Fairy Foodies - Daisy Banks
I have been visiting Daisy Banks on various blog sites to celebrate the release of her forthcoming book Valentine's Kisses, where she has tempted me with little snippets from her story. Now, she's made my mouth water with the thought of Fairy Cakes.
Welcome Daisy, come on in and talk food.
All my blogs in this tour are about Fairies,
fairy legend and lore.
Legends say fairies are fond of some forms of
mortal foods. Butter, freshly baked bread, fresh milk and cream are in the list
as favourites. There are tales of fairies stealing these things or accepting
gifts of them.
I do know a tale where a fairy granted the wish
of one woman for a child in exchange for a loaf of bread.
There are also cases of warnings for people to
leave a little in their glass, be it mead or milk, always leave a drop for the
fairies. Never take the last apple, plum or pear from your tree, leave one or
two for the fairies. On baking day, along with your usual creations, bake a
little something as a gift for the fairies.
I have to say my family didn’t follow this piece
of fairy lore and as you know from my other blogs in this tour, we often had
evidence of a fairy presence in my parent’s house.
The most important warning concerning fairy food
is, if the fairies offer you food and you accept and eat or drink it, you will
be lost to the fairy kingdom. There are lots of stories of those who eat fairy
food being enchanted by it, lured away and never returning to their mortal
homes.
Some tales say fairy food is magical in many
ways and makes the person who eats it see things that aren’t true. One story
tells of an old man who finds himself at a fairy feast where he drinks and
gorges himself on all manner of fine things. But come the dawn the spell of
fairy magic is broken and the old man finds himself seated in a stinking bog
gnawing on a broken root. Fairy food, it is said, is not to be trusted.
Food and drink play a big part in my story
Valentine Wishes, as you will see when you read the story. I thought that as
the story has a Valentine theme some fairy cakes suitable for a Valentine party
might be nice addition to this blog. You will, of course have to bake them, and
if you wish you can make a little extra for the fairies.
Fairy Cake Sponge to make 12 cakes.
·
2 eggs
·
115g sugar
·
115g
self-raising flour
·
115g butter,
melted
Preheat oven
to 180 degrees C /Gas 4 and prepare a 12-hole bun/muffin tin with paper baking
cases.
Whisk
together the eggs and sugar until light and fluffy.
Gradually
add the flour and the melted butter, gently folding the mixture together.
Pour the
mixture evenly into the paper cases.
Bake the
buns for 10-15 minutes, until golden on top and a skewer inserted carefully
into one of the buns comes out clean. Allow to cool for ten minutes on a wire
rack before removing from tin.
The fun part
with fairy cakes is how you decorate them. Do enjoy.
Valentine
Wishes published by Liquid Silver Books will be released on the 10th
of February. You can pre-order a copy here and get an early bird discount.
Here is a little snippet from the story to
tempt you.
So far, since Poppy
found the three girls, life here had been fun. Being so vibrant and young,
energy simply oozed from them. The parties her mortals hosted entranced her. At
each event, she sat under a leaf in the garden and sucked energy to her heart’s
content. She did wish she could find a way to help them, even if only a little.
The trio seemed to be such good mortals, providing flowers and sweet-scented
plants in their garden, and they fed the birds at a very pretty bird table.
These mortals really cared about their garden.
The strangest thing was
though, since her arrival, not once had one of them made a direct wish for
anything. They seemed not to need any help with romance. She’d seen young men
arrive to meet them and whisk them off in cars on a regular basis.
Perhaps, as it’s soon to be the most special romantic time
of year, I might get the chance to grant a few wishes.
Her worst dread remained a too real prospect. One day she would go back to the
fairy court and have to tell everyone she’d done nothing at all to help her
chosen mortals. She shivered at the thought, for such a confession would be a
huge humiliation. The critical expressions some fairies could wear were savage.
She’d seen a lot of those before she left on fly about.
Don’t think about that! Think about good things.
She breathed out a huge sigh. The good things always seemed to revolve around
one fairy, one utterly gorgeous, heart stoppingly perfect fairy, who didn’t
criticize in the way the others did. She sighed again. Perhaps he never said anything about the disasters because he never
noticed me at all. She had to have some successful wishes to speak about
when she returned. I won’t go back until
I have.
The fairy courtiers had
come to expect tales of triumph in all dealings with mortals. I must do something to make the lot of at
least one of my mortals more bearable, or I risk more than ridicule. If her
majesty isn’t impressed I could be banished to the top of some Christmas tree
for decades. Worse though, what if he knew? I’d want to dissolve in shame. She
gave a shudder and tried to dismiss the image of the reason for her fly about
and her venture into the world of mortals.
I’ve spent enough time thinking of him.
Links
Thanks so much for hosting me, Diane. I do hope people enjoy the fairy cakes if they try baking them.
ReplyDeleteDaisy, you are always most welcome and I look forward to Valentine's Wishes. (By the way, we got the jump on the cake recipe and did them yesterday - delicious)
ReplyDeleteI don't know which looks sweeter--the cake or the book! Congrats, Daisy. :)
ReplyDeleteThanks for commenting, Kimber, and yes this one is a very sweet and saucy little tale.
ReplyDelete