5 Fairy Cake Decorating Ideas To Entertain The Kids At Home

Fairy cakes aren't only the perfect party food - they are a great way for the family to get creative whilst stuck at home in isolation. Making - and more importantly, decorating - fairy cakes is easy and fun, as well as being suitable for all the family, from little ones to teens. There are hundreds of ways to decorate your fairy cakes, from birthday party classics, such as sprinkles and candles to many more wonderful, creative ideas. The search for easy, delicious and even healthy ways to personalise your fairy cakes is over - we have found five great ideas that don't use too much sugar - and don't require a trip to a specialist cake decorating shop.

Read on for our cake decorating guide, and follow this basic recipe for the perfect fairy cakes.

A simple yet effective decoration for your cakes is the classic 'fairy' or 'butterfly wings', which looks beautiful and can be made by even the youngest members of the family. Quick and easy, this method doesn't require much time or patience, but the results are still satisfying and pretty - great as birthday party food or as a tea-time treat. For a finishing touch, the kids can cover the cakes with a sprinkling of fairy dust - or you can always use icing sugar if you've run out of fairy dust...

Ingredients:

Buttercream (butter, icing sugar, milk) and jam (optional).

Method:

Cut the top off each fairy cake, cutting this piece into half again - remembering to keep the two halves of each whole together in its pair. Using a teaspoon, spread jam onto the flattened surface of the cup cake, followed by a generous blob of buttercream. Create the 'wings' by placing the two halves back onto the top of the cake at an angle, using the buttercream to keep them in place. Dust with icing sugar.

This is a chance to get creative. Set up a decorating station, complete with bowls of different ingredients, like white and/or milk choc chips, raisins, slithered almonds, dried fruits, desiccated coconut, sprinkles - and anything else that is in the cupboards. Cover the top of each cake with a thin, even layer of  buttercream or icing, and then use your imagination to create different faces, characters, animals or shapes. Set up competitions - get the kids to decorate a cake that looks like their brother or sister, or see who can make the best bumblebee, pig or flower using only the ingredients in front of them.  

Ingredients:

Buttercream (butter, icing sugar, milk), choc chips, raisins, slithered almonds, dried fruit, desiccated coconut, sprinkles etc.

Method:

Cut off the tops of the cakes to make a flat surface, spreading it with a thin layer of buttercream. Then, simply use your imagination to create faces, people, animals and flowers from the available ingredients.

Turn your fairy cakes into magical red-and-white mushrooms using this simple technique. Using red food dye to turn your buttercream or icing a brilliant red colour - the kids can transform the fairy cakes into mushrooms by dotting the tops with white chocolate chips. Make a whole forest floor of mushroom cakes - or, decorate half the batch as mushrooms and the other half as fairy wings for a magical combination that is great for birthday parties or picnics in the garden.  

Ingredients:

Buttercream (butter, icing sugar, milk), Red food colouring, white chocolate chips

Method:

Add a few drops of red colouring to the buttercream mix to achieve a bright, vibrant red. Dot white choc chips on each cake, until it resembles a mushroom. Note: This works best if using plain white or brown cupcake cases.

Children of all ages will be amazed with this simple yet effective cake decoration. Extremely easy to do - simply spread melted chocolate onto the back of individual mint leaves and leave to cool - then peel the leaf away to reveal the perfect imprint that has been made in the cooled chocolate. Use these chocolate leaves to decorate cakes and other party food, and try using milk and white chocolate for fun two-tone decorations.

Ingredients:

A bunch of mint (washed), a bar of chocolate (broken into pieces) or chocolate chips.

Method:

Break the bunch of mint into individual leaves, laying each leaf onto a sheet of baking paper.

Melt the chocolate in a bain-marie (a heat-proof bowl in a pot of gently simmering water) or in the microwave (at 50% power, making sure to stir every 15 seconds) until almost completely melted. Take the chocolate off the heat and stir until the residual heat melts the chocolate entirely. Once fully melted, use a teaspoon to spread a thick layer of chocolate onto one side of each leaf. Leave them to cool, chocolate side up, for around 10 minutes - or until the chocolate is completely solid. Once cooled, turn the leaves over, and gently peel the green mint leaf away from the chocolate, revealing a perfect, edible replica of the leaf. You can use white or milk chocolate for this.

A great way to use leftover sheets of stickers, why not decorate your fairy cakes with cocktail sticks that have been customised with stickers, stencils and drawings? Whilst the cakes are in the oven, get creative by making drawings or cutting out stencils that can be attached to cocktail sticks. Draw flags, write people's names or even print and cut out photos of family members - the kids can decorate their cocktail sticks with whatever they like, whether that's fairies, dinosaurs, tractors or bugs. A great idea for a birthday party, these decorations are personal, easy to make - and totally sugar free.

Ingredients:

Cocktail sticks, sticky tape, paper, pencils, stickers, and any other craft supplies in the house.

Method:

Cut out small pieces of paper for the kids to decorate with drawings, writing, stickers or anything else they have to hand. Why not set a theme that all the kids can follow - or let their imaginations run wild. Create one masterpiece per fairy cake, and once complete, use tape or a sticker to attach the drawing to a cocktail stick. When the fairy cakes are cooled, simply insert the cocktail stick into the centre of the cake - removing it before eating!