For nearly a century, children in Australia and New Zealand have been delighted by fairy bread. But why has sugar on white bread with fat maintained its hold, and what’s the correct way to make it?
The pale yellow spread is spread thickly on the improbably white bread. Then – slap! It flips on to a plate and a shallow sea of hundreds of thousands which tinkle gently when disturbed. A firm press on its back before it returns once more to the chopping board, now a rounded square of confetti-coloured sprinkles boarded by a creamy whiteness and deep tan outline. It is then cut, correctly, into triangles. The fairy bread is done.
While party food has evolved and ebbed with time and trends, fairy bread has remained a constant in Australia over the decades. As children’s parties have eschewed soft drinks for kids in favour of craft beer for adults, as French onion dip and Jatz have given way to hummus and lavosh, and birthday cakes have morphed from accidentally kitsch buttercream and licorice strap masterpieces to tiered nude towers crowned by edible flowers, fairy bread has remained.
