Honey Cake - Honningkage

Honey Cake - Honningkager

December 5th.

These honey cakes reminds me of the advents calendar I had as child. My mom bought 24 small gifts for me and for my brother. Every morning in December, until christmas, we got a small precent. It could be crayons, a new pencil or eraser. But some mornings we got a small piece of chocolate or a piece of honey cake. Even though December mornings were dark in Denmark, it was very easy for my mother to get us out of bed, mostly because of the awaiting gifts. You could call it a kind of blackmail, but for us it was a part of the christmas tradition and the Danish "hygge" - In lack of a better word cosiness.

Honningkager, can be translated to honey cake  or gingerbread cake, are a soft honey cake with a buttercream filling.

At the bakers shop where I worked, we sold these cakes as round and serving-sized. They were called honningkagebomber or honey cake bombs. The cakes were only sold around christmas time. Here is my version.

Serves 12

Baking time: 50-55 minutes

Prep.time: 30 minutes

Ingredients:

• 100 g butter

• 150 g sugar

• 140 g (100 ml) raw honey

• 1 egg

• 100 ml buttermilk

• 2 teaspoons cinnamon

• 1 teaspoon ground ginger

• 1 teaspoon ground all-spice

• ½ teaspoon ground cloves

• 1½ teaspoon baking soda

• 240 g all-purpose flour

Buttercream:

• 2 tablespoons pasteurized egg whites

• 100 g confectionary sugar

• 150 g butter, salted and room temperature

• ½ teaspoon vanilla paste

Decorating:

• about 200 g good dark chocolate (I used Valrhona)

• 1 teaspoon coconut butter

• sprinkles

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 300℉ (150℃). Grease a 9-inch square baking pan with butter, and put a piece of parchment paper in the bottom. This will make it easier to remove the cake from the pan.

Cake:

Melt butter honey and sugar in a saucepan, remove from heat when melted, and let to cool for a few minutes until lukewarm. Add egg, buttermilk, flour, baking soda and the spices. Mix the dough until fully combined, and pour it into the prepared baking pan.

Bake the cake for 50-55 minutes. Let it cool completely. 

Buttercream:

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, and whip the buttercream until thick and fluffy over a double boiler. I used a saucepan with very hot water, and placed my bowl on top of that. I didn't have it on the stove. It takes some time to get the buttercream nice and fluffy.

Split the cake in two horizontally. Spread the buttercream in an even layer on the bottom part, all the way to the edges. Place the top of the cake on the butter cream and press down to get it to adhere. 

Melt the chocolate and the coconut butter and mix it together. Brush the chocolate on top of the cake and put sprinkles on top.

Cut the cake into small squares and serve with a good cup of tea.

Enjoy!

English Christmas Cake

English Christmas Cake

December 4th.

Every year I see a lot of dried candied fruit in the grocery store, and I knew that most of them could be used for english christmas cakes. I have never tasted an English christmas cake, and of course this would be the perfect year to try it.

The cake is very heavy, but not as sweet as I had expected. Actually I thought that it would be to sweet for me, and to sticky, but it paired perfectly with a cup of coffee.

Adapted from a recipe by Andy Harris.

Serves 12-16 people.

Ingredients:

• 500 g  fruitcake mix
• 200 g raisins 
• 200 g dried currants 
• 200 g mixed peel 
• 200 g dried cranberries 
• 140 g glace cherries 
• 100 g mixed nuts 
• 150 ml dark rum 
• 3 teaspoons vanilla essence 
• 3 teaspoons almond essence 
• 400 g brown sugar. divided
• 250 ml water, cold
• 250 g all-purpose flour 
• 1 teaspoon ground allspice 
• 1 teaspoon ground nutmeg 
• ½ teaspoon ground cloves 
• 1 teaspoon baking powder 
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 230 g butter 
• 5 free-range eggs 
• 130 ml tawny port 
• 70 ml golden rum

Decorating: 

• raw pistacios

Meringue:

• 100 g pasteurized egg whites
• 200 g sugar
• 30 ml dark rum
• 30 ml water
• 1 teaspoon vanilla bean paste

Sugared cranberries:

• 10-12 cranberries
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• extra sugar for dusting

Directions:

Combine dried fruits in food processor and pulse until finely chopped. Transfer to a large bowl and add nuts, dark rum, vanilla, almond essence and 60 g brown sugar. Cover and soak in the rum overnight, then transfer to a saucepan. Add cold water and heat over high heat until it begins to simmer, then reduce to low heat and cook 15 minutes or until fruits soften. Allow to cool.

Sift flour with allspice, nutmeg, cloves, baking powder and salt in a bowl and set aside. 

In a stand mixer cream the butter and the remaining brown sugar until pale and fluffy. Add eggs one at a time, mixing well after each addition. Add fruit mixture and stir to combine, then add reserved flour mixture and combine well.

Preheat the oven to 300°F (150°C). Grease a 9-inch (28cm) springform with a little softened butter. Sprinkle flour around the sides and bottom and shake out excess flour. Spoon cake mixture into springform, and bake for 2 hours or until a cake tester comes out clean  when poked into the middle of the cake. Remove cake from the oven. Poke small holes all over the top of the cake with a skewer or cake tester. Combine port and rum  and pour over the cake. Allow to stand for at least 3 hours before removing from the springform. 

Sugared cranberries

Dissolve sugar in warm water, and dip the cranberries in the syrup. Roll the sticky cranberries in granulated sugar, until covered. 

Meringue:

When making meringue it is very important that there are no fat residue on your bowl and whisk, otherwise the egg whites won't get fluffy.

Whisk the egg whites until they just turn fluffy. Meanwhile heat sugar rum and water in a saucepan. Bring it to a boil and keep it simmering until it reaches 244℃ (118℃). Wipe any sugar crystals down the sides of the saucepan with a brush dipped in clean water.

Pour the scolding hot syrup into the egg whites while whisking. The meringue becomes pretty warm, but keep whisking for 10 minutes, until stiff peaks. Add the vanilla paste and whisk a few minutes longer to incorporate. The meringue should be firm and shiny.

Decorate:

Ice cake immediately with a palette knife, use a brûlée torch to lightly toast the meringue. Garnish with raw pistachios and sugared cranberries. 

Enjoy!

Green Poisonous Cake

Green Poisonous Cake

Well, the cake isn't poisonous, but the green color makes it look a bit toxic. The cake is a regular poundcake with green food coloring and some marzipan for some luxury.

This green poundcake was a classic cake to bring to school at birthdays and for "klassens time," a kind of free-time, where you might discuss current topics and issues, and maybe eat cake.

The vibrant color made me think, that it would be perfect for Halloween.

Makes one 9-inch square sheet pan.

Ingredients:

• 250 g butter, salted, room temperature
• 250 g sugar
• 35 g marzipan or 1 teaspoon almond extract
• 2 medium eggs. room temperature
• 1 teaspoons vanilla paste or the seeds from ½ vanilla bean
• 250 g all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1/2 cup (120 ml) milk
• green food color, I used a smallamount Wilton icing color

Frosting:

• 100 g confectionary sugar (powdered sugar)
• 1 tablespoon unsweetened cocoa
• about 2 tablespoons water

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 355℉ (180℃). Line a baking pan with parchment paper.

Cream the butter to fluffy and pale, with the sugar, add the marzipan and vanilla and mix until fully incorporated. Mix in one egg at a time. Mix flour and baking powder and add it with the milk and food coloring. Be careful not to over-mix the batter, mix until just incorporated.

Pour the batter in the pan, and bake the cake for about 25-35 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.

Let the cake cool in the pan. Mix the frosting, and frost the cooled cake.

Serve the cake with a good cup of tea or coffee.

Enjoy!

Danish version:

Grøn giftkage

Ingredienser:

• 250 gsmør, saltet, stuetemperatur

• 250 g sukker

• 35 g marcipan eller 1 tsk mandelessens

• 2 medium æg, stuetemperatur

• 1 tsk vanilje pasta eller kornene fra ½ vaniljestang

• 250 g hvedemel

• 1 tsk bagepulver

• 120 ml mælk

• lidt grøn frugtfarve, jeg brugte en lille smule grøn Wilton icing color

Glasur:

• 100 g flormelis

• 1 spsk kakaopulver

• ca 2 spsk vand

Fremgangsmåde:

Forvarm ovnen til 180℃. Beklæd en bradepande med bagepapir. 

Rør smør let og luftigt med sukker. Tilsæt marcipan og vanilje, og rør massen indtil du har en homogen masse. Æggene blandes i ét ad gangen. Pisk godt imellem hvert æg. Tilsæt de tørre ingredienser og mælk + frugtfarve skiftevis. Rør kun dejen så den lige er homogen. Hvis dejen overmikses ender du op med en tung og kompakt kage i stedet for en let og luftig.  

Hæld dejen i bradepanden, og bag kagen i ca. 25-35 minuter, indtil der ikke hænger dej ved en nål/tandstik, når den prikkes i kagen.  

Lad kagen køle i bradepanden. Bland glasuren, både en kakao, og en lille smule hvid. Dekorer den kølede kage. Jeg udstak mindre runde kager før dekoreringen.

Velbekomme!

Spicy Ginger Cake

Spicy Ginger Cake

Growing up my mom always baked 2 kinds of cakes over and over again. The regular pound cake and a “Engelsk Søster kage", a spicy ginger cake. Whenever she had leftover eggs, that had just expired, she would bake this kind of pound cake. A lot of times she would freeze the cake, so she always had a slice of homemade cake, for unexpected guests. 

I really like the crispiness of the crust, but if you prefer a moister cake, feel free to brush a orange/sugar syrup* over the top of the cake. This will infuse the cake with a soft sweetness. 

I used my Nordic Ware Anniversary Bundt® Pan and I didn't even come close to filling the pan with this amount of batter. I should have doubled the batter and it might have filled the 15-cup pan. But the cake still turned out great in the somewhat shorter version.

Ingredients:

• 250 g butter, salted and room temperature 
• 250 g sugar
• 1 teaspoon vanilla paste or the seeds from 1 vanilla bean 
• 3 eggs, L, room temperature 
• 300 g all-purpose flour
• 2 tablespoons cinnamon
• 1 tablespoon ground allspice 
• 1 tablespoon ground ginger 
• ½ tablespoon ground cloves 
• 2 tablespoon baking powder 
• 200 ml milk

Optional:

• ¼ cup candied lemon peels
• 1 handful raisins

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 355℉ (180℃), and butter the pan.

Sift flour, baking powder and all the spices together, in a bowl, set aside.

In a large mixing bowl cream the butter and sugars until very light and fluffy, mix in the vanilla paste. Add the eggs one at a time, and mix just until fully incorporated. Fold in alternately dry ingredients and milk. Be careful not to over mix the batter. Finally fold in the lemon peels and raisins. 

Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake it in the oven for about 40-45 minutes until a cake tester comes out clean.

Let the cake cool in the pan. Brush the cake with an orange/sugar syrup if desired.

*Orange/sugar syrup: ½ cup sugar + ¼ cup water. Melt the sugar in the water, remove from heat. Add 1-2 tablespoons orange juice and zest from 1 orange.

Florentines with Vanilla Buttercream

Florentines with Vanilla Buttercream

Dansk udgave

This crispy caramel and nut cookie is a classic in most of Europe. They are really tasty and fairly sweet.

They are really easy to make, and you don’t have to be a baker to make them. The most difficult will be making the buttercream. The cookies will look really fancy, with little to no work. You can use most kind of nuts, and even add some candied cherries if you like.

Makes 9 

Ingredients:

Nuts:

• 50 g sliced almonds

• 50 g chopped hazelnuts

• 25 g pistachios

Caramel:

• 100 g butter, salted

• 100 g sugar

• 1 tablespoon all-purpose flour

• 2 tablespoons whipping cream

• 1 tablespoon thick syrup

Vanilla buttercream:

• 2 tablespoons pasteurized egg whites

• 100 g confectionary sugar

• 150 g butter, salted and room temperature

• ½ teaspoon vanilla paste

Directions:

Preheat the oven for 350℉ (175℃).

Mix the ingredients for the caramel in a small saucepan. Gently heat the mixture until the butter and sugar are melted. Mix in the nuts, and remove from heat.

Scoop about a teaspoon of the mixture into 2 nonstick muffin pans. 

Bake the cookies for about 10-12 minutes until golden brown. Let the cookies cool for about 10 minutes in the pan. Gently remove the cookies from the pan. I used a knife to get them out. Let the cookies cool completely.

Buttercream:

Mix all the ingredients in a bowl, and whip the buttercream until thick and fluffy over a double boiler. I used a saucepan with very hot water, and placed my bowl on top of that. I didn't have it on the stove. It takes some time to get the buttercream nice and fluffy.

Pipe the buttercream on the bottom of half the cookies, top with the rest of the cookie, bottom side down, pressing lightly to adhere.

Serve with a nice cup of tea or coffee.

Enjoy!

The Danish version:

Florentinere

Ingredienser:

Nødder:

• 50 g mandelflager

• 50 g hasselnøddeflager

• 25 g hakkede rå pistacienødder

Karamel:

• 100 g saltet smør

• 100 g sukker

• 1 spsk hvedemel

• 2 spsk fløde

• 1 spsk mørk sirup

Vanillesmørcreme:

• 2 spsk pasteuriserede æggehvider

• 100 g flormelis

• 150 g smør, saltet og stuetemperatur

• ½ tsk vanille pasta eller kornene fra ¼ vanillestang

Fremgangsmåde:

Opvarm ovnen til 175℃.

Bland alle ingredienserne til karamellen i en lille gryde. Varm blandingen op indtil smør og sukker er smeltet. Bland nødderne i, og tag gryden af varmen.

Kom ca. en teskefuld af blandingen op i slip-let muffinforme, så det lige dækker bunden.

Bag kagerne i 10-12 minutter, indtil de er let gyldne. Køl kagerne af i 5-10 minutter inden de tages ud af formene. Lad kagerne køle helt af på en bagerist.

Smørcreme:

Bland alle ingredienserne i en skål og pisk smørcremen over vandbad, indtil den er let og luftig. Jeg satte skålen ovenpå en gryde med næsten kogende vand, uden at have varme under gryden, og jeg piskede med en en håndmikser.

Sprøjt smørcremen på undersiden af halvdelen af kagerne. Den anden halvdel lægges ovenpå dem med fyld, med bunden nedad.

Server kagerne med en god kop the eller kaffe.

Velbekomme!