Afternoon Tea at Airyfairy Cake Boutique: Saturdays Now Perfect

Saturday is my very favourite day of the week. Some of the reasons for this are obvious - although I'm not one to let a little thing like that stop me listing them anyway.

1. No requirement to get up and go to work. As someone who used to work Saturdays, I am now immeasurably grateful to be able to lie-in on this day. Or, I would be if the stupid cat knew his days of the week properly - his poor time-keeping skills mean that he is simply unable to differentiate between days when he gets his breakfast at 6am, and days when he gets his breakfast when he's lucky. Cue lots of irritating, Simon's Cat-style squalling, pointing at hungry waiting mouth etc from a heartbreakingly early hour.

2. Saturday Kitchen. Once up, what could be nicer than watching a D-list celebrity drinking wine and eating red Thai curry at 10am in the morning? True, your own square of toast and marmite may begin to feel a little inadequate, but at least you won't start developing the slightly moon-faced appearance of James Martin. And if you DO fancy a glass of red at twenty to eleven in the morning, your actions are fully sanctioned by the unknown actor currently doing the same on your screen.

3. Saturday papers. Although, to be fair, I normally just read the Caitlin Moran column and then do the crossword; the cat, now fed, is probably lying all over the other bits anyway.

4. Didsbury Village Farm Shop. Another good thing about Saturdays is that the following day is Sunday, the Lord's own day when the law states that you can eat as many calories for breakfast as you like, and they don't count. Therefore, you should pop into the estimable Farm Shop and procure bacon, eggs and sausage (or, erm, your own choice of Vegan alternative) ready to stave off the mild headache you may have after spending Saturday evening in Folk.

5. And, as if Saturdays weren't glorious enough, I have a new favourite thing: Afternoon Tea at The Airyfairy Cake Boutique on School Lane, Didsbury. To be honest, I'm not entirely sure why it's taken me so long to try this - I've been a regular visitor to the gorgeously retro Cake Boutique ever since it opened, and the concept of a stand piled high with sandwiches and cakes is a sure-fire winner in my book; perhaps it's the fact you have to be organised and book at least 24 hours in advance that has hitherto scuppered me.

Anyway, this week I WAS organised enough to book - and what a reward. For £12.50 a head, you get unlimited tea from a wide selection (we chose Earl Grey, because we are LADIES), a selection of finger sandwiches (with the crusts cut off, naturally - you can't expect LADIES to tire themselves with excess chewing), scones with jam and cream (I graciously overlooked the fact that my companion erroneously pronounced it "scon" throughout our afternoon), and a whole army of dainty, bite-size cakes. The precise nature of these goodies changes every time, but our sandwiches included smoked salmon (our favourite), ham & mustard, cucumber & cream cheese and cheese & salad (note please, SALAD *healthy face*), and our most bestest cakes were the mini Nutella cheesecakes.

As you can see from this picture, the quantities are most generous, and staff will happily pack up leftovers in a doggy box to take home to anxiously waiting husbands - we couldn't eat all of ours, but then we ARE notorious for picking at our food with all the appetite of the little bird seen here perching atop our cake stand. In fact, so grand and exciting was the food mountain that when it arrived, the small boy sitting at the next table practically fell off his chair in the whole excitement of it all, his open-mouthed admiration really telling you all you need to know.

The Airyfairy Afternoon Tea is available Thursday to Saturday from 11am, thereby offering the thrilling possibility that it could also be consumed as a late breakfast. And, even better, I've just polished off the last couple of mini carrot cakes as a starter before I get on to my Didsbury Farm Shop sausage and bacon...before you know it, there'll be a whole list of reasons to love Sunday as well.

- Airyfairy Cake Boutique is at 24 School Lane, Didsbury M20 6RG, tel 07791850641

- Didsbury Village Farm Shop is at 737 Wilmslow Road, Didsbury M20 6WF.

Airy Fairy Advent Calendar Gets Local Girl Frankly Too Giddy

First things first: one is NEVER too old for an advent calendar. It's high time that we adults rose in revolt and reclaimed Christmas from those pesky kids who seem to think it's all about them - Christmas is for grown-ups to drink Baileys, and wear sparkly eye-shadow, and eat all the purple ones out the tin of Quality Street; just this very evening I have cooked my last healthy meal of the year, and plan to subsist entirely on a diet of wine, cheese, pate and chocolate from now until Christmas Day.

Therefore, I not only have an advent calendar from Thorntons with my name iced on it, I have also completed the "spot the difference" puzzle on the back without an ounce of shame, and consume my precious chocolate at approximately 7am every day without compunction. So imagine my delight to discover ANOTHER advent calendar, this time online, where behind every window lurks not a risibly tiny scrap of chocolate, but a breathtakingly good cupcake-related deal. Such is the gift that Airy Fairy Cupcakes have bestowed upon us this year - twenty pink and purple boxes, each sheltering a sugar-based surprise (apparently 21-24 are coming soon - presumably chief Airy Fairy Laura didn't trust us not to peep), including discounts, competitions and special deals. She has even included a piece of cupcake-themed wisdom behind each window; not that I've, ahem, checked every door up to and including the 20th *avoids eye contact*

For someone who is old enough to harbour vague memories of advent calendars WITHOUT chocolate, where the windows had been opened so many times in previous years that they no longer stuck down, popping open willy nilly to reveal the thrilling religious image behind, this is all quite unreasonably exciting. Having checked my diet sheet, I have elected to add cake to my list of acceptable December meals, purely in the interests of a healthy balanced diet of course. So, Laura, I'll be seeing you on the 20th (if not before)...but if you could just add a spot the difference puzzle as well, my joy will be complete.

- Get into the Christmas spirit by opening a few doors on the calendar here; the charming Cake Boutique is on School Lane in Didsbury.

Airy Fairy Cake Pops: Local Girl Admits She Was Wrong

A lot of the time, I like to think I am right about stuff. I know, for example, that you should put the milk in the cup after the tea. I know that if you paint clear nail varnish on to the posts of cheap earrings they will no longer make your ears go large and purple. I know that if you are following a recipe and are missing an ingredient you can normally substitute it for something else without sending an emergency runner to the shop. All in all, I'm the smug one, who always gives advice, even when it's not wanted.

So I was pretty confident that cake pops - cannon balls of cake impaled on a stick, smothered in icing and assorted nuts and sprinkles - were never going to be a match for the cupcake. Just too gimmicky, another example of us rushing to follow what our healthy role models across the Atlantic decree to be the latest in baked goods trends. What's wrong with a cake? With icing on the top?

Anyway, then two cake pops arrived last night, courtesy of the chief Airy Fairy herself. And I did have to admit, they looked very nice, nestling in their pretty box, glancing admiringly at each other as they jostled for my attention. So being a good, kind person, and taking my duties as an Airy Fairy taster panellist very seriously, I ate one. And if my mouth hadn't been so full of cake, I would have eaten my harsh words about cake pops, for they are delicious.

Out of the two, the Naughty Nutella, rolled in chocolate icing and dipped in crushed nuts, was the more irresistable, but only by a whisker. The Very Vanilla, covered with white chocolate and pretty sprinkles (many of which now adorn my kitchen worktops) was a very close second. I had failed to realise that cake which has been rolled into a ball and cloaked in a thick layer of chocolate is the moistest cake in the known universe, producing a texture that manages to be light, sticky and substantial all at the same time. My only criticism? I found it hard to eat them off the sticks (hence the sprinkles all over the kitchen - I have visions of tiny mice in pink tutus having a field day with them later), so simply removed the stick and ate them like a big round cake.

You can find out more about these caketastic marvels at the AiryFairyCupCakes website; I attach a link so that Mr Liz may click through and see that they are also doing a sensible collaboration with gorgeous Didsbury shop The Flower Lounge for Valentine's Day. Now, if only I could learn how to draw a big Radio Times-esque circle aroud the items I particularly desire...

Ode on an Airy Fairy Christmas Tree Cake

'Tis that festive time of year,
When all the world doth make good cheer.
United in their peace and love,
To honour Him from up above,
When children try to stay awake...
And I indulge in too much cake.

But who can blame me for my greed?
I am but weak, so I must feed
On chocolate, nuts and biscuits too,
Turkey, sprouts, potatoes new.
But now a new thing comes along,
And I must pen this hasty song.

I saw it on a Facebook page,
Posted by a lady, sage
In bakery, that precious art,
The way to win my festive heart.
This Christmas, if you do love me,
Buy me a cake by an Airy Fairy.

Not just any cake, mind you,
For only one design will do...
The stunning, gorgeous, lovely
Cake that's like a Christmas tree.
See it now this very day
At www.airyfairycupcakes.co.uk.

And yes I know that doesn't scan
But honestly, just don't split hairs man.
Go and get your credit card
And make my day: it isn't hard.
Just tell Laura whence you were sent
And have a magical Advent.

Didsbury Double-Header: Dinner, Cake and Fizz

When I applied to go to University, my list of hobbies and interests no doubt mentioned voluntary work, going to high-brow theatrical events, reading classic literature, playing badminton (and perhaps squash as well - who remembers?) and being a general all-round top swot.

Obviously, my real-life CV would be more likely to include the following pursuits:
- going to the pub
- drinking fizzy wine
- reading trashy books
- watching (and discussing with like-minded friends) America's Next Top Model
- attending lovely parties and hob-nobbing with lovely friends
- all forms of food, especially curry, cake and anything from Marks & Spencer

and so on.

So imagine an evening that manages to include not one, but, um, *counts*, at least THREE of my preferred leisure activities! And on a normally non-descript Tuesday night!

It all began with Twitter, obviously. Lovely Laura (it is SO nice when a pleasant word alliterates with your name) from Airy Fairy Cupcakes announced that there was to be a fizz and cupcake evening at the estimable Love2Eat Deli in West Didsbury; ladies only, with a glass of fizz and a cupcake for just £5, it would clearly be ridiculous not to go.

"Oh," says the husband. "Well, have a nice time. I'm just off to mope about with my sad I'm-being-abandoned-again face on. Let me know if you want picking up."

Being a good and dutiful wife, I selflessly suggested we go and have dinner at The Didsbury first, using our BOGOF voucher carefully clipped from The South Manchester Reporter last week. If you've not tried the food at The Didsbury yet you really should; we shared a starter of whitebait (we are both exceptionally poor at sharing, which indicates how generous the portions are) and then went down the path of meaty goodness - my husband had the 9oz rump steak and I chose (what I thought was) a plain burger.

It is of course my own fault for not reading the menu properly, but really I think this particular food item should be renamed "The Hungry Boy's Burger", because it contained everything a hungry boy could ever dream of: onion rings, a fried egg, great thick slabs of bacon, cheese...oh, and a burger. I'm really not complaining - everything was of excellent quality - but it was all just a bit big. The husband's steak was also very good by the way, although I could hardly see it beyond the rolling heights of Burger Mountain.

The lovely waitress offered pudding, but I knew I had a cupcake with my name on it waiting across town. Actually, that's another story. "Do I need to buy my ticket in advance?" I tweeted to Laura; "No," she replied, "just pay on the door and I'll make sure there's a cake with your name on it, so to speak." Well, clearly there's an opportunity here to make a childish joke about stamping my feet and wanting a cupcake with my ACTUAL name on it, and I did not disappoint; the trouble with such adolescent humour is that it makes you feel not-worthy when you turn up and find that Laura has actually gone to the trouble of icing your name onto a cake. Almost too cute to eat. Almost.

Anyway, a fine time was had by all - Penny from Love2Eat kept the wine flowing, the cakes were delicious (obviously), and a lovely lady from DollyBox smilingly presided over a table of cut-price make-up goodies (note to self: step away from the make-up table after quaffing several glasses of wine, STEP AWAY.) Hopefully the fizz and cake evening will become a regular event; in the meantime you can order from the Airy Fairy at her website (www.airyfairycupcakes.co.uk), or visit Love2Eat for one of their excellent dining deals - see www.love-2eat.com for more details.

Airy Fairy Cupcakes: Dangerously Good Didsbury Baking

When you're at school, pesky teachers are prone to continually ask what you want to do when you grow up; I make a particular point of doing the same to my own students, just to maintain the continuity of this fine tradition. Cup-cakes hadn't been invented when I was at school (I seem to remember fairy cakes being the 1980s alternative), but if they had been, I'm pretty sure that my teachers would have frowned most disapprovingly had I suggested "cup-cake tester" as a proposed career.

Well ha! In your face teachers! For I am indeed risen to the lofty heights of cup-cake tester, thanks to lovely local baker extraordinaire Laura of Airy Fairy Cupcakes. Some weeks ago, gluttons/connoisseurs were invited to write witty job applications/begging emails to Laura, explaining why they merited such a responsible position; I was among the lucky few who will bravely and selflessly test the Airy Fairy goodness. My husband has been seething with barely concealed jealousy ever since.

The perks of the job became clear on Friday, when I had a rather trying day. I arrived home at about 7pm after attending a funeral, to find a box of cupcakes waiting for me (eyed up by a hopeful husband): a lemon, a vanilla (the most popular flavour, apparently - I understand why) and two gluten free (am hoping this makes them healthy, in the same way that a plate of salad, for example, is gluten free).

After much thought and deliberation, my considered and professional opinions are as follows:
- lemon: yum
- vanilla: yum
- gluten free: yum

Obviously this feedback will be both helpful and ground-breaking for Laura. I bought my husband a box of the peanut butter cupcakes a couple of weeks ago, and he wishes to add that these were also yum. With assistants like us, her business will clearly go far; she is about to open a shop in Didsbury (oh, dangerous), but in the meantime you can contact her at www.airyfairycupcakes.co.uk, and if you live locally, you can pay her money to BRING YOU CAKE - what's not to like?

Prizes, Sherlock Holmes and Love2Eat Monday Night Supper Club

Mondays are often a poor day; the start of the working week (and a day I normally teach till 5) with the weekend not even visible on the horizon. Today, though, was a quite extraordinarily good Monday, for the following reasons:

1. I am on holiday for another four weeks.

2. It is my husband's birthday week, so a spirit of celebration currently pervades our sometimes grumpy residence.

3. Sunday night TV, normally so rubbish, last night offered up a Sherlock Holmes in a coat so sexy that grown women across Britain wept, and crashed Twitter with their uncontrollable admiration.

4. I have never won ANYTHING in my whole life (honestly, not even a raffle) and yet today I have won a place on a Creative Tourist writing workshop this Thursday (more of this on Friday, assuming I actually survive) AND a box of gorgeous cupcakes courtesy of Airy Fairy Cupcakes (more of this tomorrow, assuming I can actually get past my husband's grasping paws to sample said cakes). Both of these were competitions found on Twitter, which I have time to peruse at great length thanks to point 1.

5. We have finally made it to Monday Night Supper Club at the delectable Love2Eat Deli in West Didsbury, an occasion I have hankered after for some weeks: main course, pudding and a glass of wine for a ludicrous £7 per head. This is a charming venue which concentrates on offering straightforward food at reasonable prices; tonight's choices for supper club were Mushroom Stroganoff or Sicilian Meatballs for main, followed by Eton Mess for dessert.

Being committed carnivores, we obviously chose the meatballs, which have acquired legendary status in the environs of West Didsbury and tend to run out early doors; a friend who shall remain nameless (HELEN) has actually reserved hers because she can't get there until almost nine tonight (in fact, go and look at her now, slurping meatballs as you eat your mushroom stroganoff). They ARE delicious, and are served with spaghetti, bread, salad and grated cheese; beware though, that they are messy - we both came home with tell-tale pinky splashes on our clothing.

The pudding was less triumphant - the Eton Mess seemed more like strawberries and cream to me, with any meringue (minimal, I fear) crushed up so small it disappeared without trace. However, at these prices it seems churlish to quibble about small things, particularly as I ordered an extra glass of wine that then appeared on the bill as costing £2.75 (take note, Metropolitan). To cap a perfect evening, the lovely lady from Airy Fairy Cupcakes knew I was going to the restaurant and therefore personally delivered my cakes there for me; a very, very good day indeed.

- Love2Eat is at 190a Burton Road, West Didsbury, Manchester M20 1LH; tel 0161 434 7077.
- Airy Fairy Cupcakes are based in Didsbury; see www.airyfairycupcakes.co.uk for prices and delivery details.