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Fairy Bread is Australia’s genius contribution to the party table, soft white bread spread with butter and buried edge to edge in rainbow nonpareils, and my version whips honey into the butter and stamps a sparkling red sugar heart in the middle, which made it the star of Lizzie’s last class party. If your crew loves a sprinkle moment, our funfetti cupcakes speak the same language.
Five minutes, no oven, and a whole lot of sprinkles is the entire recipe.
Fairy Bread Quick Look
- 🕒 Prep Time: 5 minutes
- 🌡️ Cook Time: 0 minutes
- ⏳ Total Time: 5 minutes
- 🍽️ Serving: 4 servings
- ⚡ Calories: 23kcal
- 🌶️ Flavor Profile: Soft sweet bread, whipped honey butter, and crunchy rainbow sprinkles
- ✋ Difficulty: Easy, the simplest treat we make, easier than our candied grapes
Quick Answer
Whip softened butter with honey and a pinch of salt until fluffy. Trim the crusts off soft white bread if you like, spread each slice with a thin layer of the honey butter, and cut diagonally into triangles. Press a heart cookie cutter lightly into the bread, fill the heart with red sugar sprinkles, then cover the rest of the bread with rainbow nonpareils. Lift the cutter and serve.
Jump to:
Why This Recipe Works
Click to see the technique science
- Fresh, soft bread is the base. Squishy white sandwich bread is traditional, its softness is half the charm of fairy bread.
- Whipped honey butter upgrades the classic. Whipping the butter with honey makes it light, spreadable, and just sweet enough to hold a serious sprinkle load.
- Nonpareils are non-negotiable. The tiny round hundreds-and-thousands stick beautifully to the butter and give that signature crunch, flat sprinkles slide off.
- The cookie cutter trick makes the heart. Pressing the cutter in lightly seals a zone, so the red sugar stays in a crisp heart shape while the nonpareils fill in around it.
- A pinch of salt balances it. It keeps the honey butter from tasting flat under all that sugar.
- Kids can make it themselves. No heat, no sharp tools, just spreading and sprinkling, it is the perfect first recipe.
Why You’ll Love This Recipe
- It takes 5 minutes flat and requires zero cooking.
- The whipped honey butter and red sugar heart elevate the Aussie classic.
- It is the ultimate kid-made party treat, right up there with our muddy buddy cookies.
Key Ingredients
Five simple ingredients and a cookie cutter make fairy bread magic.
- White bread: Soft, fresh sandwich bread is traditional. Trim the crusts for the classic party look.
- Butter: Softened unsalted butter whips up light and fluffy with the honey.
- Honey: A few teaspoons sweeten the butter and help the sprinkles stick.
- Rainbow nonpareils: Also called hundreds and thousands, the tiny round sprinkles that define fairy bread.
- Red sugar sprinkles: Sparkling sanding sugar fills the heart stamp for the cupid touch.
See recipe card for exact quantities.
Variations and Substitutions
Fairy bread loves a theme.
- Swap the heart cutter for stars, trees, or letters to match any party.
- Use pastel nonpareils for baby showers or spring, or team colors for game day.
- Spread the bread with Nutella or cookie butter instead of honey butter for a decadent version.
- Cut the finished bread into cubes and thread onto skewers for a party platter, fun next to our marshmallow cereal treats.
How to Make Fairy Bread
- Place the softened butter, honey, and salt in a medium bowl and whip with a hand mixer until light and combined.
- Take a slice of white bread and cut off the crusts if you prefer, then smear a thin, even layer of the honey butter across the whole slice.
- Cut the slice diagonally into two triangles. Press the heart cookie cutter lightly into the center of a triangle so it seals against the bread, then spoon about a quarter teaspoon of red sugar sprinkles inside the heart, tilting so they cover the shape.
- Carefully sprinkle the rainbow nonpareils over the rest of the buttered bread around the cutter, then lift the cutter straight up, serve, and enjoy.
Recipe Tips & Tricks
- Use properly softened butter. It whips fluffier and spreads without tearing the soft bread.
- Keep the butter layer thin and even. It is the glue, not the filling.
- Press the cutter in gently. You want a light seal, not a cut, so the triangle stays in one piece.
- Sprinkle over a rimmed tray to catch the runaway nonpareils, there will be runaways.
- Work one slice at a time so the butter does not dry out before the sprinkles go on.
- Serve the same day. Fairy bread is at its best fresh, when the bread is soft and the sprinkles still crunch.
Serving Ideas and Suggestions
Fairy bread is pure party food. Pile the triangles on a platter or cake stand and watch them vanish at birthday parties, class celebrations, and playdates.
For a Valentine’s spread, serve it with our candied grapes and a batch of confetti cake cookies.
It also makes a sweet after-school snack next to a cold glass of milk, faster than baking our chewy sugar cookies when the craving is urgent.
Fairy bread is best eaten within a few hours while the bread is soft and the sprinkles are crisp. If you need a short head start, cover the finished platter tightly with plastic wrap for up to 4 hours, refrigeration dries the bread out, so keep it at room temperature.
Fairy Bread FAQs
Fairy bread is a beloved Australian and New Zealand party treat, slices of soft white bread spread with butter and covered edge to edge in round rainbow sprinkles called nonpareils or hundreds and thousands, then cut into triangles. It has been a birthday party staple down under for generations.
Round nonpareils, called hundreds and thousands in Australia, are the classic and truly the best choice. They stick to the butter in a single colorful layer and give a signature crunch. Flat confetti sprinkles and jimmies slide off and do not give the same effect.
Always fresh, soft white sandwich bread, never toasted. The pillowy softness against the crunchy sprinkles is the whole point of fairy bread. The freshest, squishiest loaf you can find is the right loaf.
It is best made within a few hours of serving. The bread dries out and the sprinkles can bleed color into the butter if it sits too long. If needed, make it up to 4 hours ahead and cover the platter tightly with plastic wrap at room temperature.
The name likely comes from a Robert Louis Stevenson poem titled Fairy Bread from his collection A Child’s Garden of Verses. The whimsical name stuck to the sprinkle-covered party bread in Australia sometime in the 1920s and has been kids-party magic ever since.
Yes, always. Room temperature keeps the bread soft and the whipped honey butter creamy. Refrigerating it firms the butter and dries the bread, so assemble it fresh and leave it out until party time.
Made this Fairy Bread? I would love to hear how it turned out, leave a comment and a star rating below!
Fairy Bread
Ingredients
- White Bread crust cut off optional
- Nonpareils or hundreds and thousands
- Red Sugar sprinkles or any red sprinkle you prefer
Whipped Honey Butter:
- 1 stick unsalted butter softened
- 4 tsp good honey
- 1/8 tsp salt
Instructions
Whipped Honey Butter (you can of course skip this and use regular butter if you prefer):
- Place the butter, salt and honey in a medium sized bowl. Whip with hand mixer until combined.
Cupid Fairy Bread:
- Take a slice of white bread and cut off the crusts if you prefer.
- Smear a thin layer of honey butter on bread. Cut diagonally to form two triangles. Place small heart shaped cookie cutter on to the bread where you would like the heart to go. Press down just slightly so there is a seal and no sprinkles will escape. I got about 1/4 tsp of the red sugar sprinkles in the measuring spoon and placed them into the middle of the cookie cutter. You can use a skewer or tilt the plate so the sprinkles cover the heart shape.
- Next, take the nonpareils and carefully, not to get any in the cookie cutter, sprinkle the rest of the bread. Remove the cookie cutter, serve and enjoy!
Nutrition
Love This Recipe?
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All so pretty and sweet.
I love this bread! Too cute! Thank you for sharing on Show Me Saturday!
I used to love cinnamon and sugar toast, and this looks so sweet and special 🙂
Dana you make the best treats!!! Thank you for sharing at the Thursday Favorite Things blog hop. xo
Sprinkles on bread? That really does sound foreign, but it’s so cute! I think my kids would eat this every day.
Yay! These look so yummy and fun I can’t wait to serve them to my girls! I love your recipes! Pinned!
What kid wouldn’t love this for Valentine’s Day? This is such a neat idea! I would love if you linked this up to my Crafty Chaos Tuesday Party. Thanks for sharing!!
Such a cute recipe! Perfect for Valentine’s day!
My kids will be all over this pretty bread! Cute idea for a colorful treat.
Awww, these are too cute!