Gibby Bakes

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 ...

This might just be my most triumphant bake to date, owed in part to the fact that it's an entirely vegan creation! This a Vegan Chocolate and Salted Caramel Cake! The cake is comprised of four layers of chocolate sponge, is filled and decorated with chocolate and salted caramel buttercream, and is topped with homemade double chocolate cookies and homemade vegan fudge! The drip (which did so much emotional damage to me!) is a salted caramel sauce.  I had to combine elements from a few different recipes to pull this cake together, the majority of which come from Freya Cox's vegan baking book. This book is proving to be something of a vegan baking bible! To start with, I made the sponges following the method for her Black Forest Gateaux recipe, which uses espresso powder to enhance the chocolate flavour! The cookies are a take on Freya's Triple Chocolate Cookies, except I couldn't find any vegan friendly white chocolate in shops near me, and had to leave it out. For the bu...

The next part of my autumn spice journey comes in the form of these Vegan Carrot Cake Cupcakes! Don't get me wrong, the autumn spice isn't the main attraction here, but it features prominently enough for me to count it as one of my signature autumn bakes!  The cakes! Carrot Cake is one of my absolutely favourite flavours, and honestly if you say you don't like it you just have a bit of growing up to do! These cupcakes are flavoured with orange zest, cinnamon, nutmeg, ginger, obviously feature grated carrots, but also contain walnuts and dried cranberries for a little sour hit amongst the sweetness! Less is more with the  decoration here, showing  off the piping! These cakes, like the Vegan and Gluten Free Pumpkin Spice Cupcakes, are topped with a vegan cream cheese frosting. Cream cheese frosting is another favourite of mine, and to make it vegan is something of a triumph! Simply using vegan butter and vegan cream cheese makes a stunning frosting. From the practice vegan ...

My pumpkin spice mission continues! If you've read even a couple of my posts then you'll be absolutely sick of me banging on about this, but I just love autumn! After a few doctors appointments and illnesses I've managed to get back out running, and I reckon it's the best time of year for it. A favourite route of mine involves running in circuits up and around the park woods, and after seeing how the colours on the trees had changed since my last run I knew I just had to do some more autumn inspired baking!  The Pumpkin Spice Cupcake  alongside a vegan Carrot Cake  Cupcake! In all honestly this is my second attempt at these cupcakes. The first cakes I made simply just to try some more vegan and gluten free baking, and I had a nightmare! I ordered myself some cute little autumn leaf cupcake cases to go with the theme, but they were a strange size. They were halfway between fairy cake cases and bun cases, and I didn't have a tin the right size to accommodate them. Thi...

These first few posts are certainly following a then vs now trend, but I'm finding it interesting to reflect on my previous bakes and see where I'm at now (even if no one else is!). So I thought I'd do the same here, and take the time to show off some of my vegan bakes! I've really struggled with vegan baking in the past, but my latest attempts were very tasty (if I do say so myself)! My Latest Vegan Bake: My latest attempts at vegan baking, and probably my most successful, are these Lemon and Elderflower Cupcakes.   Decorated with lemon peel and chrysanthemums! Decorated with white roses and chrysanthemums! A combination of roses, lemon peel, gypsophila  and chrysanthemums! Personally, I think these cupcakes are rather pretty. My initial idea was to use union flag cupcake cases with little cocktail stick flagpoles to better relate these cupcakes to the platinum jubilee. The recipe I was following for these cakes wasn't vegan, but I had the audacity to believe that ...