It is with great pleasure that I can announce that I am writing a food column over at Decor8 Blog for 2016!
Decor8 has a new bumping team of creatives writing on a regular basis, and Australia is representing with myself and Emma Duckworth, a stylist from Sydney heading up a portion the food content.
This months post is – Gingerbread Snack Cake.
I’ve tended away from recipes to share content centred around photography here at TLS, so this was the perfect outlet to share some recipes and my passion for my two loves with a broader audience.
It was such a random occurrence that led me to this role. Never underestimate the power of social media!
Kim, an artist from Florida, gave me a shout out on Instagram that she’d think I’d be a great fit and well, look where we are now!
You can view the full post here.
But in the meantime, have a scroll through the images I created for my first post including some moodier images created when the light changed.
After I shot the series for the post, the light had changed dramatically and I loved the moody feeling I was getting (like the in the first image of this post and above image).
It gives the dish a completely new feel and portrays a richer ginger colour.
That is one of the beauties of natural light. When you’ve figured out what you think you want, it can surprise you in the most delightful ways.
The first image in this post is probably my favourite and I am quite glad I have it in my portfolio now.
My aim is to get a wider variety of looks and light, and yes moodier shots!
The props in this post were kindly provided by West Elm, and I carefully picked shapes, colours and textures that I knew would not only compliment the rich warmth of the ginger but enhance it as well.
It came together really nicely and shows the importance of props in executing a powerful and emotive shot.
Gingerbread Snack Cake
Ingredients
½ cup pain, all purpose flour
1 ½ tablespoons ground ginger
1 teaspoon allspice
½ teaspoon baking powder
1 teaspoon salt
½ cup boiling water
½ teaspoon baking soda
1 tablespoon ginger, finely minced
110g butter, chopped
½ cup brown sugar
¼ cup golden syrup or molasses
¼ cup maple syrup
1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste or vanilla extract
½ teaspoon orange zest (optional)
1 free range egg
Icing sugar to dust
Directions
Preheat the oven to 180 C/ 350 F. Grease and line a 20cm x 20cm (9” x 9”) cake tin.
In a small bowl, add baking soda and boiling water and stir. Once combined, add finely diced ginger. Set aside.
In a large bowl, sift together flour, ground ginger, allspice, baking powder. Add salt and mix until combined. Set aside.
Using an electric mixer, cream butter and sugar together. Add both syrups, vanilla, orange zest and baking soda mixture and beat until fully incorporated.
Slowly add the flour /dry ingredients into the mixture and beat until fully combined. Add in the egg and continue to beat until the egg is incorporated.
Pour the mixture into the prepared tin and bake for 30 minutes or until lightly golden and the cake bounces back at the touch. Remove and allow to cool.
With a sharp knife, trim the edges of the cake and slice evenly into small serving squares. Dust with icing sugar and serve.
Lynnette
This ginger snack cake looks amazing. I really like the moody shots but what draws me to your photography is the beautiful clean, crisp and bright photos you produce that makes the dish just pop! I can smell that cake from here. Need to pin this so that when we get back to our home, I can use the oven to bake this gorgeous treat. A cup of earl grey tea would do nicely.
Rachel
Cheers Lynnette. Yes, we know I am a big fan of the bright and airy images. I do like it when moody ones surprise me and I am really conscious of getting more variety in my portfolio this year. The cake is amazing and I am not a huge fan of cake (for eating that is). Nice choice, earl grey would pair amazingly. Love it.
Kristi
Thanks for sharing this recipe! And, I second what Lynnette wrote. Your eye is so amazing!
Kristi
Oh, and congratulations on the column! 🙂
Rachel
Thanks Kristi! It is a bit of fun to part of the Decor8 team. I had a poke around your site and I love what you have done with the place! Our tastes are so similar.
Kristi
You bet, Rachel! I’m looking forward to checking it out.
And I have to be honest in that your site inspired the direction I went with mine, in case it wasn’t obvious 🙂 I love your style and your posts and have been inspired to learn more about food photography as a result. Thanks for that! 🙂
Rachel
Yes I did notice Kristi! I am always inspired by what others are doing and trying to work that into my site in a way that reflects me also.
Marisa Franca @ All Our Way
Hi Rachel! Congratulations on your new adventure. I can’t wait to see more of the recipes. I love gingerbread! Your recipe looks amazing. Now, I have a question — what is your dark surface. It looks a little like a slate of some kind. I really like that it isn’t real shiny so that it would interfere with the light. Have a great day!!
Rachel
It is a slate placemat, from West Elm in fact. If you head over the to full post on Decor8 (link in the body of the post) you will see a link to their site with the product itself. It hasn’t got a finish on it so hence the mat look. Shiny would be too much I agree.
Duck
The recipe calls for 1 10 grams butter. Do you mean just 10 grams of butter?
Rachel
Hey Duck, the recipe calls for 110g of butter. I am not seeing a typo of ‘1 10 grams’, send us a screenshot if the error persists but the correct amount should be 110g.
yaz
Is the first ingredient mean’t to say “plain” instead of “pain”? And does it really only need 1/2 cup of flour?
Anne
Hi, is that a typo in the recipe? Half cup of flour doesn’t sound like it’s enough. Do you mean 1 1/2 cup of flour?