Name: Lemon Fondant Fancies
Prep time: 120 min
Cook time: 12 min
Total time: 132 min
Ingredients: 115 g baking margarine; 115 g white caster sugar (superfine sugar); 2 medium free range eggs (beaten); 115 g plain white flour (all purpose flour); ½ tsp baking powder; ½ tsp lemon extract; 115 g unsalted butter (softened); 200 g icing sugar (powdered sugar); 454 g marzipan; 600 g white sugar paste; ½ tsp lemon extract ((see notes)); Yellow gel food colouring; Mini flower icing decorations

Jump to Recipe

These lemon fondant fancies are dainty, sweet and delicious little sponge cakes with a wonderful zing of lemon.

A number of lemon fondant fancies on a marble board.

They consist of a small cube of delicate vanilla sponge, sandwiched with vanilla buttercream, wrapped in marzipan, topped with that distinctive buttercream hat and light iced in a yellow hue to complete the look.

If you've ever considered trying to make your own fondant fancies, but have been put off by how fiddly it looks, I promise you this recipe is the one to try.

Fondant fancies are, undeniably, quite a few stages involved in making them, but each stage itself is actually rather easy, so with a bit of patience and a lot of fun, you'll have a beautiful, delicious result.

A sliced open lemon fondant fancie on a marble board.

Despite common being known as "French fancies", it turns out that fondant fancies are actually a British invention! They were first created by British baking company, Mr Kipling and launched in the 1960s.

Mr. Kipling marketed them as French fancies, probably because tiny desserts like this are known in French patisserie as petit four, or glacé petit four when referring specifically to tiny iced cakes like these.

Whatever you call them, they're certainly delicious! Why does everything taste better in miniature??

Back in 2015, I teamed up with Dr. Oetker and the gorgeous Stacey Solomon to create a host of tips, videos and step-by-step guides to help you become an even better baker.

You can watch Stacey and I make lemon fondant fancies below. Our version that day included a rose flavoured layer and sugared rose petals, so you can pick up some extra tips too!

Here's the recipe for lemon fondant fancies. And if you love zingy lemon flavoured desserts, be sure to check out my incredible lemon drizzle cake next.

Ingredients

For the sponge

115 g (1 stick) baking margarine
115 g (⅔ cups) white caster sugar (superfine sugar)
2 medium free range eggs beaten
115 g (⅔ cup + 2 tbsp) plain white flour (all purpose flour)
½ tsp baking powder
½ tsp lemon extract

For the buttercream

115 g (1 stick) unsalted butter softened
200 g (1½ cup + 1 tbsp) icing sugar (powdered sugar)

For the icing

454 g (1 lb) marzipan
600 g (22 oz) white sugar paste
½ tsp lemon extract (see notes)
Yellow gel food colouring

To finish

Mini flower icing decorations

Equipment

Instructions

Make the sponges

Preheat the oven to 190C (170C fan, 375F).

Grease and line two 18cm (7inch) square cake tins.

Overhead shot of two deep lined square baking tins.

Put the margarine with the sugar in a large mixing bowl.

Whisk until pale and light in texture.

Whisking the butter and sugar until pale.

Gradually whisk in the eggs, one by one.

Stir in the lemon extract.

Sugar, butter and eggs having been whisked in a mixing bowl.

Sift in the flour and baking powder.

Sifting flour and baking powder into the mixing bowl.

Fold together.

Spoon the batter into the prepared tins, sharing equally between them and level off.

Overhead shot of the two square tins with equal amounts of batter in each.

Bake for 10-12 minutes until risen and firm to the touch.

Overhead shot of the baking tins having been in the oven for 10 to 12 minutes.

Turn on to a wire rack to cool completely.

Two square sponges cooling on a wire rack.

Make the buttercream

Put the softened butter in a mixing bowl.

Whisk until creamy and pale.

Whisking the butter until creamy and pale.

Sieve in the icing sugar.

Sieving the icing sugar into the mixing bowl.

Whisk, starting slow and speeding up until you have a smooth, spreadable icing

Whisking the ingredients in the mixing bowl together.

Assemble the sponges

Trim the tops of your sponge as sparingly as possible to remove the crust.

Two square sponge cakes on a marble board.

Spread a thin layer of buttercream onto one sponge.

Spreading a thin layer of butter cream onto the sponge.

Now place the other on top to form a neat sandwich.

Adding the second sponge ontop of the first sponge which has been covered in buttercream.

Trim the edges to give a sharp square. You can use a ruler to help you do this accurately.

Trimming the edges of the sponge to ensure a neat square.

Now cut into 16 neat squares in a 4 x 4 pattern. Again, use a ruler to help you do this accurately.

Cutting the sponge into 16 neat squares in a 4 x 4 pattern.

Cover your sponges with marzipan

Set aside 150g (5oz) of marzipan - you'll use this for the tops later.

First, you're going to make strips to go around your cakes.

Measure the height of your cake squares - this is how wide your strips need to be.

Now measure all the way around the outside of a square - this is how long your strips need to be plus a centimetre or two (half an inch) to allow for variation.

Split your marzipan in half and work with one piece at a time. You need to roll it out thinly enough to give 8 strips from each piece.

When you've rolled out and cut both halves of marzipan, you should have 16 strips in all.

Spread a marzipan strip with a thin layer of buttercream.

Covering the marzipan strips in a thin layer of buttercream.

Place a square of cake on its side aligned with one end of the strip.

Placing a square of cake on the edge of the marzipan.

Now carefully roll up so that the strip wraps around the outside of a cake. Trim off any excess at the end with a sharp knife.

Carefully rolling up the square sponge around the remainder of the marzipan.

Overhead shot of the finished marzipan rolled.

Repeat for all 16 cakes.

16 finished squares with marzipan rolled around the edges.

Now spread the exposed top of each cake with a thin layer of buttercream.

Spreading buttercream to the tops of the cake sqauares and covering in the remaining marzipan.

Roll out the reserved marzipan thinly and cut out 16 squares to cover the tops of the cakes.

16 finished marizpan covered cake squares.

Use your fingers to gently smooth the marzipan all over to ensure a neat finish and no gaps or open seams.

Add the buttercream topping

Transfer all of the remaining buttercream into a piping bag.

Snip off about 1cm (1/2 inch) from the end of the bag and pipe a neat blob on top of each cake.

Adding the buttercream topping to each of the lemon fondant fancies.

Place your cakes, well spaced, on a wire rack over a tray.

Placing the fondant fancies on a wire rack to cool.

Put the tray in the fridge to chill for 30 minutes to firm up. Don’t skip this step as it’s necessary to get a good end result.

Ice your fondant fancies

Put the chopped white icing in a saucepan and add 45ml (3 tbsp) water.

Heat very gently, stirring occasionally, until melted together. Add up to 15ml (1 tbsp) more, if needed.

Bowl of icing having been heated gently and stirred occationally until melted together.

Remove from the heat and add the lemon extract and a few drops of yellow food colouring.

Stir until you have an even colour, adding more colouring if necessary. I like to make my icing as similar to the marzipan shade as possible so that any imperfect patches would be unlikely to show later.

Whisking the lemon food colouring into the icing.

Remove your cakes from the fridge and spoon the liquid fondant over the cakes to coat the top and sides.

Note! The cold cakes will cause the icing to set quickly, making it tricky to patch, so I find it better to concentrate on getting one cake neat and then moving onto the next, rather than pouring the whole lot of icing all at once and then having to rush to neaten them.

You can use a palette knife to quickly cover any bare areas. If the icing sets in the pan, you can place it back on the hob to gently re-melt.Fix a mini icing flower to the top of each cake.

Drizzling the icing over the top of the lemon fondant fancies on a wire rack.

To serve, carefully trim the icing drips from the bases of the cake and place on a serving plate.

Finished fondant fancies with flour decorations ontop served on a white marble board.

Aren't they pretty?

Sliced open lemon fondant fancies served on a white marble board.

I hope you enjoy the fruits of your labour. I'd love to see pictures of your lemon fondant fancies!

Print this recipe for lemon fondant fancies

Print Recipe

5 from 2 votes

Lemon Fondant Fancies

These lemon fondant fancies are dainty, sweet and delicious little sponge cakes with a wonderful zing of lemon.

Prep Time2

Cook Time12

Total Time2 12

Course: Desserts and sweet treats

Cuisine: British

Diet: Vegetarian

Servings: 16 fondant fancies

Author: Emily Leary & Dr. Oetker