Last weekend's outing to the Royal Canberra Show took me back to childhood days and the fun and excitement of going to the carnival with my parents and grown up siblings. Sideshow Alley seemed so much more awesome in the 1960s! Along with the Cha Cha, Ferris Wheel, Dodgems, shooting gallery, laughing clowns and haunted house, there were curiosities such as the men who swallowed fire and juggled machetes. There were tents displaying images of bizarre sideshow freaks from the past. There was boxing and wrestling, and even feathers and sequins of the strip tease! The admission price at the gate was a mere $1.00 for adults and 40 cents for children! Thinking back, my most favourite things were the freshly spun fairy floss, colourful whirly gigs spinning in the breeze, and sparkly Kewpie Doll fairies attached to cane sticks.

According to an article on the The History Channel website, 'Kewpie' was created in 1909 by American illustrator, Rose O’Neill, who based the sweet little character on elf-like creatures she had visualised in a dream. Named after 'little Cupids', the drawings were first published in the Christmas edition of Ladies Home Journal in 1909, and later in various publications as cut-out paper dolls (hands up if you remember those!). The first moulded Kewpie Dolls were produced in 1912 by Kestner & Company in Ohrdruf, Germany and they are still popular with doll collectors around the world today. 

A long time ago, my mother made cloth dollies with Kewpie Doll heads. I loved to play with them and still have them (tucked away in a suitcase at the top of a cupboard). When I wasn't playing with dolls, I was singing and listening to music while my mother baked. Dressed in ballet flats and a duck egg blue Marilyn Monroe dress with tulle overlay, I'd flit about the house singing 'The Carnival is Over' into the ubiquitous microphone-come-hairbrush. Of course, I didn't understand the deeper meaning behind the lyrics of that song, but most likely wouldn't have cared. All that mattered was the whimsy of the carnival, Judith Durham and her Seekers, and Pierrot and Columbine. Hey, I was ten years old and in the midst of my wonder years. Life was as sweet as it could be.

And speaking of things sweet, my mother was quite the artisan baker and her specialties included a kind of Hungarian brioche, strudel and other yeast buns, none of which were overly sweet. Perhaps that explains why I don't enjoy those new-fashioned, giant-sized 'cupcake-store' cupcakes piled high with sickly rich icing. 

I found some pretty rose and butterfly cupcake couture made by Robert Gordon at a stall at last weekend's Show. Kewpie doll fairies and the cupcake liners inspired these butterfly fairy cakes filled with a dash of whipped cream. They are simple and delicious, and as 'light as any wind that blows'.

BUTTERFLY FAIRY CAKES
120g unsalted butter, softened
120g vanilla infused caster sugar
2 eggs
120g plain flour
120g maize cornflour
2 teaspoons baking powder
11/2 tablespoons milk
1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup whipped cream, to decorate
pure icing sugar, to decorate
rose petals, to decorate

Beat the butter and sugar until light and creamy. Beat in the eggs one at a time, and then add the milk. Fold in the dry ingredients, together with the vanilla extract. Spoon equal quantities of the mixture into patty cake liners and bake in a preheated oven at 190 degrees C for 10-15 minutes until the cakes have risen and are golden. Slice the tops off each cake when cool and then carefully slice the top piece in half to form little wings. With a small spoon, scoop out a small amount of cake and fill the space with whipped cream. Place the 'wings' into the cream. Dust with icing sugar and serve with a cup of tea or glass of cold milk. Makes 8 fairy cakes. 

Note: these cakes can also be filled the following day, it makes things a little easier too, as the cake is less crumbly. (My recipe has been adapted from The Coronation Cookery Book compiled by the Country Women's Assocation (CWA) NSW in 1941.