Polar Bear Christmas Cake

Its lovely to be back home for Christmas and have some time to get crafty in the kitchen. I’ve really  missed baking while I’ve been away at university. I thought I’d do something different for my festive baking this year….

Christmas Polar Bear Cake

… I couldn’t resist making a polar bear Christmas cake – I’ve named him Henry :)

Merry Christmas!!

Gilly xx

Close up of Henry the Polar Bear

Calendula Long Knotted Necklace

I’m celebrating! There’s free shipping on ALL orders at Gillyflower Jewellery throughout September!

I’m leaving for university in a few weeks and while I’m studying I might need to close my Etsy and Folksy shops. So… September is a great time to celebrate and offer free shipping to all my customers :)

My online Folksy shop is mainly for buyers in the UK, and my online Etsy shop is for UK and International buyers. Do drop by and have a little browse – all my colourful and funky jewellery is handmade by me in Lincolnshire and features my trademark glass flower focals. Gilly ✿ xxx

Cherry Blossom Cupcake

Just a few cherry and almond cupcakes this week, decorated as I did once before with pink fondant tops and pink flower adornments. The sponge is almond, containing almond essence and ground almonds, and is filled with cherry jam and a preserved whole cherry. The cakes are topped with a thin layer of almond buttercream and then the rolled fondant. I ♥ cherries!

UK Handmade Autumn Issue

Flick through the beautiful new bumper issue of UK Handmade magazine and be inspired for the forthcoming season :) The lazy summer days are the perfect chance to plan your crafty autumnal activities and read about Britain’s wonderful craft heritage – there’s a great feature piece on silk weaver Debby Kirby and a lovely article on the return of Harris Tweed. Plus there are recipes, including my spiced butternut squash cuppies on page 55, and fabulous craft tutorials. So get reading, its a great way to chill out on  a summer’s afternoon :)

Spiced Butternut Squash Cupcakes

Cupcakes Take The Cake Website

Ooh, my new home cupcakes have been blogged on the fabulous Cupcakes Take The Cake blog, one of the most popular cupcake blogs. Awesome, thank you Rachel :)

New Home Cupcakes Blogged

Moving to Cornwall Cupcakes

My wonderful and very dear friend Jules and her husband Pip are moving away to a beautiful cottage in Cornwall this weekend (sob!) so I made some cupcakes with beach, home and hobby related decorations to let them know that I’ll miss them loads but hope they’re really happy in their new house. That’s supposed to be a guitar, not a violin, by the way! The cakes were all gluten free: zesty lemon (shown in the pics) and also chocolate brownie. Love  you Jules xxx

Forest Flower Knotted Necklace

Its a good week for Gillyflower Jewellery! Folksy has picked my shop as a featured seller, so my jewellery will be on the front page at various times and my shop will be listed as featured seller on the Folksy website. Hurrah, I’m thrilled :) Think I should probably get busy and make a few new pieces, there’s a lack of red and purple in my shop at the moment…  *grabs pliers*

Lemon Gluten Free Cupcakes

I made some gluten free lemon sponge cakes this week for a Friday get together with a couple of good friends. I used Doves Farm gluten free flour as usual, but I felt they tasted a little bit weird this time – like potato pancakes! The flour does include some potato flour as part of the gluten free mix, but I haven’t noticed it before. I think I overcooked them a little, a mistake I often make with gluten free – gf cakes can be a little bit dry so its best to take them out a few minutes earlier than regular sponge. Anyway, they were OK and served their purpose: tea and cake with friends, lovely :)

I blogged the recipe a few years ago, click here to see how to  make them. I haven’t sold them very well with all my complaining about potato and dryness, but they’re normally pretty good and most people don’t even realise they’re gluten free! Also, I highly recommend chocolate brownies made with Doves Farm flour to the recipe on the back of the flour packet. The recipe is here on my blog and is also on their website. Totally yum!

Spiced Butternut Squash and White Chocolate Cupcakes

So…. what do you do if you have a glut of butternut squash? Make cupcakes, of course! Oh, and I suppose a soup might be a good idea too. That’s how it is in my kitchen: the cupcakes come first.

I’ve experimented a little bit and come up with spiced butternut squash and white chocolate cupcakes topped with cinnamon cream cheese butter icing. To add some variety I also made a mascarpone frosting with a little icing sugar, mascarpone cheese and a dash of fresh orange juice.

Spiced Butternut Squash and White Chocolate Cupcakes with Mascarpone Frosting

They’re for a tutorial for UK Handmade magazine’s Autumn issue, coming out around September. I like how they’ve turned out, as they’re a bit like a carrot cake (which I love!) although I think I prefer them with the mascarpone topping rather than the cinnamon cream cheese buttercream. I guess you could also top them with a white chocolate ganache although that might be a little bit too sweet….

Spiced Butternut Squash and White Chocolate Cupcakes with Cinnamon Cream Cheese Frosting

On to the soup… I have a nice simple recipe for butternut squash soup from my copy of The Student Vegetarian Cookbook, but its a little bit too bland for my taste, and too rich, so now when I make it I reduce the butter (and the quantity of parmesan cheese to garnish) and add a large handful of chopped fresh sage from my herb patch, plus tinned or freshly cooked cannellini beans to pep it up.  It makes a large saucepan full of soup, so its been soup for lunch every day for the last week and the rest I’ve frozen. The recipe is on the UK Handmade blog for today’s Lifestyle section.

Butternut Squash, Sage and Cannellini Bean Soup

Rose Mallow Pendant Necklace

I’m starting to expand my jewellery collection a little bit, and have been adding to the Rose Mallow set recently :) I think I may have actually exhausted my previously unlimited capacity for pink! Lol.

The pink pendant necklace was the first flower pendant I ever made, back in 2007, but when I started doing craft fairs I needed a wider variety of styles, so I started making corsage style asymmetric necklaces, and a Rose Mallow version was one of the earlier designs.

Rose Mallow Asymmetric Necklace

I think they sold well because they were a little bit different, but people also seemed drawn to the knotted jewellery I had in other colours, so I added a long knotted necklace to the range…. I’ve really struggled to take a nice photo of the long knotted necklace, sigh.

Rose Mallow Long Knotted Necklace

Last on my to-do list was a beaded necklace with a central pink flower focal, to make something wearable for people who don’t want long or fussy! Now I’ve got just one more style up my sleeve, which I’m working on at the moment – a short knotted necklace with little dangly beads (for people who do want fussy, I guess!). It should turn out to be a little bit like the Woodland Flower Knotted Necklace….

Rose Mallow Beaded Necklace

So, watch this space…. or maybe come back later – I’m pretty slow at finishing new projects ;)