Autumn Strawberry and Banana Smoothie

by Michelle @ A Tipsy Giraffe // October 13, 2014 // 5 Comments

Happy Monday guys! Well, I say “happy”, I’m writing this post from bed while I’m off work sick. The lurgy has well and truly gotten a hold of me. This autumn strawberry and banana smoothie would definitely warm me up and make me feel better though. In fact, I might get out of bed and make myself one up now!

I was having a real craving for a smoothie and the only fruit I had in my freezer was strawberries. I also had some quickly over ripening bananas. As yummy as a classic strawberry and banana smoothie is, it was a bit too summery for my over enthusiastic autumn mood. So I autumned this sucker up!

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Jam Donuts

by Michelle @ A Tipsy Giraffe // October 10, 2014 // 37 Comments

These yummy jam donuts are week 8 of my GBBO challenge, the theme being advanced dough. It was also the quarter final and the week my favourite contestant left the tent!

I’m going to give you an insight into my brain – it was 1:30am and I couldn’t sleep and was feeling very antsy, so what do I do? Read a book? Watch some television? Nope! I got up and made some donut dough! It seemed to do the trick at least. Normally you would leave this dough to rise in a warm place for an hour or so, but since I wasn’t about to stay up all night making donuts (I may be crazy, but I’m not that crazy!) I left mine to do it’s first rise in the fridge overnight. Having it rise in the fridge slowed down the yeast so it didn’t over prove. The second rise, or actual proving, I did at room temperature and it left me with a perfect donut.

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Plum and Ginger Upside Down Cake

by Michelle @ A Tipsy Giraffe // October 8, 2014 // 12 Comments

Wow, what a day today has been! It’s my day off so I had plans to be pretty lazy and also make some mini poptarts. The lazy part of the plan didn’t work out too well when the dishwasher decided to break and flood my kitchen! So I have spent most of the day trying to fix the dishwasher (and failing), cleaning up the the floods and hand washing everything that was in the dishwasher! I did make the mini poptarts too though and they’re adorable (don’t worry, I’ll be sharing those with you ASAP!). I’m going to spend the rest of the evening watching New Girl and eating pasta!

When a day doesn’t go to plan it can really throw you off, so I decided to cheer myself up by sharing something with you all that went better than planned – this amazing plum and ginger upside down cake! I got this idea from a client at work, she told me about a plum and ginger upside down cake that she makes and it just sounded divine to me, I had to make my own!

I’ve never made an upside down cake before, I’ve always associated them with pineapple and I’m allergic to pineapple so it’s never an idea that’s been at the front of my mind. I’m glad I started with this cake though. The combination of the buttermilk, sour cream, and syrupy goodness make this cake so moist it should be illegal! Yet it still holds its shape well, slides out of the pan with zero effort and isn’t mushy.

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Kale Avocado Banana Smoothie

by Michelle @ A Tipsy Giraffe // October 6, 2014 // 5 Comments

I’ve always been turned off by the idea of green smoothies. I don’t know why, because I love my greens! Spinach? Yum! Kale? One of my favourite foods! But the idea of drinking them just sounded wrong to me! But I am officially a convert, green smoothies are awesome!

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Goop! – A Homemade Pan Release

by Michelle @ A Tipsy Giraffe // October 5, 2014 // 12 Comments

If you’re a baker, you’ll understand the importance of greasing your pans properly so your cakes and the like all release from the pan effortlessly, no fuss no muss! I’m sure we’ve all tried it all – butter, flour, oil, baking sprays, cake release, the list goes on. But if you haven’t tried goop before, I’m about to change your life!

Life changing is a big promise I know, but I’m not overstating things here! I think it’s important right off the bat to say I do not take a single ounce of credit for this wonderful invention – I don’t think anybody knows who was the first to come up with this wonderful stuff, I think it’s probably as old as baking itself! But despite the fact it’s an age old recipe, it’s ridiculously cheap and easy to make and it’s the most effective pan release out there – there’s still so many people who don’t use it or know about it!

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