Victoria sponge for Sandra

Instead of the usual batch of birthday cupcakes,
I decided to make a Victoria sponge for Sandra.

I used a Mary Berry recipe and filled it with vanilla buttercream and
strawberry jam, before dousing it with icing sugar.

It weighed about a ton, and had to be carefully airlifted into a tin
using folded sheets of baking paper.

Sandra delicately hacked into it without taking it out of the tin.

Here's Ruth M-J tucking into a slice.

And here's Sandra taking a trademark small bite.

Flu cakes™ for Sandra

It was Sandra's birthday last week but unfortunately she
was off sick with flu...

As she is one of Alice the baker's most valued customers
I knew I couldn't get away with not making something.

So I made her favourite - lemon - but with a *hilarious* twist...
Edible rice paper crumpled up to look like used tissues.

I stopped short of adding a snot substitute
and was duly reprimanded by my highbrow colleagues.

Here is Sandra showcasing the attractive tupperware
box I transported the flu cakes™ in...

And here she is, delicately sampling a flu cake™.

I think she ate approximately five that day,
the highlight being the one she stuffed whole as she left the office.

Sandra's 50 lemon cupcakes

So my boss Sandra recently commissioned me to make
50 cupcakes for her 50th birthday!

She's a big fan of my vanilla sponge with lemon buttercream cupcakes.

Because I piped the icing I had to make more than usual and
managed to get through 1.5kg of icing sugar.

But I used half-fat creme fraiche, so that evened things out.

It being a big birthday, I thought edible gold

glitter and stars were in order... which fitted in
well with the general children's party atmosphere.

I think Sandra ate her way through one box of cakes,
while the rest of the office devoured the other...

...pretty quickly.

Best of all, Sandra gamely posed with a lovely pair of cupcakes.

Big thanks to Catrin Cullen for the photos.