With wedding budgets often already fit to burst, couples look for ways they can trim the fat and expensive favours are often the top of the list for unnecessary expense. But many couples still like to keep the tradition of giving their guests a small token of gratitude on the day, in which case favours don’t have to burst the budget.
Homemade favours are becoming increasingly cheap, easy and popular and often, it’s the thought that means more to the guests. One of the easiest DIY wedding favours is the edible wedding favour. Little mini baked goods or take home treats are ideal, simple and can add an extra element of fun in the planning of the wedding.
Try this recipe for pairs of French Macarons or hit two birds with one stone with this recipe for cupcakes with place names.
French Macarons recipe from Perfect Wedding Favours
This recipe is for a single colour but you can easily make several batches in different colours. Pale green macarons look great sandwiched with chocolate spread while yellow macarons are great with a lemon curd filling. Makes about 16 pairs.
Ingredients:
2 egg whites
pink food colouring
115 g icing sugar
115 g ground almonds
blackcurrant or strawberry jam, to serve
Equipment:
a piping bag fitted with a large round nozzle
2 baking trays, lined with non-stick baking paper
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC (350ºF) Gas 4.
- Whisk the egg whites in a spotlessly clean, grease-free mixing bowl until they form stiff peaks. Add a few drops of food colouring and whisk again briefly until just combined.
- In a separate mixing bowl, combine the icing sugar and almonds, then sift over the egg whites and gently fold together. Spoon the mixture into the piping bag and pipe 2-cm rounds onto the prepared baking trays, spacing well apart.
- Bake the macarons in the preheated oven for 10 minutes. Remove from the oven and leave to cool on the baking trays for a few minutes before transferring to a wire rack to cool completely.
- To assemble, spread a thin layer of jam on half of the macarons and sandwich with the remaining macarons. Store the macarons in an airtight container until required. The macarons can be made up to 3 days in advance, but it is best to leave sandwiching them together until the day before the wedding.
Cupcake Place Names recipe from Perfect Wedding Favours
Save yourself a little time and energy by making these pretty cupcakes that you can use as an edible favour and place card in one. Choose any colour you like for the frosting – either tying in with the colour scheme of the wedding for a sophisticated feel, or in vibrant pastels for a fun, playful look. Intricate, laser-cut cupcake wrappers lend a beautiful finish. Makes 12.
Ingredients:
115 g unsalted butter, at room temperature
115 g caster sugar
2 eggs
115 g self-raising flour
To decorate
450 g ready-to-roll fondant icing
gooseberry green food colouring (or a colouring of your choice)
icing sugar, for dusting
2 tablespoons apricot jam, sieved
Equipment:
a 12-hole cupcake tin, lined with paper or metallic cases
a round cookie cutter the same size as your cupcake cases
a 5-cm heart cookie cutter
12 cocktail sticks topped with name tags
- Preheat the oven to 180ºC (350ºF) Gas 4.
- In a large mixing bowl, beat together the butter and sugar until pale and creamy, then beat in the eggs one at a time. Sift the flour over the mixture, then fold everything together until well incorporated.
- Spoon the cake mixture into the cake cases and bake in the preheated oven for about 18 minutes until risen and golden and the sponge bounces back when gently pressed with a fingertip. Transfer the cakes to a wire rack and set aside to cool completely.
- To decorate, slice the tops off any cakes that have domed up above the cupcake case. Tint 350 g of the fondant icing with the food colouring. Lightly dust a work surface with icing sugar and roll out the fondant to a thickness of 3 mm. Stamp out
- 12 circles with the round cookie cutter. Using a pastry brush, brush the tops of the cakes with jam and gently press an icing circle onto the top of each cake.
- Roll out the remaining (white) icing to about 5 mm thick, then stamp out 12 hearts with the cookie cutter. Dampen the bottom of each heart with a little water and stick one on the top of each cake, finishing with a cocktail stick name tag.
- Store the cupcakes in an airtight container until required. The cupcakes can be made a few days in advance, but it is best to leave the decorating until the day before the wedding.
- Jenny Darmody
Image Credit: All images taken from Perfect Wedding Favours by Susannah Blake, published by Ryland Peters & Small. Photography by Carolyn Barber. Easons, €14.50.