Birthday fairy cakes

I have come to the conclusion that I have no money. It didn't take me long to reach this conclusion. I'm a student, which by definition means my bank account doesn't look very well, and on top of that I'm a postgraduate student, which means I don't even get a student loan to help fund my Topshop and Costa addiction. But it's all good, I quite like having to budget, challenging myself to cook as cheaply as possible and taking food and a flask with me to the library and such, to avoid the meltdown moment when I've had enough of James Joyce and run to the nearest coffee shop for a vanilla latte and blueberry muffin. One thing I do love doing that costs money however, is giving presents. I really love giving presents, and with Christmas coming up (yes, I am excited already), this means a lot of presents. So I have decided (and fore-warned everybody) that I'm going to get my country-fair on and make everybody's pressies. And it's me, so they're all obviously going to be edible. And with my imagination not stretching very far, I'm really going to have to learn how to make jam...

I started my edible-presents adventure this week with my cousins birthday and made her some cute little cupcakes. Except that my mum didn't have any muffin cases (I probably stole them) so they were more fairy cakes. I used the trusty vanilla cupcake recipe from The Hummingbird Bakery Cookbook (so easy and oh so very yummy) and decorated them with pretty coloured frosting and sprinkles. They looked very cute, and so my first homemade gift was a success. It may not have taken as much money, but it took more effort and time, and I enjoyed doing it (and I'm sure my cousin enjoyed eating them). So all in all, a good decision. Bring on the jam jar collecting.