Perfect icing and more unbirthdays!

sliceIf you read the last post, all about the unbirthday party I threw, you would have seen the cake that I posted. I’ve put up the recipe for the the cake before (here), but I haven’t posted the Swiss meringue buttercream recipe for some reason. This buttercream is gorgeously silky in texture and makes your cake look super professional.

This recipe makes enough to generously cover a sandwich cake – it will fill the gap in between the two layers and then cover the cake entirely. Continue reading “Perfect icing and more unbirthdays!”

Lime and raspberry cupcakes and unbirthdays

scene (416x640)I know too many people who were born in the last three months of the year, October is particularly packed. Lots of people, including the Boy, must be celebrated in such proximity to one another that I decided to throw another unbirthday party. It’s not that I dislike birthdays (quite the opposite, actually), it’s just there are not enough days to celebrate people properly!

The last unbirthday party I threw was mainly for one person, whereas this one was aimed at three people. It is worth noting that anyone can claim an unbirthday – as long as their birthday doesn’t fall on the say that it is celebrated!

I feel as though I’m becoming a bit of an unbirthday expert…

please

 

Norman, meanwhile, is an expert unbirthday crasher. He’s got his puppy dog eyes look sorted!
Continue reading “Lime and raspberry cupcakes and unbirthdays”

Chocolate melting moments and birthdays

stackIt’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”

Speculoos biscuits and travel adventures

stringIn February of this year I was in Belgium. It sounds so far away from where I am at this moment that it’s quite hard to comprehend. Like a lame tourist, I indulged in waffles and ‘frites’ because I believed that was what I was supposed to do. I bought loads of chocolate (some amazing, some disappointing) and generally ignored the fact that my cholesterol was probably going through the roof! But speculoos was a shining beacon of delicious individuality amidst all the tourist trappings. Continue reading “Speculoos biscuits and travel adventures”

Honey and cranberry loaf and baking adventures

butterThis loaf came about a little bit by accident. I had delicious candles that I was given by Cate from Queen B candles and I wanted to use them to complement something that I’d baked. The candles have this faint smell of honey when you light them, so I thought I’d make something honey-based.

(Queen B also writes a blog, it’s lovely to meet fellow bloggers! And Cate’s beautiful beeswax candles can be purchased at http://www.queenb.com.au/)

I’d already posted a recipe for honey jumbles (and they were delicious, check them out here), so that was out of the question. I’d also done honey tea cakes, so I was at a bit of a loss for what to bake. Browsing Pinterest for inspiration, I found this delectable looking bread, which  inspired me to come up with my own! Continue reading “Honey and cranberry loaf and baking adventures”

Home made sprinkles and excitement

glassI can’t believe I’ve not posted this recipe sooner. I was so excited about these sprinkles when I made them – I Instagrammed them, I gave people a sneak peak on Facebook, and I used them as soon as physically possible on my caramel doughnut cake.

And then I just forgot to share them with you!! My apologies, dear readers.

I can’t take credit for the idea (as much as I would love to!)…I got the idea from Pinterest, which directed me to I Am Baker, who had a tutorial up for home made sprinkles. I modified the recipe slightly to suit me – and they are so easy!! Continue reading “Home made sprinkles and excitement”

Raspberry cupcakes and food obsession

close upMy last post was about giving in to the gym. It’s day four of me signing up to the gym and I’ve been good so far. Except for the fact that I spend my entire life pinning, instagramming and Googling baked goods.

To say I’m obsessed is an understatement. I’m fairly sure I was dreaming about eating these cupcakes last night, because I was awoken by a sharp pain – I’d bitten the inside of my lip hard enough to draw blood!

These gorgeous little cupcakes came about by accident. I was actually trying to create cupcakes with bubblegum icing; the cupcake was supposed to be a platform to raise my glorious bubblegum icing to dizzying sugary heights.

But the icing never really made it. It didn’t taste as bubblegummy as I’ planned (don’t get me wrong, it was delicious, it just wasn’t bubblegum flavoured), but it didn’t matter, because the cupcake outshone it!!

The cupcake is light and airy. It’s delicately fruity and a little bit like eating a raspberry cloud. Or how I imagine that would taste. The icing is sweet and soft, the perfect complement to the raspberry cloud!

biteRaspberry cupcake clouds

Makes 24

  • 120g butter
  • ¾ cup sugar
  • ¾ cup raspberries
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 eggs
  • 2 cups flour
  • ½ cup milk
  • 1-2 tsp pink food colouring (optional)

Icing:

  • 50g butter
  • 50g cream cheese
  • ¼ tsp strawberry essence
  • ¼ tsp orange blossom water
  • 1 tsp vanilla
  • 2 cups icing sugar

raspberriesPreheat your oven 180°C and grease a 12 capacity cupcake tin.

Cream your butter and sugar together until pale. Add in your raspberries and blend until smooth. This should take 1-2 minutes to eliminate all of the lumps and bumps. You can leave chunks of raspberry in if you’d like, but I prefer them all mixed in, it makes for a smoother batter.

mixAdd in the teaspoon of vanilla and then the eggs, one at a time.

Scoop your flour into the mixture and mix well, ensuring no pockets of flour remain. Add in the milk and combine.

At this point, the raspberries will have added a slight tinge of pinky-purple to the mixture, so you don’t have to add colouring. If, like me, you can’t resist a pop of colour, add in some pink food colouring!

That’s it! These cupcakes are so simple, but the result is so impressive.

lolliesSpoon the mixture into your prepared cupcake tins and bake for 16-18 minutes.

Once the cupcakes are out of the oven, allow them to cool for ten minutes. While they cool, mix the butter and cream cheese together until there are no lumps and the mixture is pale. Add in the strawberry essence, orange blossom water and vanilla, followed by the icing sugar. Keep blending until all are combined and smooth.

sceneDecorate using a piping bag, or just spoon it onto your cupcakes and smooth with a knife. I added little chewy lollies to the top of mine, but don’t worry if you don’t have any they’re sweet enough without them!

Serve with a strong black cuppa to balance out all of that sugar.

Enjoy!

Nutella fudge and gym memberships

stackBaking with Gab is slowly killing me with buttery, sugary kindness. It’s a good thing!! I’m not complaining, I’ll happily take the ridiculous sugar highs with the lows, and the cravings as simply being a part of the blog. I love baking and I love the satisfaction of creating something delicious and beautiful out of raw ingredients.

It just means that I need to go back to the gym.

I don’t always bake things that are ridiculously bad for you, but I’m not going to pretend that they’re all calorie free. They’re baked and delicious and that’s all I care about! I haven’t been in a gym for about two years, but I figure that Baking With Gab is going to be a long-term thing, so I need to start looking after my body a bit more. I’m  having a seven day trial, and then most likely signing up.  Continue reading “Nutella fudge and gym memberships”

Doughnut cakes and delicious sprinkles

side viewI’ve got a thing for doughnuts at the moment. It’s coming into Summer here, and I think I just love the idea of a cinnamon doughnut on hot days. I’m always disappointed with the quality of bakery doughnuts – why don’t they ever taste like they did when I was younger?

I’ve started to wonder whether my standards were lower on my childhood, or whether doughnuts actually did just taste better. I made mini jam doughnut cupcakes recently, which satisfied my desire for crunchy, cinnamon sweetness, but Sunday afternoon calls for something a little bit special. This cake is moist and cinnamony and really sticky! I recommend cutting it with a sharp, thin knife so that your icing doesn’t cling to the knife too much! Continue reading “Doughnut cakes and delicious sprinkles”

Chocolate Raspberry Cupcakes and Tea Parties

skyI 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”