It was Rosie's 6th birthday this weekend and her Mum asked me to bake cupcakes for her party.  These were my offerings - cookie monsters, rainbows and some pretty meringues (these were an experiment to see whether sugar sprinkles on the meringue kept their colour whilst baking and it worked - am sure I will be able to use this idea in a book at some point!)  Happy Birthday Rosie xxx

 I do hope that you all had a lovely Jubilee weekend.  It has been a non-stop celebration in our village, finishing with a firework display last night.  Despite the rain the whole village turned out for our historical parade, complete with vintage tractors and land girls, Queen Victoria and our current Queen on horseback!  It was a great site to see.  The Gingerbread Buckingham palace was won in the raffle and I also made this Jubilee cake which raised £100!   It was a new recipe that I made especially for the jubilee with lots of coconut, coconut rum, cinnamon and cherries and was topped with a crown candle. Sunday saw me making canapés for about 100 people which was a lot of work but definitely worth it as everyone loved the concert and stayed for a long while afterwards to enjoy the food and Pimms.    Even baby Hunter got into the spirit of the Jubilee all the way over in New York with her Emma Bridgewater mug!  She is such a cutie pie!

It is only a few weeks now until my new doughnut book goes on sale.  I haven't seen my advance copy yet but from the proof pages I know I am going to love it!  The doughnuts on the cover are black forest, tangy lemon, coconut ice and triple chocolate - I could definitely eat a few of these now!  Thank you lovely Ryland, Peters and Small peeps for, as always, making such a pretty book xxx

 A few days ago I had meetings in London and managed to take these snap shots of the jubilee bunting from my cab window!  How lovely - it makes me so proud to be British

The Jubilee weekend is finally here and I have put up my bunting.  Most houses in the village are decorated now and it is looking very patriotic.  I am busy planning my canape menu for the concert on Sunday - mini yorkshires with roast beef, tomato and white bean tarts, smoked salmon pate, quails eggs with sumac - yum yum!  Yesterday my palace made a little appearance in the Times as part of their cake competition.  They described it as an "immense buckingham palace made of gingerbread, complete with waving monach and electric lighting" - how lovely is that!  I am looking forward to putting it on display over the weekend for everyone to see and eat!!  Hope you all have lots of fun this weekend!