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� Hobby Baker in the Highlands
� Professional Photographer husband
� Danusia Bakes, Matthias Takes

16/12/2025

🎄Chocolate Guinness Christmas Tree Cupcakes🎄

I made these cupcakes a couple of years ago after seeing a similar design on Facebook on the lead up to Christmas. I decided to use the chocolate Guinness cake recipe that I have from because I wanted a dark cake for the base and I'm not a huge fan of plain chocolate cake.

Normally when I do the Guinness cake I make a Baileys buttercream icing, but for these cupcakes I decided to do a Baileys Swiss meringue buttercream instead. I love how smooth the icing was, and it tasted great, but I have to admit I prefer the plain Baileys buttercream against the Chocolate Guinness.

Once the cupcakes were made, I decorated them with a chocolate star and edible chocolate baubles. I then sprinkled them with icing sugar to give the snowy look.

I love how these cupcakes ended up and it's such an easy way to do a really festive looking bake.

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01/12/2025

🍒 Schwartzwälder Kirschtorte 🍒

I already posted this cake a couple of years ago but thought I'd post it again with a few "behind the scenes" photos of putting it all together.

This was my first time making a black forest gateau and I did find it quite tricky, mostly because of how thin the cake layers are. However, I'm pleased with how it turned out and it went down well with my friend for his birthday, so I'll take that!

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16/11/2025

🍫 Homemade Salted Caramel Chocolates 🍫

Often when I'm baking I end up with leftover bits and pieces - in this instance, it was chocolate and homemade salted caramel sauce. I have some chocolate moulds that I have been gifted over the years so I thought I'd have a go at making my own caramel chocolates. This was the result - they were pretty big, but bloomin' tasty! It's such a good way to use up excess chocolate and can also make a lovely gift for someone too, although these ones didn't last that long.

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indulgent

08/11/2025

🍁 Canada 2025 🍁

I was recently on holiday in Canada for 2 weeks and, as expected, I visited a lot of lovely eateries and ate a lot of delicious food. So, I thought I'd do a wee post to highlight some of my favourites from the trip.

Canada is such a beautiful country but the Rockies are my absolute favourite. I will definitely be back to do more exploring (and eating) one day.

1. Healthy brunch at in Calgary
2. Multicoloured corn at a local farmers' market near Schomberg
3. Lunch treats from in Algonquin National Park
4. Dinner on the Airbnb balcony with a beautiful view over the Canmore mountains
5. Homemade picnic lunch mid hike at Lake Louise
6. Lunch at in Banff
7. With a take away treat for later, the traditional Canadian Nanaimo Bar
8. A cheeky wee cocktail at in Banff
9. Followed by dinner
10. Chocolate treats from in Banff
11. Tupperwear dinner with some iced tea after a long drive to the hotel (thankfully it had a microwave). Shout out to Lodge in Jasper because it was such a beautiful place to stay.
12. Tasty waffle brunch from in Jasper, one savoury and one sweet to share
13. A treat stop at in Jasper (forgot to take a photo of the cakes!!)
14. A delicious (but badly photographed) almond tart from in Calgary
15. Multicoloured cauliflowers in the market in Toronto - this place is incredible!
16. An outstanding meal at the at the top of the CN Tower in Toronto.
17. One view from the restaurant - it takes 72 minutes to do a full revolution
18. A box of delicious treats from in Nobleton to bring home for friends
19. Not food related, but just one of my favourite holiday photos

16/10/2025

🍁 Nanaimo Bars 🍁

I had never heard of these before and came across them last year on Cupcake Jemma's YouTube channel. I thought they looked interesting so decided to give them a go. They're basically made up of three layers - a biscuit/nut/coconut/chocolatey base, a custard buttercream centre, and a chocolate ganache topping - that are each made and set in the fridge before adding the next. Pretty simple to do.

When I made them, I didn't realise they were Canadian and have only discovered this over the last week whilst I have been on holiday in Canada. I have seen them in every bakery I have visited and so it feels fitting that I share them for my next post.

I won't lie, when I made them myself they weren't my favourite bake. The ratio of butter cream to base was a bit too much for me. I'm still not a huge fan having tried one here, but the real thing is definitely better - the filling almost tastes more creamy than buttery.

The first 7 photos are of my attempt, then I have popped a photo of the bakery where I bought one in Canada, plus a picture of the real deal (you can tell that Matti isn't the photographer for the last 2!!). I have visited a few bakeries here and is up there as a favourite for sure - their blueberry muffin and morning bun were delicious - see the last photo!

📸 Matthias Kremer Photography
📖 Cupcake Jemma

23/09/2025

🥧 Smores Brownie Meringue Pie 🥧

I made this earlier this year for my colleague's birthday as she loves brownie and I wanted to try something new.

I followed a recipe by Cupcake Jemma that I found on Youtube and it was pretty easy to do. The only thing I added as extra was some biscoff spread between the brownie and the meringue, and then a drizzle of biscoff spread on top.

It's a pretty funky bake to try and looks really effective, so definitely worth giving it a go if you like brownie and Italian meringue!

📸 Matthias Kremer Photography
📖 Cupcake Jemma

14/09/2025

💙 M&M Fudge 💙

I enjoy making fudge and it's always such a popular thing at bake sales. This one here is a classic fudge recipe for which you need to have a sugar thermometer as the cream, sugar and syrup have to be boiled until it reaches 116°.

My biggest tip for making this type of fudge is to have a big pan and to make sure you're not afraid to properly let it boil. The first time I tried it my pan wasn't big enough for it to bubble away so the temperature was never coming up high enough. As soon as I transferred it into a bigger pan and turned up the heat it was much better.

You don't need to stir the mixture much whilst it's boiling but once it's reached the 116° you need to take it off the heat and beat it for approximately 5 minutes until it thickens. About 4 minutes into this process you add some chocolate to help thicken it further and to give it that lovely smooth texture.

This recipe was a white chocolate base but you can use any chocolate you like. I also added M&Ms at the end for some taste and colour, but again you can add whatever you like - mini eggs are also a favourite of mine!

This fudge also doesn't need to go in the fridge at all - it sets and can be stored at room temperate. So, if like me, you're always short on fridge space, this is the recipe for you!

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&ms

30/07/2025

🎂 Birthday Cake Commission 🎂

I made this cake last year as a commission for my friend who was giving it to his daughter for her birthday. It is a 4 layer vanilla sponge cake with buttercream and raspberry jam between each layer.

I have to admit that I did not make the macarons on the top as I tried, but they were a complete disaster so that is a work in progress for me. These ones were bought from the Tesco Finest range, which I obviously cleared with my friend first.

The red decoration is just streaks of red buttercream that were then smoothed round with the shaped scraper to give the bumpy effect around the outside. I decorated the top with coloured buttercream using 3 different nozzles to mix up the style and then added some fruit and the macarons to finish it off.

I always find it stressful baking for other people but I was pleased with how this one turned out!

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27/07/2025

🍒 Cherry Ripes 🍒

I made these quite recently after speaking to my Aussie friends Chris Topher and RJ Harbour who said Cherry Ripes were one thing they really missed from home. For those that haven't heard of them before, Cherry Ripes are made by Cadbury Australia and consist of cherries and coconut that are covered in dark chocolate - they're pretty tasty and kinda remind me of a Raspberry Ruffle.

I tried a recipe that I found online by Lazy Cat Kitchen which turned out pretty well. It involved making a cherry syrup which was then blitzed with dessicated coconut and coconut oil until combined. The mixture was then pressed into a tin and frozen until firm enough to cut into pieces. Each piece was then dipped in melted dark chocolate before being set in the fridge.

The most time consuming bit of this recipe was pitting the cherries, but otherwise it was relatively straight forward. It can be a bit of a faff coating the pieces in chocolate but using a fork helps as a lot of the excess falls off between the prongs.

My Aussie friends really enjoyed them so I'll take that as a win!

📸 Matthias Kremer Photography

18/07/2025

🤎 Almond NYC Cookies 🤎

I made these cookies a few weeks ago now after seeing them on Jane's Patisserie website. NYC cookies are one of my favourite things, but then add in ground almonds and a frangipani-type filling and you've got a winner!!

This is a slightly different cookie recipe than what I normally use, but they were delicious. The filling is something you make in advance and then portion up and pop in the freezer so it's easier to stuff inside the cookie balls.

Once the cookie balls are rolled, you can press some flaked almonds onto the top of each one so that you get a lovely roasted almond top after baking.

It's hard to see the filling in the middle because it's such a similar colour to the cookie dough, but it's definitely there and adds an amazing almondy flavour. If you like marzipan, these cookies are for you.

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Address

Scottish Highlands
Highlands

Website

http://mkremerphotography.com/

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