Gibby Bakes

I made it through my first week at my new job! I'll tell you one thing, I'm bloody exhausted. Sitting at a desk all day Monday to Friday is definitely going to take some getting used to, and I didn't expect it to be so tiring! You'd think then that with feeling so tired I'd have taken the weekend to chill out a bit and get myself ready for the next week, and believe me there's nothing I would have liked more... As if I didn't noitce my mum's water bottle in the background! Of course, that didn't quite work out. Instead, I ended up baking this White Chocolate and Lemon Cake... I just couldn't help myself! There's quite a long and sad story behind this cake, which I won't go into here, but the main purpose of this cake was to make a bit of a fuss over a group of very special people who've been having a really tough time lately (plus the insta needed a splash of colour seeing as my other beige bakes began to take over!). You can't ev

Tell you what, I've wanted to have a go at a batch of Viennese Whirls for so long now, and lately if the chance to bake something vegan and/or gluten free comes up I seem to be embracing the challenge! The lemon curd just peeping out! These Viennese Whirls are flavoured with lemon zest, and are filled with a vegan vanilla-flavoured American buttercream and a homemade vegan lemon curd. I'm sure this isn't the first time I've made vegan lemon curd, but for the life of me I can't remember which bake I used it for... I know I've made vegan passionfruit curd to go in my vegan Strawberries and Coconut Cream Meringue Cake, so maybe that's what I'm thinking of? Preparing the dough for the whirls is very easy. To start with, all you have to do is cream together vegan butter and icing sugar, before adding gluten free flour, xanthan gum, corn flour, and lemon zest. This method is so easy it almost feels criminal! The resulting dough, which is very similar to shortb

Vegan and gluten free cake is taken to a whole new level courtesy of these recipes from Freya Cox's Simply Vegan recipe book! I don't think I've ever used a recipe book quite as often as I have this one, and I honestly cannot recommend this book enough! Without further ado, say hello to my first show-stopping bake of the year, this vegan and gluten free Winter Spice Pumpkin Cake! Confession time, I actually baked this cake nearly three weeks ago, but I've just been so busy with job interviews, buying a car, and more baking (of course!) that I've been struggling to keep up with writing about my bigger bakes. A few smaller posts helped to ease me back into the flow of blogging, and writing about my Aperol Spritz Mini-Cakes eased me back into longer posts, just like this one is about to be!  Anyone who has been keeping somewhat up to date with my blog posts will know that I adore pumpkin spice, and wintery vibes in general. As the nights are getting lighter and spring

Who's ready for an original recipe?! Fair warning, this post is quite long! These past few days have been some of the most anxiety-ridden ever for me. I'm starting a new job (stressful), the interview for which involved a ten-minute presentation (stressful), leaving behind an industry I've worked in for seven years in favour of one I have zero experience in (stressful), and I've finally gone out and got myself a car (extra stressful, considering how much I hate driving!). I've been feeling constantly nervous and anxious for well over a week, and I've been feeling so run down and exhausted as a result... I needed to do something to take my mind off the changes happening around me. I haven't been able to sit still long enough to focus on a book, and feeling ill once again has made running a challenge. So I decided to do a little bit of baking, and coming up with an original recipe felt like the perfect way to distract myself! And it worked! The eagled eyed out