Birthday Cupcakes, La Hogue Farm Cafe and other treats!

This weekend was my birthday, well Saturday was but I made a weekend of it, I think that is the rule if your birthday is on a Saturday.

There was a LOT of cake.

First of all hubby really out did himself and made these fabulous chocolate cupcakes from the Hummingbird Bakery book, he added his own twist of a raspberry filling and a chocolate cream cheese icing. They are seriously good, so chocolatey! There is ONE left and it is all mine....

We went for a lovely lunch a the Old Fire Engine house in Ely on Saturday, I didn't grab any pictures (except for the bread basket which isn't that interesting!) but it was a really quirky place to go for lunch, the puddings are great!

Due to the wonder that is Twitter the lovely La Hogue farm shop offered me free tea and cake on account of it being my birthday, yay! So we stopped off there for some shopping in the farm shop and then for a slice of (more) cake in the farm shop cafe and a cup of tea (look at the cute milk jug!). The new farm shop cafe is lovely, with proper tables for lunch and cosy sofas for a relaxing cuppa. We are going to stop by for lunch some day. The cakes are beautiful too, the ginger cake we had was very fresh and obviously homemade. Yum!

I also received a lot of foodie presents, including a very large box of marshmallows from Sweet Treats Bakery.

There is stilll MORE cake to come, I have bought some in today to give to my colleagues, for the odd tradition of bring in cakes when it is your birthday. I will be blogging those later on this week.

my favourite shops - christmas gift guide

I spend a lot of time on Etsy, and I have to say probably a lot of money too. It is hard being a seller because you find yourself amongst all this loveliness all the time! I have lots of handmade things so I thought I would share with you some of my favourite sellers, just in time for Christmas!

Moo Cow Hand Knits

not only is moo awesome but she also knits the best! I have one of her oatmeal drop stitch scarves, a beautiful purple swing top , rose corsages and a cuddly cowl neck jumper. She also handknitted a beaded purple wrap for my wedding, and I have just ordered some pumpkin coloured armwarmers too! I have more moo things than I thought I did!

ffflowers
Fabulous fabric flowers!

A cute little orange spice flower adorns my windowsill in the living room and some ffflowers nearly always find their way amongst my christmas shopping. I have a tendency to kill every plant that I own, I have so far only kept one alive for about 3 years, with about a dozen being killed in that time, so I much prefer these because they always look fresh and nice. Helen also makes little brooches, ooh and hairpins.

Sweet Treats Bakery

Yummmmyyyy!
The yummiest foodie shop on Etsy. I have some smoked salted caramels winging their way to me right now, they aren't for a gift, I'm keeping them! I have bought their marshmallows before and they are to die for, the lemon meringue in particular. Go stock up on sweet things, I want to dunk my head in their caramel sauce.

Ink Me Up

Beautiful hand drawings turned into prints, lavendar bags and totes. I have a litle chicky drawing, a wren print and an avocet print, all beautiful! These are really well received gifts for bird lovers and the new kitties, chickens and foxes are cute!

Asking for Trouble

Pure cute! I have bought notebooks as gifts before and the little book marks, and cards. I love the Jammy Dodger mug!

Quercus Silver

I couldn't not include Su, she made my wedding ring! I really ought to buy some more of her jewellery, I love the juicy colours and also the simple silver work. I have my eye on some of her gold work too.

I hope you've found something lovely here and will shop handmade this Christmas, I am! :)