Life, Loss and Cake

Hello friends,

What a week. One that will be permanently etched onto the page books of history, and we are here to witness it all. What a privilege. The death of  Queen Elizabeth II after a monumentous  seven decades on the throne. Most of us wouldn’t have ever known a time when our dear Elizabeth wasn’t reigning. Personally, I can’t comprehend a world without her and it will take some time to fully comprehend such a loss.

 I daresay we will all remember exactly where we were and what we were doing when we heard the sad news this week.  As for me, I turned on my phone to see a few messages from my family and friends announcing the Queen’s death. Racing to the tv while calling my Queen loving mother, I could hardly believe what I was seeing. A matter of hours after she shook hands with the incoming British Prime minister, she was gone. Faithful in her duty, right to the end, and all with that beautiful cheeky grin beaming on her face.

What a woman.

I have always adored Her Majesty. She seemed so timeless. No matter how old she got, it was as if she would keep on living forever, watching over her people. It’s hard to believe her long race is over.

The night before our Queen died, I had a dream about her. I hadn’t seen any news, and was unaware she was ill. During the night I dreamed that dearest Queen Lillibet was lying in her bed. Her lady in waiting was tenderly stroking the curls on the side of her head and spoke these words;

“It is time for you to rest now.”

I woke thinking nothing of it, but within minutes realised just how profound, some may even say prophetic, my dream was. It is a memory I will always treasure. 

As I am typing this, I am staying up late to watch the Queen’s final procession to Westminster Hall. Thankfully my family are all in bed and I have this time alone to soak in the significance of the event with a hot cup of tea. The pomp and splendour appeals to my love of the dramatic and is such a worthy fit for our Queen.

I could talk about my Queen for hours, but I had better move on.

You may have noticed on Instagram that I joined our local market last week. It was a bit of a process applying for the popular market and the best you can usually get is on a waiting list. After chatting to the market manager, I was able to persuade him that my delicious cupcakes would be an asset to the market and was delighted when he eventually agreed.  I got the final nod late Wednesday evening, giving me three days to bake my little heart out and prepare for the market stall. 

I was delighted with my set up on the day. I had made cute pink gingham curtains for the sides of the marquee, hitched up by vintage aprons, which also served as a bunting around the marquee walls. My precious 1960’s Danish glove /cupcake counter took centre stage which drew a lot of nice compliments. Behind the counter I had the cutest custom made banner hanging proudly. It’s design is the same as my blog header and all throughout the morning I kept looking at it, smiling, feeling so pleased to see such a long held dream finally become a reality. 

The morning went well. Sales were slow and steady and the heat proved a bit of a hassle, melting some cupcakes, but overall I felt pretty chuffed with the whole day. I’d love you to pop over to Instagram and check out my cutie patootie market stall. 

One of the cupcake flavours I made for the market stall was ‘Strawberry Delight’. A light vanilla cupcake with homemade roasted strawberry compote centre, topped with all natural freeze dried strawberry powder Swiss meringue buttercream. It was so delicious that I simply must share the recipe with you. I am hoping to make another batch over the Weekend to photograph (such a hardshipI know), so I can bring the recipe to you next week. With strawberries being so cheap at the moment it’s the perfect time to indulge in some berry goodness. 

These photos I’m using this week are from a delightfully creative day I spent with the lovely Mandy from  White Cottage Flower Farm  in Tenterfield. We spent a half a day together photographing my cake and cupcakes amongst her stunning vintage antique collection. It was pretty much Mama Bear heaven. Who says cake can’t be art?

I read somewhere this week that the Queen has eaten a strawberry jam sandwich every day for afternoon tea since she was five years old. That’s impressive. In her honour, I have decided to eat my own homemade pineapple jam on toast each day for the next couple of weeks with my morning cup of tea just to feel that kindred spirit connection with my Queen. I think it’s adorable how she would do something so delightful in it’s simplicity, that obviously gave her a few moments pleasure.

So let’s hear it for jam sandwiches, cups of tea and gosh, I bet she may have even enjoyed a cupcake or two in her time as well.

We love you Lillibet.

Until next week,

Love Anna xx