French Fancies

I've always loved a french fancy but have always been quite reluctant to try to make them because they looked relatively hard to make look attractive. My sister is also a long term fan so I thought her 21st birthday would be a good excuse to give them a go.

I was worried that the icing wouldn't be thick enough to make the cakes look smooth. Although they turned out better than I expected, I could still see little irregular lumps and bumps in the cake so if I were to make them again I would make the icing even thicker. Another problem I found with the icing was that it didn't really set - I had to keep them in the fridge and even then they were still a bit sticker to touch. Buuutt, I would still say that they're worth making! They tasted great and were actually surprisingly easy to make!

I have used Mary Berry's recipe here but made a few alterations by not included a layer of marzipan on the cakes (because I wanted them to taste like the classic fancies I used to have as a child), as well as flavouring the buttercream instead of the fondant icing.

Makes 25 | 30 minutes to 1 hour prep time | 30 minutes to 1 hour cook time

Ingredients

For the sponge

225g self-raising flour

225g baking spread or softened butter

225g caster sugar

1 lemon, grated rind only

4 free-range eggs

For the buttercream

250g unsalted butter, softened

200g icing sugar

2 tsp almond extract

1 lemon, finely grated rind only

For the icing and decoration

1 kg white fondant icing

150ml water

food colouring (any colour)

100g dark chocolate

Method

1. Preheat the oven to 160C/325F/Gas 3. Grease and line a 20cm/8in square tin with two strips of parchment paper.

2. For the sponge, beat together all the sponge ingredients until smooth. Tip the cake mixture into the tin and tap lightly to level out.

3. Bake for about 40 minutes, or until a metal skewer inserted in the middle comes out clean.

4. Allow to cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out and allow to cool completely on a wire rack, before putting in the fridge to chill (or alternatively place in the freezer for a few minutes until chilled but not frozen).

5. While the cake is chilling, make the buttercream. Beat together the softened butter and icing sugar in a bowl until lighter in colour, and smooth. Divide into two, mixing the almond extract into one and the lemon rind to the other.

6. Place 50g of each butter cream into two different piping bags and allow to slightly firm up in the fridge. Keep the rest in a bowl for the cake sides.

7. Cut the cake into 25 equal squares (each 4cm/1½in square). You may need to cut off the edges if they have rounded and pulled away from the sides of the tin - all the edges must be straight and neat.

8. Cover four sides of each square with buttercream (not the top or the base) - half of the squares with one flavour and half with the other. Using the butter creams in the piping bag, pipe a blob in the centre of each square on top of the cakes - piping the different flavours accordingly. Leave to set in the fridge for 20 minutes.

9. For the icing and decoration, cut the fondant icing into small cubes. Place in a sturdy free-standing mixer with a paddle. Churn the icing until it stars to break down, adding a splash of water if it's too hard. Very gradually add the water - the icing will become smooth and more liquid.

10. Add food colouring to the icing for your desired colours - I used pink for the almond flavours cakes and yellow for the lemon flavoured ones.

11. Melt the chocolate either in the microwave or in a heatproof bowl set over a pot of simmering water (do not allow the bottom of the bowl to touch the water). Once melted, place the chocolate in piping bag and set aside.

12. There are two ways of coating the cakes with icing: Take the cakes out of the fridge and place one onto a fork. Dip each square into the icing one at a time and carefully set onto a cooling rack, with parchment underneath to catch the drips. Or you could set the cakes on a cooling rack with a tray underneath to catch the drips, as you pour or drizzle the icing over each cake.

13. Leave the fondant to set, but do not put in the fridge as the icing will lose its shine.

14. Using the piping bag of melted chocolate, drizzle the chocolate over each fancy in a zig-zag pattern.

15. Leave to set and then place on a cake stand to serve.

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