How to make friends and bake fabulous Fairy Cakes

The good thing about blogging (and twitter, not to mention Mumsnet) is that you can ask any question and you generally receive an answer. Whether you are looking for relationship advice, ideas for a birthday party, wondering where to apply for a passport or recipe advice, there is generally someone somewhere willing to help.

Added to that, I have met so many people online who I am truly blessed to count as my friends. Whether the friendship stays online, or we manage to meet up in Real Life, these are people I can count on to help when times are tough or I need a new recipe.

Cooking was always more of my thing than baking but since moving to Switzerland I have slowly started to attempt more and more cake and biscuit recipes, not to mention the bread baking that I have been doing.

Recently I asked my friend Kitschnbake for assistance on baking fairy cakes – or cup cakes as my American friends called them, sniggering a bit at me offering a “fairy cake”.

As always, Kitschnbake did not let me down and gave me some help (and online baking assistance when the cakes turned out different to her instructions – our very own Online Baking Webchat).

We invited friends for a WC2010 Football party and I made Hummingbird Cakes – a delicious concoction that used pinapple and banana which I was a bit unsure of but tasted divine. A close rival on the Divine Bakery scales were the Sticky Toffee and Lime with Salted Caramel Icing.

I love caramel and salt, it is such a wonderful combination. There is an ice cream shop in a town not to far from us that sells Caramel Fleur de Sel ice cream. Which reminds me now of a joke that a friend told recently, that I have adapted to suit my homeland.

What is the difference between Glasgow and Edinburgh? When it snows in Glasgow the local council spread grit on the roads while in Edinburgh they scatter Fleur de Sel.