Starry Toffee Cake Squares

Name: Starry Toffee Cake Squares
Prep time: 1 h 30 min
Total time: 1 h 30 min
Yield: Makes 24 squares
Cuisine: british
Ingredients: 200g butter plus extra for greasing; 200g golden syrup; 300g self-raising flour; 200g light muscovado sugar; 3 medium eggs; 2 tbsp milk; 4 tbsp icing sugar; half a pack yellow marzipan; red and green food colouring

4.75 (17)

⏱ 90 mins 🍽 Makes 24 squares 🌶 british ✅ Easy 🏷 Snack

These delightful British snack squares are a wonderful treat to make with children. A golden syrup and muscovado sponge is baked, cooled, and cut into strips before being decorated with homemade coloured marzipan stars. The process involves simple steps like melting butter and syrup, mixing the batter, and creative stamping with cutters. It yields 24 charming squares ideal for parties or gifts.

Ingredients

200g butter plus extra for greasing
200g golden syrup
300g self-raising flour
200g light muscovado sugar
3 medium eggs
2 tbsp milk
4 tbsp icing sugar
half a pack yellow marzipan
red and green food colouring

Method

Set your oven to fan 140C, conventional 160C, or gas 3. Take a Swiss roll tin roughly 32cm x 23cm x 2cm and grease its sides with butter. Trace the tin's base onto a sheet of baking parchment, cut it out, and press the paper into the tin.
Combine the butter and golden syrup in a small saucepan. Warm it gently until the butter melts fully, then stir to mix. Take it off the heat and allow it to cool for about 15 minutes.
Place the self-raising flour and 1 tsp salt into a large bowl. Mix in the light muscovado sugar with a spoon. Beat in the cooled syrup and butter mixture. Crack the eggs into a jug, add the milk and beat with a fork. Pour this into the bowl and stir until you have a smooth batter.
Transfer the mixture to the prepared tin and tap it on the worktop to level it. Place the tin on a larger baking sheet. Bake for 40-50 minutes until the cake is risen and firm in the middle. An adult should check it is ready by pressing it. it should feel firm and springy.
Have an adult take the tin from the oven. Let it cool for 10 minutes. Use a knife to trim any overhanging cake and run it around the tin's edges. Tip the cake onto a wire rack and leave for 2 hours or until completely cold. Slide the cake onto a board, trim the edges to form a 30cm x 20cm rectangle, and cut it lengthways into 5cm wide strips.
In a cup, mix half the icing sugar with a drop of warm water to create a thick paste using a teaspoon. Set this aside. Sift a little icing sugar on your worktop and split the marzipan into three pieces. Roll each into a ball. Make a thumb dent in one ball, add a few drops of red food colouring with a cocktail stick, and knead until the colour is even. Repeat with a second ball and green colouring. Leave the third ball plain. You can wear kitchen gloves to avoid staining your hands.
Dust more icing sugar on the worktop and roll out each marzipan ball to the thickness of a £1 coin. Use a small star cutter to stamp out eight stars from each colour. Place a dab of the icing paste on each star and stick six stars along every cake strip. Cut between the stars to create 24 individual squares.
Sprinkle the remaining icing sugar over the tops of the cakes. You can arrange them on paper plates covered with cling film or place them in pretty boxes.

Nutrition (per serving)

Calories217 kcal

Fat9 g

Saturates5 g

Carbs34 g

Sugars22 g

Fibre1 g

Protein3 g

Sodium148 mg

Recipe details

Skill levelEasy

CategorySnack

Cuisinebritish