About us

Welcome. I’m so glad you’re here.

My name is Leith (that’s me on the right), and I’m happiest when I’m spoiling people with food. My passion for baking began as a two-year old on my mother’s kitchen floor where I measured flour by the handful and wiped cake batter in my hair.

These days I practice a more precise art, creating simple-to-follow, allergen-free recipes that taste even better than their gluten, sugar, and preservative-laden cousins. Inspired by my own experience with allergies and intolerances—and my interest in health and plant-based eating—I’ll be creating new recipes for the rest of my life.

Thanks to the many a cake-muffled ‘oh my god!’ and ‘can I have the recipe?’ from my many coeliac/vegan/vaishnava/lactose-intolerant/nut-soy-sulphite-allergic friends, I’ve found another way to share the love.

It makes me so happy to share my recipes with you!

A little about me

I am blessed. As a self-confessed word nerd, I love my day job as copywriter and editor at Lovehate Design (a Brisbane design studio). I am also a (reformed?) perfectionist, hugger, hoarder of books, and a passionate foodie. I am married to the sweetest man and live with him and two snuggly, insistent Burmese cats in a small house that we fill with laughter every day.

Why ‘Lolly and Pickles’?

My beautiful grandmother Loris “Lolly” Ruffels was the story-book kind: cuddly, wise and warm, with flour-dusted sleeves and three kinds of pie cooling on the windowsill. Naming this blog after her and her best friend and co-adventurer, Pic (aka “Pickles” when she and Lolly were in cahoots), is a nod to the talented cooks in my family: my food heroes.

 

I hope you enjoy my recipes. I’d love to hear about your baking adventures, and please let me know if there’s a recipe you’d like me to feature. Leave me a comment and I’ll write back. Kindest, Leith.