I grew up eating Fairy Bread at birthday parties, and to me it’s as normal and as Aussie as Vegemite (that weird, salty and yeasty spread we adore). However, not so long ago, the rest of the world found out about Fairy Bread and they lost their minds. You can read about it here. For my lovely international readers, Fairy Bread is white bread spread liberally with butter, dipped in Hundreds and Thousands (sprinkles) and cut into triangles. Please don’t bother using your fancy sourdough bread for this – cheap and nasty supermarket bread works best.
If you’re thinking it sounds gross… well, to be honest I don’t blame you. Just re-reading that prior explanation makes me question our children’s health choices here in Australia. But one important thing to remember is that Fairy Bread is NOT a daily breakfast food, this is strictly birthday party-fare and an occasional treat!
I love recreating nostalgic Aussie desserts and previous treats have included my Layered Lamington Cake and Chocolate Crackle Cookie Sandwiches. Today I bring you another beautiful Australian mashup – Fairy Bread Meringues! I have combined our beloved Pavlova (which may or may not be a New Zealand creation.. either way we’re claiming it!) and have given it a colourful twist with lots and lots of sprinkles.
I was making these pavlovas on a super hot, humid day, which is meringue’s worst enemy. Faced with the prospect of sticky, collapsed pavlovas, I did what any self-respecting baker would do. I cheated! I bought these Mini Pavlova Bases from the supermarket and it saved me a lot of fussing around with egg whites and ovens. By all means, please make your own meringues using this recipe!
My next challenge was trying to find something sticky to get the sprinkles to adhere too. After a bit of Googling “edible glue” I realised the easiest option was the tastiest – melted white chocolate! I gently spread the sides of each pavlova base with the chocolate, rolled them in the sprinkles and transferred them to a lined baking tray to set.
For the topping I wanted a buttercream, to echo the butter used in the original fairy bread. However I thought it might be too sweet when combined with the white chocolate, sprinkles and meringue, so I did a mix of half butter, half cream cheese. This gave it a slightly salty, slightly tangy result which contrasted perfectly with the sweet meringue base.
Ingredients
Meringue bases
- 1 packet 9 Mini Pavlova Bases
- 150 g white chocolate melted
- 1/4 cup Hundreds and Thousands aka sprinkles
Buttercream/cream cheese topping
- 125 g cream cheese at room temp
- 125 g butter softened
- 1 cup icing sugar
- Pinch of salt
- ½ tsp vanilla
Instructions
Meringue bases
- Melt white chocolate in a small bowl in the microwave in short bursts on medium until melted and smooth.
- Coat the sides of each pavlova base with melted white chocolate, I used a teaspoon to help spread it evenly.
- Pour the hundreds and thousands onto a plate, then roll the pavlovas until evenly covered in sprinkles.
- Allow the white chocolate and sprinkles to set on a lined baking tray.
Buttercream/cream cheese topping
- Cream the butter and icing sugar together until well mixed.
- Add the cream cheese in cubes slowly until incorporated.
- Add in salt and vanilla. Continue mixing for 5 minutes until the icing is light and fluffy.
- Add in a few drops of food colouring to tint the buttercream.
- Transfer mixture to a piping bag with star nozzle attached and pipe dollops on top of the meringue bases.
- Finish off with a final sprinkle of hundreds and thousands!
I hope you love this simple and tasty Aussie dessert idea as much as I do. This is a super fun recipe to get the kids involved in but I warn you – you’ll be finding hundreds and thousands everywhere!
4 Comments
These are super cute! A kids party wasn’t a proper party without fairy bread. I remember a friend had served fairy bread on multi grain bread and was teased relentlessly for such a travesty haha. These would look gorgeous at any party – kid or adult!
Omg you canNOT make fairy bread on multigrain, haha I am sure they never lived that down!!
What a blast from the past! You have reinvented the humble fairy-bread into something magical. Definitely need to try. The photography is amazing! The colours definitely pop! Thanks for sharing
Thanks so much for your kind words! It sure is a blast from the past :)