Cake Stands and Muffins and Tea - Oh My!

My secret sister turned out to be Kelly, and boy did she spoil me! Check out this adorable bunch of goodness!! The tiered cake stand has a vintage bar and handle, I think Kelly may have drilled the plates to fit the stand? The too-cute-for-words little shoes have been made into the world's sweetest pincushion - love that idea, complete with heart headed pins. There's something about those shoes, I keep imagining what lovely little girl toddled around in them? What hopes and dreams did her parents hold for her? What did she do with her life when she outgrew those shoes?

The gift was rounded out with vintage hankies and a sheer scalloped album that I can decorate, a lovely bird and flourish rubber stamp to play with, and a hand made card. Thanks so much Kelly, you really thrilled me :) Oh and those 'secret' journal pages I posted last week? They were for my secret sister, Annie.So if you have a cake stand what do you need next? Yes, that's right, some cakes. Serendipity had a recipe for fresh peach muffins delivered to my email inbox the day I received the secret sister package, so here's the recipe for you:

Peach Muffins
1 1/2 cups plain flour
3/4 cup sugar
1/2 tspn salt
2 tspns baking powder
1 tspn cinnamon
1/2 tspn nutmeg
1 large egg
1/3 cup milk (plus a dash if needed)
1 tspn vanilla essence
2 very ripe peaches, peeled, pitted and diced
Cinnamon sugar

Directions:
Preheat oven to 400 degrees F. Invite a friend over for morning/afternoon tea.

Sift dry ingredients together into a large bowl. Combine egg, milk and vanilla essence and stir into dry ingredients, mix thoroughly, add an extra dash of milk if the mixture needs moisture. Add diced peaches and gently fold into the batter.

Line a muffin/cupcake tin with 8-9 cupcake liners. Spoon mixture into the liners and sprinkle with cinnamon sugar. Place in the pre-heated oven and bake for 18-20 minutes. Test with a toothpick to make sure they're cooked through (I put mine back in for 2-3 minutes).

Brew up some tea while the muffins cool on a wire rack, all the better that you don't burn yourself trying to eat them while they're piping hot, although you will certainly be tempted to do that because the aroma is heavenly :) Place the muffins on your darling cake stand (or any pretty plate will do, if you have a doily so much the better), sit outside if the weather permits, or on a large fabulous verandah (no, I don't have one of those ...). Sip tea, nibble muffins, and enjoy small talk and much laughter.

Would you like to come over for some tea?