Gertie&Gilbert Cupcakes, Smithfield
FYI: Closed down as of 7th of February. So sadddd :(
Like macarons, cupcakes are one of the latest crazes as the different colours, flavours and decorations tend to stop traffic when walking past a bakery window. Franchise cupcake stores are booming and what I think they’ve forgotten about is going back to basics where flavour does matter and its not just about the pretty decorations on the top.
I was given an opportunity to review Bronze winner of the 2010 Sydney Royal Fine Food Show which shows a “perfect example of what a cupcake should be about!” It should be about the frosting / icing / butter cream which takes you on a journey and leaves you salivating once unwrapped and demolished. It’s about being cute.. soo cute you wouldn’t want to ruin its decorative beauty and most importantly.. its about the consistency of the cake mix (moist, soft, and tasty stumps).
“no point eating a cupcake..
that has a dry lifeless stump”
After you see the photos I’ve taken, I hope you’ll understand how tasty these cupcakes are. Gertie & Gilbert’s cupcakes are a frosting / creamy icing cupcake which wins hands down in terms of its natural flavour and it’s super soft moist cake.
Heavenly Hazelnut
Chocolate and nuts are a match made in heaven and my favourite nut of all is hazelnuts! Eating this reminded me of a Ferrero Roche ball (if you love Ferreros you’ll have try this one). The coconut added created a lovely texture almost reminding me of a lamington YUMMM!!!! This is truly a cupcake that ticks all the right boxes and sends you to another planet.
Luscious Lemon
Frosting on this is different to the rest. Its has traditional icing with the zesty bite of lemon MMmmm! What I loved most was the combination of pistachios throughout the stump which went well with the lemony icing.
Poppy Sunshine
If your a lover of Seinfeld, you would understand Elaine has a thing for poppyseed muffins and this is something she would devour in seconds. Cake was really really moist and fluffy. Frosting was very lemony which was nice. I pictured it to be orange flavoured though. I wonder what it would taste like if icing had an orange taste? ^_^ Over all it hit the right notes! A definite for afternoon tea with the ladies.
Ultimate Chocolate
OH MY GOD! If you want to impress a girl… then boys you’d need to buy this for that special lady your thinking about. Super rich chocolate cake with the cracks on the top, symbolising its similarities to a BROWNIE (only lighter and cakey)!!!!Texture of this is cupcake is completely different although it is very soft and moist, its also very fudge like and slightly heavier than the other cupcake stumps. CHOCOLATE LOVERS THIS IS YOUR MATE!
Vanilla Passion
Eating this is like pashing a passionfruit! The passionfruit frosting was fairly similar to Simmone Louge’s banana and passionfruit cake (delicious cream cheese frosting). ^_^The passionfruit frosting empowered the taste of the vanilla cake which I think is great because as soon as I saw the passionfruit seeds, i knew what to expect and would have felt more disappointed if the vanilla was more dominant than the passionfruit.
Cupcakes on Pitt have a passionfruit cupcake which is tasteless, leaving your mouth full of buttercream :( Just comes to show Gertie & Gilbert acknowledge the natural flavours and ingredients which allows their cupcakes to shine. Thumbs up!!!!
Banana Bliss
Banana Bliss is the award winning flavour. When I first saw this I thought this was a rhubarb cupcake as I mistook the white chocolate for coconut. Best banana cupcake I’ve tried! Stumps were soft, fluffy and tasty and the white chocolateeee ahhh sooo good!!!. Just can’t go wrong with this one.
Cappuccino Crush
Perfect cupcake for coffee lovers. Strong taste of coffee throughout the frosting really did make you feel like you were having a cup of coffee.
Gertie&Gilbert cupcakes can also be found at Warwick Farm markets. I met the lovely owner and creator Kym and boy her cupcakes flew like anything.. so get there early if you want a variety of flavours .
Gertie&Gilbert Cupcakes
Shop 1/694 The Horsley Drive
SMITHFIELD, NSW, 2164
Wed-Thur-Fri @ 8.30am-4.00pm
Warwick Farm Trackside Markets
Governor Macquarie Drive
Warwick Farm NSW
Every Saturday @ 8am – Midday
oh lordy… scrolling through these photos was quite torturous! now i’m ready for morning tea! love your captions too
Reply
Arghhhh! Beautiful photos that are now making me crave cupcakes for morning tea too!
These cupcakes look really good… like grown up sophisticated ones! And I love how they are light on the icing!
Reply
oh how i want that hazelnut cupcake. My husband and I love cupcakes but and not a fan of cupcakes on pitt in parramatta to me its all about the looks and their flavours are weak. I doubt it is baked on the premises? the base never tastes fresh. Have you tried them before?
I live in bonnyrigg which isnt that far off from smithfield i am delighted to know there is something close by.
Reply
YUM! The chocolate one really looks like a brownie, I wants it! And the banana one sounds lovely too.
Reply
these look great i was never a fan of franchise cupcakes (except for cupcakes by rennee) as they were mostly dry and i could bake way better ones
i still have to try ghermez though, but this wetherill park shop is like 5 minutes from me so i have to go past sometime :O)
Reply
holy crap.. these cupcakes look delicious! I never knew this place existed, it’s basically down the road. Thanks =D
Reply
oh yum!! i thought i was over cupcakes, but seeing those photos it’s clear i am not. Hahah damn it… now i gotta go out and get me some
Reply
Hi Leona, love your blog, but like a torture chamber looking at the many cakes, all sinfully delicious.
You have fun, and keep a song in your heart, best regards, Lee.
Reply
Such cute names!
Reply
ZOMG! These are beautiful looking cupcakes. The heavenly hazelnut takes my fancy.
Reply
Mmmm…love the sound of these flavours!
Reply
gertie&gilbert are definitely a top contender for best cupcakes in Sydney. i wish they were closer to the city so i could try them every week. looks like they’ve updated their Cappuccino Crush look which is much better now. it used to look like it was going to be a carrot cupcake. kym, is a lovely lady to chat too. :-) i wonder who got silver and gold for cupcakes then at the royal easter show?
Reply
Oh god, too much food porn to handle!
Reply
Leona, i cant believe how good you make food LOOK!
You’ve sold me AGAIN.. i took your advice and went to Pizza E birra and loved their pizza. I also tried their tiramisu it was exactly how you said it would be brilliant!
Reply
[X] One of each please – Your pictures are stunning!
Reply
aaaahhh! these cupcakes look so beautiful with very cute names hehe
and they all look so yummmy 
Reply
Leona. Let me first of say that you are a lucky girl to be able to sample these morish treats. The photos looks stunning, I just want to grab it off the screen ans scoff it all down. I’m glad to hear that the shop is local. YAY!
I’m not a huge fan of cupcakes mainly because they are so mainstream now and the ones that I got were always too dry and too small for what I pay for. But these babies might convince me to change my opinion otherwise.. Mmmm What was your favourite? I want to try the capuccino one, very interesting!
Reply
I was interested too, so I searched and found the official results online;
It seems the Royal Easter Show / Fine Food Show doesn’t have a mandatory Gold, Silver, Bronze outcome like the Olympics. You are either good enough to make the grade or not; You can have a race full of competitors make it over the finish line, and the judges can decide that none of them are good enough for a medal!
In the cupcake category (CLASS: 22 Cupcakes – Any type and decorated) you can see that there wasn’t a Gold awarded this year! The Silver went to Cupcake Mountain for a “Traditional Vanilla Cupcake”.
This makes me wonder about the criteria, like, is there a prototype or model/ideal cupcake that these cupcakes are being measured against? I ask because in my mind its hard to satisfy a day-long coffee-complimenting need for a rich chocolate cupcake with a traditional vanilla one
I can’t wait to try Gertie’s out – its a shame I live in the Eastern Suburbs
I’ve started dropping my boyf some hints
Reply
OMG those cupcakes look amazing. There’s one thing I hate and that is a pretty but dry cupcake. You can tell these babies are going to be morish. Now I am craving. Food porn overload. Yummmmm.
Reply
I am sugar high just looking at those cupcakes!!
Reply
Holy Dooley those cupcakes look damn gorgeous!! It’s 11.05am in Sydney, I have eaten breakfast yet and now I’m craving for those cupcakes… and coffee cupcakes?! YUM! Talk about being a time saver, 2 in 1!
The location seems so far away from where I live, but I honestly think it’ll be worth the trek.
Reply
Oh god… How do expect me to sleep tonight?
I’d have to say, the chocolate, I mean the ULTIMATE chocolate would have to be my choice. I swear, you can piff that thing at my face and I’ll likely catch it with my mouth. If not, I’d eat it off the ground!!
So moist and decadent- fit for a day at home as you watch yourself in disgust with chocolate stains on your shirt not too mention around your couch!
Reply
Whoa boy! So many tasty looking cupcakes. Aren’t you just a lucky one to have the opportunity to review these delights
Reply
“No point eating a cupcake that has a dry, lifeless stump” – I can totally relate! I’ve had my fair share of horrible cupcakes but those poppyseed and chocolate ones… OH MY LORDY I have to have some of that!
Reply
FYI, it has closed down on the 7 Feb 2011.
Reply