Being Pippa Middleton

Luscious locks, that peachy derriere... Just a handful of reasons why Pippa Middleton is one of my absolute favourites. 

Perfect Pips gets all the perks of being on the cusp of royalty without any of the tedium.

I imagine big sis Kate stifling a yawn as she mutters: "Queen, I'd simply love to plaster a smile on my face and pretend I haven't slipped into a coma while listening to the ramblings of yet another dignitary. Sure."

No such mundanity for Pips. She gets to gad about town in expensive clothes while forging ahead with her career as a food columnist for Waitrose.

A monthly highlight... And what? 

Rah! Pips loves to bake. 

So when I thumbed through the March edition of Waitrose Kitchen last week (I'm 30, ok) I was taken by Pippa's afternoon tea ideas.

Two facts for you...

One: There's nothing more civilised than afternoon tea.
Two: I like to think that Pippa and I would get along swimmingly, plus I'm the first to jump to her defence when people dismiss her as naff slash pointless.

And so a Friday night spent making blueberry and lemon curd cupcakes while pretending to be Pippa was practically inevitable.

Almonds and buttermilk make a delicious cake mixture. 

Disclaimer: I'm 100 per cent aware that cupcakes haven't been a thing since the turn of the century. But they are tasty and food snobs are dullz. As are people who say "nom nom". Nom off.

Back to the baking, and I knocked up two different types of buttercream to top them off. One with lemon curd, the other rippled with homemade blueberry jam.

I needed an Elle break before icing the little scamps. 

Pippa had teamed up with The Hummingbird Bakery founder Tarek Malouf for the recipes, and her  column offered such luminary thoughts as: "Hummingbird's cupcakes have almost as much icing as sponge, so they're a dream for the sweet-toothed."

A dream indeed... look.

And admired them like a proud mum. 

Popped them on the cake stand... 

Unlike Pips, who looks like she slipped into her most expensive cashmere knit for the bake-fest, I wore a faded old Gap jumper which has tomato juice stains on it.

And I ended up with blueberry juice on my face, which I'm pretty sure wouldn't happen to Ms Middleton.

But I did do a butt workout pre-bake to truly channel Pippa and her peachiness.

The view from my ass workout.

Conclusion: Pippa bakes a bloody nice cake. They are nearly all gone and I have no regrets thanks to all the pre-bake lunging. Win win!