I made these cakes at the weekend at the request from the 3-year-old. They are based on some he saw in an article in a cbeebies magazine - the Mr Tumble themed issue. (for those who don't know who Mr Tumble is - he's a character in a current children's TV programme called Something Special, and pretty much everything in his show is spotty).I used my dairy-free version of Marguerite Patten's sponge cake recipe: weigh the eggs, then use equal amounts of Pure sunflower spread, flour and caster sugar. I also added 1 tsp of vanilla essence per egg. The spots in the picture are mini-smarties, so I made the 1-year-old some 'starry' cakes, with fruit stars instead of smarties.
The 3-year-old and 1-year-old were very happy with them, even if they mainly licked off the icing and the spots/stars. As for me and the partner - we weren't as impressed unfortunately - vanilla fairy cakes just don't taste the same without butter. They looked good though, and made the kids very happy.
I've been experimenting with dairy-free cooking for well over a year now but I've not yet made any recipes simultaneously with butter and an alternative, so I've resolved to do just that the next time I do some baking.
we have Mr Tumble fans here too! I don't find not using butter too much of a problem with most things, I find pure quite good but I agree that in plainer things like shortbread and vanilla cupcakes you can notice a difference. Sometimes I'll add a hint of another falvour like orange or lemon zest to add more interest.
ReplyDeleteYour cakes certainly look very yummy!
Thank you. Top tip about the lemon or orange zest - I'll be sure to try that next time.
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