Fat Girls and Fairy Cakes: December 2011

Having enjoyed Russel Grant more than anyone else in this year's Strictly, (he will always be my winner) - I want to celebrate the final of Strictly Come Dancing and share my recipe for Chilli Chocolate Cha Chas. This fairy cake recipe is from the 'Strictly Collection,' as made by Stella, the heroine of 'Fat Girls and Fairy Cakes' and is a sparkly little titbit to be enjoyed while watching Chelsee Pasha, Harry & Aliona and Jason & Kristina dance under the glitter ball at Blackpool Tower on Saturday night. So as they Rumba, Salsa, Tango and Jive their way through the evening, put your feet up, pour a large glass of wine and enjoy your own kind of cha cha!

So here it is - put on your dancing shoes - get in the kitchen and create a slice of strictly with this little twinkle-toed-tit-bit from Stella’s recipe collection.

Chocolate Chilli Fairy Cha Chas with Spangly Frills

These simple-to-make cheeky little fairies are lively, sweet and just a little bit spicy. The heat is in the buttercream, so if you are baking for children or don’t like chilli, just bake the cakes as directed and leave the chilli out of the buttercream... they are still cha chas, just a little more restrained.

Now before you begin just let your hips sway very slowly, feel that music and just let those Latin rhythms pulse through the body as you cha cha round the kitchen collecting the ingredients. Makes about 12 cha chas!

N.B The recipe is in the back of Fat Girls and Fairy Cakes – so if you haven’t quite finished reading it stay ‘strictly’ with the recipes – and no peeking to see what happens at the end!

Ingredients

2 free range eggs

110g or 4oz caster(?) sugar

110g or 4oz self raising flour

110g or 4oz butter melted

½ tablespoon cocoa powder

12 red metallic paper cases (they remind me of strappy scarlet dancing shoes).

Chilli Buttercream

70g or 2 ½ oz butter, softened

140g or 5oz icing sugar

25g or 1oz cocoa

1-2 tablespoons milk

¼ level teaspoon chilli (or to taste)

½ teaspoon cinnamon

½ tablespoon milk

Red sparkly bits and edible red glitter

Method
Cha cha over to the oven and turn it to 180C/350F/Gas 4 and fill cake tins with paper cases.
Now whisk the eggs and sugar together in a bowl until light and fluffy – all the time swaying those hips and taking little cha cha steps (it improves the texture, trust me). Slow down the tempo now and fold in the flour, cocoa and melted butter.

Spoon mixture into scarlet stilettos (or shiny red paper cases)and bake for 20-25 minutes until springy to the touch.

For the frosting

When the cakes have chilled out on their wire rack – they will be ready for their dancing dresses.

Beat the butter in a large bowl until soft. Add half of the icing sugar and beat until smooth.

Add the remaining icing sugar, chilli and cinnamon and the milk and beat the mixture until creamy and smooth. Check the taste and add a little more chilli if you fancy something hot, hot, hot and beat in extra milk, if necessary, to loosen the mixture.

Now top those cha cha fairies and throw on some red sparkles and bling, take a big chocolate chilli bite and dance the night away.

This recipe along with many others – including the outrageously Christmassy, ‘Inebriated Christmas Tarts,’ and ‘Cranberry and White Chocolate Christmas Fairies,’ can be found in ‘Fat Girls and Fairy Cakes.’ The book is available in paperback and kindle from Amazon, all good online booksellers and in some Waterstone’s stores.

http://www.fatgirlsandfairycakes.co.uk/