Chocolate – Page 7 – Baking with Gab

Spooky spider cupcakes and witches

Even though I’ve never trick or treated, or had clusters of kids roaming my streets in dress-ups, I love that there are parts of the world which are neighbourly enough for this to happen! I’ve got some pretty decent neighbours, but I know that there are a few grinches on the street as well… my brothers and I used to think that one elderly woman who lived next door was a witch!!

We’re yet to see evidence to prove us wrong.

She used to hoard our tennis/bouncy/basket/cricket balls when they went over her fence – she’d line them up so that we could see them from the top of our steps, as though goading us into knocking on her front door. Then when we ran out of balls, we’d play scissors, paper, rock to determine who would knock on her door. Continue reading “Spooky spider cupcakes and witches”

Birthday recap and jam ramblings

I spoke about preparing for the Boy’s birthday last post. The melting moments were sent off to his work (and Instagrammed by me, obviously) and thoroughly enjoyed by his work mates. I was informed that the vanilla melting moments were better than the chocolate – the chocolate ones are too cakey, you need a glass of milk to accompany them. Duly noted!

This post is just a catch up of his birthday – which means no recipe, sorry friends! The boy requested salad and a sponge cake for his birthday meal and I’m fine with doing salads, it’s the sponge that irritates me. I can whip up multi-layered cakes without too much fuss, but sponges leave me stumped for some reason. Continue reading “Birthday recap and jam ramblings”

Chocolate melting moments and birthdays

It’s the Boy’s birthday tomorrow. Every year I labour over what to buy him – whether he will like this gadget, or approve of that shirt. This year, I’ve gone for something different. He has far too many gadgets and says he doesn’t need any more shirts, so I’ve gone for something completely, outrageously odd. If I had to title it, I would call it “for the man who has everything.” I love it, so I hope he does too. Keep an eye on the blog, I may post pictures of it if he approves!

Being unemployed and slightly short of money, the majority of my present is going to come to him in the form of food. He wants a big salad for dinner and a sponge cake for his birthday cake.

I don’t love making sponge cakes, I find them temperamental and disobedient…he says he doesn’t mind if I don’t make a sponge though, he knows how much I enjoy making deliciously dense chocolate cakes! Continue reading “Chocolate melting moments and birthdays”

Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes and Tea Parties

I felt like it had been a while since I’d held a tea party, so I set about fixing that today. I had a beautiful table runner that I’ve been wanting to use, and I didn’t just want to use it in any old run-of-the-mill photo shoot. I received the runner from Ria from Zambella Gifts, and she’s so passionate about her beautiful linen that I couldn’t help but get excited about it too. The runner has the recipe of a chocolate cupcake on it written in a beautiful script, so it didn’t take much for me to be in love with it! (Ps. You can buy Ria’s linen here.)

Ria is currently offering my readers a free gift with purchase (I’m not sure what, it’s a surprise!) just enter “Baking with Gab”into the comments section when you checkout…get shopping!

This recipe is a cupcake version of the rich chocolate cake that I posted here – the sheer amount of cocoa and the addition of milk and coffee make it decadent and dense, but smooth at the same time. Continue reading “Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes and Tea Parties”

Chocolate milkshakes and childhood

It turns out that yesterday was chocolate milkshake day.

How did I miss such a glorious day??

As soon as I found out that I’d missed it, I set about to make amends (mainly for my own benefit, but hopefully my readers will appreciate it as well!) I made six variations on the humble old chocolate milkshake – I hope one (or more) of them take your fancy.

Norman wasn’t too impressed with my recipe choice today – he spent the day snuggled on the lounge because he decided it was too cold for milkshakes.

I love everything about milkshakes. I love how milk straight from the fridge is the coldest liquid substance you can drink, how lovely milkshakes are when they’re jam-packed with ice cubes, how some chunks of ice cream get stuck in your straw as you drink them. And how satisfying those last few chocolatey bubbles are when you get to the bottom. Continue reading “Chocolate milkshakes and childhood”

Choc coconut bites and election day

It’s election day in Australia! At some point I have to tear myself away from baking and vote, but for the moment I’m busying myself making peanut butter cupcakes for a friend’s housewarming! That recipe will be posted tomorrow – get excited!

These glorious little coconutty bites are moist and crumbly in perfect proportions. With only six ingredients, they’re the perfect morsel to throw together when you have people drop in unexpectedly, or when you want to make something fun and nutritious for the kids. Continue reading “Choc coconut bites and election day”

Blood orange coconut velvet cake and dramatic fruit

I know, I know, the title hardly rolls off the tongue. But this cake has so much flavour going for it that I couldn’t come up with a simpler title – it is a blood orange coconut velvet cake! I’d been reading up about natural food colourings and I decided that I should put my glorious blood oranges to use. It was also a chance to use my coconut oil – I’ve officially jumped on the coconut products bandwagon!

I figured that I was changing a classic Red Velvet mixture by removing red food colouring, so I tweaked the recipe a little further by adding coconut! Continue reading “Blood orange coconut velvet cake and dramatic fruit”

60th birthdays and teddy racers

It was my father’s birthday 60^th today. I didn’t post much over the weekend because we had what can only be described as a Neil Quirk-athon. He played golf with my brothers and the boy on Saturday morning and we lunched afterwards. Then on Sunday he had old friends over to celebrate the big birthday.

And today I made him his grandmother’s chocolate cake. Suffice to say, he has been celebrated to last him until he is 70.

Continue reading “60th birthdays and teddy racers”

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”

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.