Happy birthday to me! That’s right it was my birthday on Saturday and I turned the grand OLD age of 28. Turns out 28 isn’t so bad, it’s a lot like 27, surprisingly. I’ve had a lovely weekend of friends, family, food and presents.

One of my favourite presents is a personalised Emma Bridgewater mug that my parents gave me. It says Star Baker on the front and below has the date I won the Border biscuit competition!

Is baking your own birthday cake wrong? Who knows, but that’s what happened. I was pretty pleased with it, although the first lot of sponges which didn’t rise are now in the freezer to be used in the Christmas trifle!

I used this Delia recipe but after the all in one sponge failed I used her classic sponge recipe. For the filling I made a quick raspberry jam with half a pack of fresh raspberries and a tablespoon of sugar. When this was cooled I spread it on the bottom layer of sponge before topping it with the marscapone mixture, which I had stirred the rest of the rasps in to. Finally, on top of the filling I sprinkled toasted almonds for some crunchy texture. The top of the cake is just icing sugar and some edible gold shimmer glitter.

I’ve had a fabulous weekend so thank you for all the presents and fun times guys, you’re the best!