Christmas in July - Hummingbird style

As you should all know by now, I am a bit of a cupcake obsessive, so I was delighted to get an invitation to Hummingbird Bakery's Christmas preview evening last night.

Now normally the very thought of eating Christmas themed cupcakes in the middle of summer would be totally bizarre, but with the current weather we've been having it definitely wasn't that hard to force them down...and the odd glass of champagne helps!

Here is a quick preview of some of the cupcakes that were on offer.  

The first ones we tried, raspberry trifle, were unfortunately scoffed down too quickly for me to get a photo, so you'll have to go by the image in the book (most of the recipes are in the new Cake Days book so go get yourself a copy if you haven't already!!)

These were my favourite of the night, a soft vanilla sponge with a raspberry filling topped with creamy vanilla custard and another fresh raspberry.  It was light, fresh and definitely one I will have to be trying at home!  

Next up were a couple of the Christmas decorated vanilla cupcakes - how pretty are these?

And up next...(by the way, don't worry, I was there with a friend - I love cake, but not THAT much!)

White Chocolate and Cranberry - sponge filled with dried cranberries with a sweet white chocolate frosting...this got a big thumbs up.

And my choice - gingerbread.  I have these sprinkles at home, the perfect excuse to get baking these as well! This was delicious, a warm spicy sponge topped with lemon cream cheese frosting.  The quintessential Christmas cupcake? I think so!

Sadly, the last cupcakes were a little neglected and we only got about half way through before having to head on a rather long walk to burn off the excess carbs...and hit the shops!

Have you tried any Hummingbird recipes recently?  Or do you prefer someone else to bake them for you?