Celia's Saucer | Vanilla Cupcakes with Candy Corn

What reminds you of your childhood most?

For me, it is the autumn season with its last flush of colour, and how vibrant it is. I get giddy towards the end of the summer as the skies melt from yellow into a copper glow and the air becomes distinctly cool.

It reminds me so much of growing up in New England, Massachusetts, and how we would spend hours in the lane, marvelling at the fallen leaves and, dizzy from the scent of pine needles that we would drag beneath our feet, we would mimick the coyote-cry as the evenings drew in.

A farmers town, I loved the harvest. Apart from the hay rides, best of all were the plump, cumbersome pumpkins, gloriously aflame in orange. We would snack on candy corn the colour of gourds and smack our chops at grandma and mum in the kitchen as they whipped up warm treats like sticky flapjacks with gummy-tacky dates and cupcakes piled high with heavy, salty buttercream frosting - the kind you just can't get in England and that even I can't quite master.

The weather lately has been mild but cool enough to pull my woolly hat down over my ears and skate outside to kick up the leaves and breathe long, deep sighs of crisp air. 

The season is well and truly here.