccated coconut, to look like snow.
FREEZE the cooked cakes without icing. Defrost for 4 hours before decorating.