Are you a professional pastry chef? Do you take orders for your desserts?
No. For the moment, I'm an amateur, home-baker and this blog is my hobby in my spare time. I don't currently take any orders for my baking.
What camera/lens/post-processing software do you use?
I'm currently using a Canon 600D with a Sigma ART 18-35mm F1.8 lens (previously a Canon 50mm f/1.8 lens). Previously (before July 2011) I used a Canon 500D with a kit lens, and a Fujifilm point and shoot before that. You can probably tell when I switched from point and shoot to DSLR if you look through the archives. I do most of my photo editing in Adobe Lightroom, except for the square collages which I put together in Photoshop (CS5). I'm still a complete beginner when it comes to photography and food styling and have plenty to improve upon, I definitely don't think it's my place to give any tutorials on the subject.
I would love to share one of your images on my own website/facebook! OR I made your recipe with my own photos and would love to share the recipe with my readers! Is this okay?
Absolutely! BUT you must credit me in the correct manner, it's the polite thing to do and then you won't be breaking copyright. My blog is covered by a Creative Commons License, which states that it's okay to share some of my content so long as you attribute me correctly. That means a direct link to the original blog post. NOT just the front page of my blog. Please make sure the link is clearly placed near the image or recipe that you reuse on your page, preferably including the full name of my blog. I would also prefer that you do not copy images AND the recipe from the same post, because then you're pretty much just ripping all my content and there's no need for people to visit the original source, which is pretty unfair since I put a lot of time and effort into trying out each recipe, photographing it and writing about it. If you're not sure about something, email me first! DO NOT POST MY PHOTOS ON INSTAGRAM. There are no means to sufficiently credit me and I will report any photos posted on instagram as copyright infringement.
Why are some of your recipes in grams? Can you convert the measurements for me?
I live in Australia. We use the metric system. If you are a regular baker, investing in a pair of digital scales is definitely worthwhile. If you are a beginner baker, it is just as worthwhile as it will help you ensure you are accurately measuring the amounts specified in a recipe. Measuring flour in cups is notoriously inconsistent. I try my best to include both gram and cup measurements when I can, but it is REALLY easy to convert any recipe yourself. The internet has loads of nifty measurement converters for this very purpose. My favourite conversion site is this one from Traditional Oven. It has specific converters for Flour, Sugar, Butter, as well as volume and weight. I can't guarantee its accuracy but it has served me well in the past.
What the heck is pouring cream?
The different types of cream around the world is actually quite confusing and varied. Checking the wikipedia page might help clear things up. I generally use pouring (pure, unthickened) cream or thickened cream, which are both around 35% fat. If you are in the US, using whipping or heavy whipping cream as a substitute should work fine.
What the heck is caster sugar?
Superfine sugar. You can replace with white/granulated sugar if necessary.
What the heck is *insert ingredient here* and where do I find it?
What recipes would you recommend for beginners?
If you are a beginner baker, I would recommend to first try out some basic cake recipes from reliable cookbooks like Stephanie Alexander's The Cooks Companion, Delia Smith's How To Cook books (she taught me how to beat my egg whites) or try some good ol' Martha. Some of my recipes can be a bit tricky (especially the macaron ones) and you need to be quite comfortable with baking so you can tell if you're on the right track. I'm just a girl trying out recipes in my kitchen, I don't have a team of recipe testers to check every recipe I post is foolproof (I wish I did), so please feel free to email me if you believe a recipe has a typo or you have any improvements to suggest.
Can you add a pinterest button for your blog posts? Do you have a pinterest account I can follow? Do you have a facebook account that I can follow?
Yes! I just added a Pin button at the bottom of each blog post, which you can see when you click into each post (by clicking on the blog post title). I also have a pinterest board where I have pinned all my own posts, so feel free to repin me from there!
And YES! I finally have a Facebook page. You can like it here: https://www.facebook.com/raspberricupcakes. You can also subscribe to my blog via email or RSS (links on the sidebar), or follow me on twitter to see when put a new post up!
For any other questions, find me on instagram .