Baking With Gab

Edible flowers and trying new foods

My last post featured quite a few edible flowers. Truth be told, not all of those edible flowers needed to be on the cake, but they looked so gorgeous that I couldn’t resist (see the recipe here.) If I had an unlimited supply of blue starflower, johnny jump ups, violets and pineapple sage, I would have only topped the cake with these four.

Unfortunately, all of these flowers are teeny tiny, and it would take a whole lot of them to cover a cake. Also, I purchased a mixed lot of flowers, so I didn’t really have a choice in what went on my cake. Continue reading “Edible flowers and trying new foods”

Rich chocolate cake and edible flowers

I have wanted to use edible flowers for so long. Pre-blog. The idea that such beautiful decorations are edible fits in well with my general approach to cooking – I don’t like things to just look good, I want them to taste good as well.

So when I stumbled across some gorgeous edible flowers at Leichhardt organic markets, I bought them on impulse. Continue reading “Rich chocolate cake and edible flowers”

Spinach and parmesan quiche & leftovers

My dear mother often buys spinach. She has the best intentions for it – healthy meals, delicious spinach and cheese pastries, something different to the usual green addition to our meals – but it very rarely gets used. It often (rather wastefully) sits in the fridge and wilts until someone takes pity on it and disposes of it.

I know, I know, I can hear you all groaning in disapproval – “how wasteful”, “think of the starving children in Africa”, etc but that’s what happens in a house where everyone works. There just isn’t enough time for good intentions! Continue reading “Spinach and parmesan quiche & leftovers”

Pear bread and Pinterest

My hunt for pear recipes was inspired by this cuteness, which I found on Pinterest. He is now my lock screen on my phone – he just makes me smile.

My lock screen did not go unnoticed by The Boy. Despite thinking I was crazy, the boy left me my own little smiley pear. Said smiley pear is now sitting in a display cupboard, I can’t bring myself to eat him.

This recipe was made with his friends though, I’m not sure how to break it to him… Continue reading “Pear bread and Pinterest”

Strawberry melting moments (recipe in progress)

I made some strawberry melting moments yesterday. But something just wasn’t quite right. The scent you get when mashing strawberries is lost in the baking process. While the passionfruit melting moments recipe works perfectly, the strawberry version falls short. The biscuits were a little too floury and dense. I’m hesitant to use strawberry flavouring, I’d prefer to make use of the real thing! Continue reading “Strawberry melting moments (recipe in progress)”

Parmesan entertainers (biscuits)

My love for parmesan borders on the obsessive. I don’t mean that weird dry yellow powder that comes in a shaker bottle; I mean realparmesan cheese.

If it were up to me, spag bol would be 1 part spaghetti, 1 part bolognaise and 3 parts parmesan cheese.

It’s tangy and mature and just delicious.

In my world there is no such thing as too much parmesan. Pasta, salads, fruit, sandwiches – you name it, I’ve parmesaned it. Continue reading “Parmesan entertainers (biscuits)”

Mini lemon thyme cakes and discoveries

Last post I mentioned re-discovering a fabulous carrot and poppyseed cake. I realised that I don’t proclaim my discovery of things often enough. It would be remiss of me to write any further this week without mentioning my two new loves – lemon thyme and cake stands.

Of course, I’ve always known that both existed, but this week I have seen them in a new light. So I guess you could call these sort-of-discoveries It was an abundance of lemon thyme in the garden that drew me to seek out new recipes to harness it. The smell of lemon thyme is absolutely enchanting. It’s like lemon’s cooler older brother – lemon thyme is a little more mature and mellowed out where lemon is really loud and abrasive, too busy trying to prove himself. Continue reading “Mini lemon thyme cakes and discoveries”

Carrot & poppyseed cake and re-discovering

A friend requested I make a carrot cake a while ago and I said I would oblige. I hadn’t even considered posting a carrot cake, because I would never usually choose to eat carrot cake. I was chatting to mother dearest about it and she reminded me of a recipe that she hasn’t cooked in years. And I didn’t realise how much I had missed it!

This mixture is beautiful. It is moist and crunchy and dense and delicious. Have I convinced you to make it yet? I haven’t even started describing the velvety cream cheese icing. Continue reading “Carrot & poppyseed cake and re-discovering”

Vanilla cupcakes with elderberry and elderflower icing

As promised long ago in my weekends away post, here is a recipe using the local produce that I foraged for in Orange. I chanced upon a shop called A Slice of Orange (which was completely adorable, given we were in Orange in NSW) and found an array of locally sourced foods. They ship all across Australia as well, which could be dangerous for my bank balance!

The purchase I was most excited about was the Elderflower and elderberry cordial! Having only learned that elderberries existed when I lived in England three years ago, they still have a shiny novelty factor for me. The boy’s mother spoke of making elderberry wine and picking elderflowers – to my knowledge, Sydney-siders miss out on these delightful escapades! Continue reading “Vanilla cupcakes with elderberry and elderflower icing”

Brownie cheesecake slice and remembering

Mother remembered on Thursday morning that she had to take a slice into work on Friday. She left me a note asking me to make one for her. Of course I obliged; being unemployed and sole contributor to my baking blog, this request was perfectly tailored to my situation!

She needed something easy to transport (cupcakes are out), something that would feed a group easily (pots de crème are out) and something delicious. I’ve made brownies before and they’re delightful, but I felt as though she needed something a little more show stopping to tempt her co-workers.

Continue reading “Brownie cheesecake slice and remembering”