Banana & Cinnamon Fairy Cakes

I recently wanted to make some fairy cakes to bring to a picnic, and while I was looking in cookbooks to find inspiration I came across this recipe. It was in “the hummingbird bakery cookbook” by Tarek Malouf & The Hummingbird Bakers. As always happens when I intend to follow a recipe I change it slightly as I go along, this time to make it gluten free.

Makes 18 fairy cakes

For the cake:

350g plain flour (I used Doves farm plain gluten free white bread flour)

¼ teaspoon salt

1 ½ teaspoon baking powder

½ teaspoon bicarbonate of soda

2 teaspoons ground cinnamon

160g caster sugar

250ml natural yogurt

125ml whole milk

1 medium size egg

½ teaspoon vanilla extract

70g butter

400g peeled banana

For the icing:

4 tablespoons icing sugar

1 teaspoon ground cinnamon

2 teaspoons water

3 drops banana flavouring

sugar pearls for decorating

Pre-heat your oven to 170^oC.

Sift and mix the dry ingredients in a large bowl. Combine the yogurt, milk and vanilla extract, add the egg and mix well, and add this mixture to the dry ingredients. Melt the butter and gradually add to the dough while stirring. Finally mash the bananas and add these to the dough. Stir well until you have an even mixture, and then spoon into paper muffin cases until they are two thirds full.

Bake in the pre-heated oven for 20 to 30 minutes, until a skewer comes out clean. Leave the fairy cakes to cool on a wire rack.

To make the icing, sift the icing sugar and cinnamon into a small bowl. Add the banana flavouring, and carefully add the water a little at a time until you get the right consistency, you may not need all of it. The icing should be runny like a thick sauce, but thick enough that it will stay on the fairy cakes without falling off at the sides.

Use a teaspoon to pour the icing over the fairy cakes, one at a time. Finally sprinkle some sugar pearls over the cakes for decoration.