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Fondant Fancies

These miniature cakes are perfect for a posh afternoon tea.

By bbcfood · From Open Recipes · 16 ingredients
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Why it works: Butter and milk match in chemistry and in kitchens. They rank in the top 3% of all ingredient pairs, and 81,222 recipes mention both. Both carry (z)-4-heptenal, which smells biscuit, cream. The science ↓

The recipe

Makes 25
Prep30 min

Ingredients

Contains: egg, milk, wheat, tree nuts (auto-detected from the ingredients and method; we can miss things, so check labels)

Directions

Method written by CompKitchen from the ingredient list. Not the original author's method, not kitchen-tested.

  1. Heat the oven to 180°C (350°F). Line a 20cm (8in) square tin with baking parchment.

  2. Beat the 175g butter and 175g caster sugar until pale and fluffy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, then fold in the self-raising flour and 1-2 tbsp milk to a soft batter.

  3. Spread the batter in the tin and bake for 25-30 minutes until risen, golden and springy. Cool in the tin for 10 minutes, then turn out onto a rack to cool completely.

  4. Heat the 50g caster sugar with the 50ml water, stirring until dissolved. Simmer 1 minute, stir in the ¼ tsp lemon, then cool. Brush the syrup over the cooled sponge.

  5. Beat the 75g butter with the 150g icing sugar until smooth. Cut the sponge in half horizontally, spread 3-5 tbsp strawberry jam on one half, spread half the buttercream over it, and sandwich with the other half. Chill for 20 minutes.

  6. Cut the sponge into 25 squares. Warm the 2 tbsp apricot jam and brush it over the tops and sides of each square. Roll the 250g marzipan thinly and cut 25 squares to cover the tops, pressing gently to stick.

  7. Divide the 450g fondant icing into three, colouring one green, one pink and one yellow. Warm each portion gently with a splash of water until smooth and pourable.

  8. Set each cake square on a rack over a tray and spoon the coloured fondant over the tops, letting it run down the sides. Decorate with sugar flowers while the icing is still soft, then leave to set.

By bbcfood. Recipe from Open Recipes.

Explore the science

The flavor team

The pairs that carry this dish. Each one is judged two ways: how much aroma chemistry they share, and how many recipes mention both.

  1. Butter + milktop 3% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together81,222 recipes

    Shared aroma: (z)-4-heptenal (biscuit, cream).

  2. Strawberry jam + apricottop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapmoderate
    Mentioned together36 recipes

    Shared aroma: damascenone (apple, rose).

  3. Milk + apricottop 5% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together825 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

  4. Butter + flourtop 6% of all pairs
    Aroma overlaplow
    Mentioned together122,858 recipes

    Shared aroma: isobutyraldehyde (malty, green).

  5. Butter + apricottop 7% of all pairs
    Aroma overlapstrong
    Mentioned together1,456 recipes

    Shared aroma: delta-dodecalactone (sweet, creamy).

Butter and flour share little aroma chemistry, yet 122,858 recipes mention both: they likely work on texture and structure more than aroma.

Ranks compare each pair with 20,000 random ingredient pairs on CompKitchen. How we score pairs

Flavor stand-ins for the strawberry jam

How well each one fits the dish's main ingredients (butter, sugar, egg, flour, milk, lemon, apricot):

  1. Vanillabetter flavor fit
  2. Peachbetter flavor fit
  3. Figbetter flavor fit
  4. Strawberry jamthe original

Fit is the average pairing score against butter, sugar, egg, flour, milk, lemon, apricot. Candidates are from the same food group and used in at least 100 recipes. This compares flavor only: it does not check the job the ingredient does in the dish (bulk, moisture, acidity, structure).