Copycat Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Syrup (plus the ultimate hot chocolate)

by Michelle @ A Tipsy Giraffe // September 27, 2014 // 19 Comments

That’s right guys, you get two recipes for the price of one in this post! Plus you’ll be able to make your Pumpkin Spice Latte’s at home for a fraction of the price with this copycat Starbucks pumpkin spice syrup, what more could you want on a Saturday afternoon?

I don’t like coffee, at all. In fact, I hate it. I don’t even feel bad about admitting that! But I was always jealous of everybody who got to enjoy pumpkin spice lattes at this time of year, because while I hate coffee pumpkin spice is one of my absolute favourite thing (I mean, I did make pumpkin pie into an ice cream after all). So I went into Starbucks earlier this week and asked for a pumpkin spice hot chocolate. And let me tell you, I got some funny looks from both baristas and lots of “You want pumpkin spice hot chocolate?!” But it was worth the judgemental looks because it was delicious! After my first sip, I knew I was doomed! I was going to become a slave to Starbucks. I’m already a slave to Costa (they make amazing cinnamon hot chocolates, I went there so often when I was living in Birmingham that they got me a Christmas card one year!) so I knew I couldn’t afford to be addicted to Starbucks too, even if just for one season! So, last night I set to make my own pumpkin spice syrup, and boy am I glad I did!

This syrup is amazing, it has all that yummy warm autumn spices plus that subtle pumpkin taste. I only mad a relatively small amount for my first attempt, but it can easily be doubled or tripled to give you lots more! I can’t tell you how long it will keep since I only made it last night and I’m too eager to share it with you all to test it’s longevity, but it’s a simple syrup so I’m sure it’ll last at least a few months in the fridge. It probably won’t get a chance to last that long in my house though! The syrup is easy to make, the hardest part is straining it as it does take a while – but I’m an impatient person so it’ll be smooth sailing for most people! It also contains real pumpkin* (*or butternut squash technically) so it’s practically healthy (let me have that one okay)! Not a fan of pumpkin? No problem! Switch out the pumpkin puree for some apple puree and you’ve got a beautiful spiced apple syrup!

You can of course use this syrup in your lattes, it will also be great on pancakes, ice cream – you name it! But I of course used mine in hot chocolate, which is why I’m also going to share with you my ultimate hot chocolate recipe. I got this mixture recipe from Jamie Oliver a long time ago now and I’ve never turned back to ready made hot chocolate mixes since. Trust me, you won’t either. It’s easy to put together as much as you like, stick in a jar and crack into it whenever you need a yummy hot chocolate treat.

I urge you to give this syrup a go and I’m willing to bet you that your local Starbucks will be starting to miss your presence!

I’m going to be bringing this along to Fiesta Friday today, as a late treat for our wonderful host and co-hosts – Angie, Prudy and Naina. Hopefully this little pick me up will keep them and you partiers going through the weekend! If you’ve not partied at Fiesta Friday before, grab a mug and come join us!

Pumpkin Spice Syrup

2014-09-27 12:29:37

Copycat Starbucks Pumpkin Spice Syrup - make your own PSL at home!

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Ingredients

370ml water
130g light brown sugar
200g caster sugar
100g pumpkin puree
2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp ground cloves
1/2 tsp ground ginger
1/2 tsp ground nutmeg
1 tsp vanilla extract

Instructions

Heat the water and sugars in a medium saucepan over a medium heat until the sugars have dissolved
Stir in the spices and pumpkin puree and simmer for 8-10 minutes. Do not boil. Stir occasionally.
Remove from the heat.
Place a wire mesh sieve over a large bowl, and line the sieve with cheese cloth, a muslin or very thin tea towel.
Strain the mixture through this. You will end up with a very thin syrup in the bowl and a thick paste will be left behind. I saved this, I'm not sure what I'll use it for yet though!
Leave the syrup to cool and then stir in the vanilla
Pour into a jar and seal, store in the fridge

Notes

Use 2-3 tbsp of syrup in your coffee or hot chocolate.
See link below for what to do you if you can't buy canned pumpkin puree in your country

By Michelle @ Giraffes Can Bake

A Tipsy Giraffe https://www.atipsygiraffe.com/

If you can’t get canned pumpkin puree in your country like me, see this post on what I use instead. It’s pretty much the same stuff you’ll find in canned pumpkin puree 🙂

Ultimate Hot Chocolate

2014-09-27 12:36:03

A delicious homemade hot chocolate mix, just add hot milk!

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Ingredients

4 tbsp malt milk drink mix (e.g. horlicks)
4 tbsp cornflour
8 tbsp cocoa
6 tbsp icing sugar
200g good quality dark chocolate, finely grated
1/8 tsp cinnamon
1/8 tsp salt
Hot milk
Whipped cream (optional)

Instructions

Mix all the ingredients together
Heat your milk in a pan on medium heat until it's just about to boil
Add your hot chocolate mix and whisk in
Leave to cook on a low heat for a couple of minutes
Pour into your favourite mug, top with whipped cream if using and sprinkle on some pumpkin spice mix

Notes

Use 5 generous tablespoons of mixture per 500ml/1pint of milk
Double this recipe to make as much as you like!
Store in a sealed container

By Michelle @ Giraffes Can Bake

Adapted from Jamie Oliver

A Tipsy Giraffe https://www.atipsygiraffe.com/

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Scraptastic Saturday

Fig and Orange Kugelhopf

by Michelle @ A Tipsy Giraffe // September 26, 2014 // 52 Comments

It’s time for European Cakes week of my GBBO challenge! Yay! And I made this fig and orange kugelhopf! A kugelhopf, or gugelhupf, is a yeast leavened cake usually filled with soaked dried fruit such as raisins or dates. I think it is Austrian, but also native to Germany and Hungary and it’s what inspired the American favourite – the bundt cake! I know what you’re probably thinking – but Michelle, why is the Great British Bake Off doing a European Cakes week? Isn’t that a bit redundant considering Britain is in Europe? Well, maybe. But one thing you should probably know about us Brits is we don’t really consider ourselves real Europe (I think some Brits like to think of us as our own continent sometimes!). Taking a day trip to France? You’re not just going to a neighbouring country, you’re going to “the continent” – it’s like we’re a little village on the outside of a big city! So when you hear Brits talking about “Europe” we most likely mean any European country that isn’t part of our Islands!

This cake was a bit of a challenge for me! This is my first time using yeast to leaven a cake and let me tell you, it’s made me appreciate baking powder a lot more! But this is the way they used to make cakes rise before such wonderful things like baking powder were invented, and Europe sure does love it’s traditions! My first attempt was a big failure, my dough just didn’t rise at all – I baked it anyway though to test the flavours and I ended up with a very dense, malt loaf kind of texture. The flavours were great though so at least I knew I had that part sussed. My mum, however, loved it and she ate almost the whole thing! Which was a little weird, but at least it didn’t go to waste! For my second attempt I tackled it from a different, more cake like way as the first time I treated it like a bread dough and mixed the ingredients as such. And it came out great!

As you might imagine, this cake has more of a fruit bread texture than a cake texture, but it is very light. It’s great eaten warm, fresh from the oven and would be yummy with afternoon tea. It’s also wonderful toasted and eaten for breakfast, it would be amazing with my cinnamon honey butter generously spread on it. This kugelhopf is stuffed full of orange zest and dried figs, the dried figs were soaked in orange juice and spiced rum overnight. I then saved the liquid from that to make a honeyed syrup that I cooked fresh figs and orange segments in to decorate the top, and poured the syrup over the warm cake. There were so many warm, yummy flavours coming from this cake – it’s a definite winner. It’s a bit of long winded process to make this cake but I think it’s worth it, you can however speed up the process a little and I’ll explain how in the notes after the recipe.

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Pumpkin Pie Ice Cream

by Michelle @ A Tipsy Giraffe // September 12, 2014 // 63 Comments

I have been wanting to make ice cream for a long time but I don’t have an ice cream machine. Ice cream is pretty much my favourite food in the world! Finally I just went for it, ice cream maker be damned (I’m a rebel, I know) and it was the best decision ever. This ice cream is creamy and oh so tasty, I’ll be having dreams about it for years to come! And not only does it not require an ice cream machine, it only takes about 5 minutes to put together (not including freezing time, of course, that would be insane!). A big shout out to all the (what felt like) hundreds of ice cream recipes I looked at online trying to figure out the best way to make ice cream at home!

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Brown Sugar & Pecan Caramel Bundt Cake

by giraffescanbake // June 13, 2014 // 61 Comments

Oh my god you guys, Oh. My. God. It’s is Fiesta Friday #20 and I have brought something really special! This brown sugar & pecan caramel pound cake, it is amazing. You NEED to try it. It’s a pound cake but it’s so, so light and moist, and the brown sugar combined with the toffee and caramel is to die for. I will be making this cake again, several times.

Leah’s mum has been asking me to make her this cake for a while now after she saw a photo of one on Facebook and I finally got around to doing it for her. I wish I hadn’t waited so long, so many missed opportunities to enjoy this cake. Luckily for me I made enough batter for two bundt tins so I got to have one too!

There is a lot of sugar in this cake, mostly brown sugar. And it has chopped pecans nestled inside and lots of yummy heath toffee bits! Then it’s topped with a very generous helping of caramel sauce. So much sweet, caramel flavour in this cake it’s like heaven… and definitely not for the health nuts! But everyone deserves a treat every now and then right?

Father’s day is this weekend too, and if this isn’t a perfect father’s day cake I don’t know what is! Who needs hallmark when you have this much caramel to indulge in!

And the best part? It’s so easy to make! You just beat the butter, cream it with the sugar, beat in the eggs and add the dry ingredients and the milk. Stir in your pecans and toffee and bake! Then the caramel sauce is just as easy to make, just heat the condensed milk with sugar, whisk in the butter and vanilla and you’re done. You want to pour on the caramel sauce while it’s still hot as it does harden a little as it cools.

I’m not sure what else I can say about this cake that isn’t just me gushing about how much I love it! So instead I’ll let you guys try it out for yourselves. It is Fiesta Friday after all, this week’s is co-hosted by Fae and Suzanne so make sure you go check them out! And, of course, a big thanks to Angie for bringing us this wonderful party every week!

I recently updated this recipe with new photos and made it gluten free, make sure you check it out here!

[recipe title=”Brown Sugar & Pecan Caramel Pound Cake”]
Ingredients

For the cake:

1 1/2 cups butter, softened
2 cups light brown sugar, packed
1 cup caster sugar
5 large eggs, room temperature
3 cups plain flour
1 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 cup whole milk
1 bag heath toffee bits (8oz)
1 cup pecans, roughly chopped

For the caramel sauce:

1 can sweetened condensed milk (14oz)
1 cup brown sugar
2 tbsp butter
1/2 tsp vanilla extract

Method

Preheat oven to 160C/325F. Grease your bundt pan(s) well.
Combine the flour, baking powder and salt in a medium bowl and set aside
Beat the butter until pale and creamy. Beat in sugars until fluffy.
Beat in the eggs one at a time until combined.
Add the flour mixture and milk alternatively, starting and ending with the flour. Beat until just combined.
Stir in the toffee bits and pecans.
Spoon batter into pans and bake for approximately 1 hour and 20 minutes, until skewer comes out clean. After 50 minutes of baking, lightly cover with foil to stop it browning too much at top. Leave to cool in pan for 10 minutes then transfer to wire rack.
While cake is cooling make the caramel sauce. In a medium saucepan, combined condensed milk and brown sugar and bring to the boil over a medium high heat, whisking often. Reduce heat and simmer for 8 minutes, whisking often. Remove from heat and whisk in butter and vanilla. Leave to cool for 5 minutes
Pour the caramel sauce over the cooled cake, you want to do this while the sauce is still hot as it hardens slightly as it cools.
Garnish with more pecan halves, serve

Notes:

Make sure you grease your pan well as this is a very moist cake and it can be a bit of a pain to coax out without breaking! I use this home made pan release and it’s great.
This cake is great eaten right after you’ve added the sauce, when it’s all warm and gooey (be careful the sauce isn’t too hot, don’t want any burned tongues!)
This recipe will make one 12 cup bundt pan cake, or almost two 6 cup bundt pan cakes (I had one slightly smaller one)
Store in an airtight container for 3-5 days

[/recipe]