Fairy Bread Sponge Cake
"Australian answer to the Momofuku Milk Bar Birthday Cake"
Serves 8 | Prep Time 1 hour 20 minutes | Cook Time 25 minutesWhy I Love This Recipe
Every Australian knows it's just not a party without Fairy Bread! For those of you residing in outside the wonderful world of Aus, that's a slice of bread, slathered in butter, and covered in sprinkles.. but not those long, slightly soft sprinkles, they're tiny little solid balls of coloured sugar that we've dubbed 100's and 1000's
Apparently, this tradition started in Perth, in 1921, and it's been a staple party food in Australia ever since. As a kid, it was honestly the highlight of the party!
So when I realised that my good friend Brendan was turning 21 tomorrow... I knew exactly what I had to do. I had to adapt this childhood party favourite, into a cake.
This, is Australia's answer to the Momofuku Milk Bar Birthday Cake... The Fairy Bread Sponge Cake!!
VIEW ORIGINAL BLOG POST LINKED BELOW FOR MY TIPS FOR MASTERING THIS BAKE
https://hoskinshens.blogspot.com/2018/06/fairy-bread-sponge-australian-birthday.html
Ingredients You'll Need
Sponge
4 eggs
2/3 cup caster sugar
1 cup self-raising flour
2tbsp 2tsp cornflour
1tsp cream of tartar
1tsp vanilla essence
Icing
250g unsalted butter (small cubes)
3 cups icing sugar
2tbsp full cream milk
+
190g 100's and 1000's sprinkles
Directions
Preheat your oven to 160 degrees Celsius
Prepare a 9-icnh (23cm) diameter cake tin. Set aside.
Separate your eggs, place your yolks in one mixing bowl, the whites in another.
Beat your egg whites on high speed with an electric mixer, pouring in half of your caster sugar as you go, until it holds soft peaks and is of a meringue texture (smooth, glossy, and thick).
Clean and dry or change your beaters, and beat your egg yolks on high speed, gradually pouring the second half of your caster sugar as you go, until egg yolks have roughly doubled in size.
Pour egg yolks into your whites and using a soft silicone spatula, fold them together gently.
Into a separate bowl, sift together your self-raising flour, cornflour, and cream of tartar. Then sift them a second time into the mixing bowl with your eggs.
Fold wet and dry ingredients together gently until well combined.
Ensure you scrape the bottom of the mixing bowl to pick any last small pockets of flour.
Pour mixture into pre-prepared tin, and place on the centre rack in the oven for 25 minutes, or until a skewer inserted into the centre of the cake is removed clean.
Allow cake to cool in the tin for 10 - 15 minutes.
Run a knife around the edge of your cake to release it from the tin,and gently transfer it onto a cooling rack. Place in the fridge to cool.
Place all your buttercream ingredients into a large mixing bowl, and beat on high until the butter has lightened in colour and is soft and 'creamy'. This usually takes around 10 minutes.
Retrieve cake from the fridge, apply a small dollop of butter cream to your cake board, place your cake atop it.
Apply a rough, thin coat of icing to your entire cake.
This is the crumb coat, it is designed to encase any crumbs that may crumble off, and 'shape' your cake. This is that stage where you want to fill in any gaps, straighten the cakes edges, flatten out the top ect.
Move your cake back to fridge for 30 minutes to allow to icing to set.
Retrieve your cake from the fridge, and apply your final layer of icing.
Once you're happy with the final shape and edges on your cake, sit it atop a baking tray (to catch some of the sprinkles you're about to get all over the kitchen) and gently press your hundreds and thousands into the frosting,
And your done!
