It is such a luxury (not in price, but opportunity) to bake with fresh-laid, local and personalised eggs. Thank you Fluffy, Bobby ..


The average cupcake is a disappointing morsel; with a dry crumb and unappealing blandness they are rarely edible except for the sweet icing (what do i know? .. i can't even eat them, but my nose tells me they are only worth eating when very, very fresh and even then they are just a bland mouthful of flour and air).

My preferred version is one i found from Mary Berry, an old-fashioned cake queen (in the nicest possible sense). I bought one of her cake books for 10p when my little one was first born and we were living out of suitcases for a few months, and had no vast cook book selection to trawl through. It was a bargain, full of classic baking gems from my childhood.

Her recipe for Queen Cakes uses an extra egg, which makes all the difference - richer-tasting, and they last better. Time to bake the day before and ice for a party the next day, still moist and fresh.

100g soft butter (or margarine)
100g caster sugar (use vanilla sugar if you have it - makes a world of difference)
100g self-raising flour
2 large eggs
1 teaspoon of baking powder

Beat all the ingredients together vigorously.

Divide into 12 paper cases (in a bun tin) and bake for 15 minutes at 200ºC until puffed and golden. Lift out and cool on a wire rack.




While i will often use margarine in the cakes, butter icing deserves the real thing:

175g soft butter
350g icing sugar

Blitz in a food processor, adding a few drops of hot water to get an easy piping consistency. Spoon into a plastic food bag and snip a tiny piece out of one corner to squeeze out relaxed ribbons of sweetness.

A touch of Leaf Green colouring and a few drops of peppermint essence,

with milk chocolate buttons for cool contrast.

Marigold colouring and sugared gems for bright sunflower cakes.