Faerie cakes for ACOTAR
The book: A court of thorns and roses (ACOTAR) by Sarah J. Maas
Genre: Fantasty
Published: 2015
The bake: Chocolate and caramel faerie cupcakes
What’s the story?
This is something completely different from what I usually read. I noticed my au pair reading the book (while the baby was napping!) and the interesting cover intrigued me. I do like fantasy, but more classic fantasy like Lord of the Rings and The Chronicles of Narnia. This book is basically a “faerie tale”, not to be confused with a “fairytale” with Tinkerbell-like characters. The faeries of ACOTAR (a common hashtag for the book and the books that follow) are about as far from Tinkerbell as you can get. The story is inspired by Beauty and the Beast, but creatively retold and also woven through with other influences like ancient Anglo-Saxon ballads.
The main character is 19-year old Feyre. She is a young human woman hunting in the forest to try to provide for her father and two older sisters. One day she kills a massive wolf, who is later revealed to have been a faerie. He crossed the magical wall separating the human world from the faerie realm. That night a beast comes to the cottage Feyre shares with her family and demands she join him in Prythian (the faerie realm) to atone for the faerie’s death.
Feyre goes willingly and soon discovers the beast is none other than Tamlin, the High Lord of the Spring Court in Prythian. There are seven Courts ruled by faerie High Lords – Spring, Summer, Winter, Autumn, Day, Dawn and Night. Feyre gets to know Tamlin and his world, and soon fear and hate turn into something else. But there is more to Prythian than meets the eye. An evil force has a hold on the land and its inhabitants. Soon it will cause Feyre and Tamlin’s lives to spiral out of control. Feyre will have to fight for what (and who) she loves, and it might ask her to sacrifice everything. In the process, she will meet Fae who will change her destiny forever.
Why read it?
ACOTAR was initially aimed at young adults, but it had to be rebranded due to fairly graphic sex scenes. I was quite shocked by these and I must say I’m not the biggest fan of things like this. BUT: the story is engrossing and pulls you right into the world of the novel. I’ll admit I couldn’t put it down. I’ve always loved a good love story and I enjoyed Maas’s descriptions of both character and place. The characters are multi-layered and the plot has some interesting and unexpected twists.
This is the first in a series, and I did something I’ve never done before – I binge-read all five novels in succession! Usually, if I’m busy with a series, I read other books in between. This time, I slurped them up without pausing! ACOTAR ends with a lot of plot points dangling in the wind. And I had to find out what happens next. I think the next book, A Court of Mist and Fury, is my favorite. And the best news: there’s a TV series in the pipeline – I can’t wait for that…
In the meantime, check out Pinterest for some fan art of the characters. I love how creative people can be! The Fae are beautiful and immortal – who wouldn’t want to be? So if it’s escapism you are after, and you don’t mind a bit of faerie hanky panky, ACOTAR is for you!
Pair it with: Chocolate and caramel faerie cakes
This is a bit of a tongue-in-cheek pairing as ACOTAR really isn’t light and fluffy, like these cupcakes are. However, the book is certainly filled with sweet romance, but with a very adult centre. That is why I decided to up the ante with these cupcakes and sprinkle them with a gorgeous, creamy liqueur. If you can find Amarula, it works so well with the chocolate and caramel. Baileys Irish Cream will also do the trick. Caramel is one of my favorite sweet treats. I think the swirl of decadent caramel really takes these cupcakes to another dimension.
I cut out the tops to fill the cupcakes, but also to create little ‘wings’ on top as a further nod to the ‘faeries’. Of course, not all faeries have wings, in subsequent books we will meet more winged faeries like the Illyrians and the Seraphim. Flying and the use of wings will become more important. However, it think these cupcakes are the perfect pairing with ACOTAR, and I can think of nothing better than curling up with one of Maas’s books and one (or two) of these treats!
I adapted the cupcakes from a recipe by Christine Capendale in her book Bak vir Pret & Profyt.
Faerie cakes with chocolate and caramel
8
servings15
minutes20
minutesIngredients
500 ml cake flour
50 ml cocoa powder
2 ml salt
20 ml baking powder
120 ml brown sugar
80 g chocolate of your choice, chopped (I used a milk chocolate slab)
2 eggs
270 ml evaporated milk
125 g melted butter
- To finish:
1 can Caramel Treat
about 50 ml Amarula Cream Liqueur (or Baileys Irish Cream liqueur)
candy balls or other sprinkles to decorate
Directions
- Preheat the oven to 180 °C and line a muffin tin with 12 muffin cases.
- Mix the flour, cocoa powder, salt and baking powder in a large mixing bowl. Stir in the sugar and chopped chocolate.
- Whisk the eggs, evaporated milk and melted butter together. Add the wet ingredients to the flour mixture and mix until just combined (don’t over mix).
- Spoon into the prepared muffin cases (fill them up quite a bit) and bake 20 minutes until done.
- Allow the cupcakes to cool completely on a wire rack. When cool, use a sharp knife to cut a round section out of the top of each cupcake to create a cavity. Keep the top of the cupcakes to one side. Sprinkle a bit of the liqueur into the space and pipe in some caramel. Carefully cut the tops of the cupcake into two pieces which should resemble ‘wings’. Place on top of the caramel at angles to create the look of fairy cakes. Decorate further if you want to. Serve immediately or keep in the fridge for up to two days.
