Cup cakes and fairy cakes

Named for the small paper cases in which they were traditionally baked, cup cakes have come back into fashion in recent years, appearing in every smart cake shop and department store bakery, in every farmers’ market and on every Women’s Institute stall. No Christmas Fair or summer fête was complete without a multi-hued array of these highly decorated small sponge cakes. And that supermarket bakery sections have greatly extended their range is in part due to all the many decorations they have devised for cup cakes, from shards of freeze-dried strawberries, fruit flake confetti, sparkling snow, ‘shimmer sugar’ and ‘stardust’ to ready-made icing flowers and butterflies. The same shelves also offer edible gold leaf, which used only to be available from specialist art suppliers – perfect for the Golden Celebration Cake.