Chocolate Chip Fairy Cakes

Name: Chocolate Chip Fairy Cakes
Prep time: 20 min
Cook time: 18 min
Total time: 38 min
Ingredients: 100 g Softened butter; 100 g Caster sugar; 1 Teaspoon Vanilla extract; 2 Small Eggs; 100 g Self-raising flour ((plus 1 teaspoon to coat the chocolate chips)); 100 g Chocolate chips

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These chocolate chip fairy cakes are a tasty twist on a classic British baking recipe. They're soft and fluffy, packed with plenty of milk chocolate chips in each bite. Perfect for kids' birthday parties, tea parties, or a simple mid-morning pick-me-up!

If you're looking for a cute, dainty snack to bake for a kids' party or bake sale, these chocolate chip fairy cakes are for you! They're bite-sized vanilla cupcakes full of chocolate chips and they are SUPER easy to make.

Fairy cakes are a classic British sweet treat that I've always loved to bake so I thought I'd add some chocolate to make them even better.

Even if you're a beginner baker, I hope that my detailed ingredient notes, step-by-step instructions and tips below will help your fairy cakes turn out perfectly the first time you make them.

For the readers who prefer a quick, condensed version of the recipe, you can find it in the recipe card at the end of this post. Enjoy!

Ingredients

Here are all of the ingredients you need to make chocolate chip fairy cakes:

Butter: Use softened, unsalted butter for this recipe. To soften your butter before baking, let it sit out at room temperature for 60 minutes or pop it in the microwave for 10-15 seconds. Just be careful not to melt it.
Caster sugar: I like to use caster sugar for my bakes because it gives them a better texture. It's a finer version of granulated white sugar, also known as superfine sugar in some countries.
Vanilla extract: To add a base flavour. I find 1 teaspoon is usually fine in most cake recipes.
Eggs: You'll need 2 small eggs to make these fairy cakes. Let them come to room temperature before you start baking, for extra fluffy cakes.
Self-raising flour: Self-raising flour (or self-rising flour) is just plain/all-purpose flour with baking powder added to it. If you don't have any to hand, you can use plain flour and add 1 teaspoon of baking powder to the recipe separately.
Chocolate chips: The star of the show! I used milk chocolate chips but you can use white or dark, whichever you prefer. I don't recommend using jumbo chocolate chips though because they will sink straight to the bottom of these dainty cakes!

Tools & equipment

Aside from the ingredients, you'll also need the following tools for this recipe...

Food scale: If you've read any of my other posts, you'll know how I always talk about using a food scale for baking. Measuring with cups is great for liquids but for dry ingredients such as sugar and flour, accuracy is super important to ensure the cakes turn out correctly.
Cupcake tin: I recommend using a cupcake tin that's on the deeper side. This will help the fairy cakes bake upwards rather than spread outwards.
Fairy cake cases: Fairy cake cases are small versions of regular cupcake cases. I got my fairy cases from Tesco but you'll find them in the baking aisle of most supermarkets.
Mixing bowls: You'll need one medium-sized mixing bowl for the batter plus a smaller one for coating the chocolate chips in flour.
Utensils: A wooden spoon for mixing, plus two teaspoons or a piping bag for putting the cake mix into the cases.

3 choc chip fairy cakes stacked on top of one another

How to make chocolate chip fairy cakes

Ready? Let's get baking!

Step 1: Preheat your oven to 180°C (or 160°C if you're using a fan oven). Line a cupcake tin with 12 fairy cases.

Step 2: In a medium-sized bowl, mix together 100g of softened butter and 100g of caster sugar together until light and fluffy. Then stir in 1 teaspoon of vanilla extract.

butter and sugar creamed together in a bowl

Step 3: Add 2 small eggs and 100g of self-raising flour to the bowl and mix well until you have a smooth but thick cake batter.

Step 4: To a separate bowl, add 100g of chocolate chips and 1 teaspoon of flour. Mix well until the chocolate chips are evenly coated in the flour.

Step 5: Add the flour-coated chocolate chips to the cake mix and fold in gently.

Step 6: Divide the cake mix evenly between the 12 fairy cake cases and bake for 15-18 minutes, until a toothpick through the centre comes out clean. Transfer them to a wire rack and allow them to cool completely.

Step 7: Share with friends and family (or don't) and enjoy!

Top tips

Use a deep cupcake tin to help the fairy cakes bake upwards rather than outwards. I typically use a small muffin tin which works great!
Coat the chocolate chips in flour to prevent them from sinking to the bottom of the cupcake cases.
If the cupcake batter is too thick, you can add a splash of milk to loosen it a little.
To save on time and mess, you can put the cake mix into a piping bag and pipe it straight into the fairy cake cases. Just make sure to cut enough of the end off for the chocolate chips to fit through.

FAQ

What's the difference between a cupcake and a fairy cake?

Traditionally, fairy cakes had the tops cut off and stuck back on with buttercream in the shape of fairy (or butterfly) wings. Nowadays, the term 'fairy cake' is also used to describe mini cupcakes, as is the case with these chocolate chip fairy cakes!

How do you keep chocolate chips from sinking to the bottom of a cake?

There are two ways to prevent this. The first way is to place a small amount of cake mix into the bottom of the cases before adding the chocolate chips to the rest of the mix. The second way is to coat the chocolate chips in a small amount of flour (around 1 teaspoon) before adding them to the mixture.

Can I make this recipe gluten-free?

Yes. You can swap the self-raising flour for an equal amount of a gluten-free self-raising flour blend. Make sure that you use a blend containing xanthan gum, which prevents the cupcakes from crumbling.

How long do these fairy cakes last for?

If you keep them in an airtight container, they'll last up to 5 days. Make sure to store the container in a cool, dry place such as a kitchen cupboard to keep the fairy cakes tasting their best for as long as possible.

More cupcake recipes:

I hope you like these chocolate chip fairy cakes. If you find the post useful, please share the link with a friend to help support the blog. Enjoy!