White Chocolate/Lime Ganache

White Chocolate/Lime Ganache 

This sweet creamy ganache is perfect in a classic layer cake instead of a buttercream or in french macarons. * Next time I'll try with only 1 gelatin sheet, so I get a softer ganache. but otherwise it was perfect. This is the kind of ganache that can be eaten with a spoon, it's that good.

This recipe is adapted from Dominique Ansel's recipe.

Ingredients:

• 2 gelatin sheets or 2 teaspoons gelatin powder *
• water for blooming, 2 tablespoons if using gelatin powder
• 120 g white chocolate (use a good one, like Valrhona)
• 200 ml heavy whipping cream
• 1 lime, the zest of
• 25 g sugar
• 50 ml freshly squeezed lime juice

Direction:

Soak the gelatin in water, or if using gelatin powder sprinkle over 2 tablespoons water. Let to bloom for 10-15 minutes. 

Chop the chocolate finely and place in a bowl, set aside.

Rub the sugar and zest together between your fingers until the sugar is moist, grainy and very aromatic.

Heat the cream with the aromatic sugar, in a saucepan, to a soft boil. Remove from heat. 

Melt the bloomed gelatin in the hot cream, while whisking. Pour about one-third of the hot cream over the chocolate, and left to sit for 30 seconds. Then whisk until incorporated and melted. Add the rest of the cream and whisk until smooth. 

Let the ganache cool to room temperature, then whisk in the lime juice.

Cover the ganache with plastic wrap pressed directly against the ganache. This will prevent the ganache forming pudding skin. Let the ganache set over night or for at least 3 hours in the refrigerator. 

Whip the ganache on high speed until medium-stiff peaks. Put ganache into a piping bag with a round tip. Push the ganache towards the tip.  Place  the piping bag in the refrigerator until ready to use. (Will only keep  in refrigerator for up to 2 days).  

Use ganache in Valentines Pavlovas or french macarons.

Enjoy!

Habanero Kransekage - Habanero Almond Cake

Habanero Kransekage - Habanero Almond Cake

Happy New Year.

Thank you for visiting my blog. It’s has been a fun year for me with blog. I learned that I do not control what happens after I post. And I do not know what will be a hit and what will be a miss. One thing I do know is, the quality of the photos is getting better. My husband has learned a lot about light, and how to use it.Thank you Michael for helping me, you are the best.

I hope you will keep visiting my blog, and I promise to keep coming up with new recipes and giving old classics a new twist.

I look forward to 2015 and to face all the new challenges this year will bring.  

From my family to yours, have a fantastic 2015, filled with love, light and laughter.

Cheers.

Makes 12

Ingredients:

Kransekage: 

• 50 g almonds blanched
• 100 g sugar
• 1 egg white
• 250 g marzipan (I used Ren Rå, a 60% almond paste)
• habanero chili (be cautious with this chili, it is very powerful, taste a teeny-tiny bit to determine how much to use)

Icing:

• confectionary sugar
• water, hot
• orange food coloring

Directions:

Put almonds and sugar into food processor with the steel blade in place and process until finely pulverized. Add the egg whites and process until smooth. Be careful not to heat the mass to more than 95 - 104°F, else the egg white will cook. 

Shred the marzipan and add it, minced habanero and the almond/egg white mixture to a stand mixer fitted with the paddle attachment. Beat it until it's completely smooth and free of lumps. Form the dough into a ball, and refrigerate for 2-3 hours.

Preheat oven for 375℉ (190℃).

Roll the dough into logs as thick as your finger, and cut into 3 inch long pieces. Gently press the top, so you get a peak.  

Bake for about 12 minutes or until golden.  Allow to cool completely before decorating.

Make the icing with small amount of hot water. You want the icing to be a thick paste. Pipe the icing across the top, using a piping bag with a small round tip.

Enjoy the kransekage with a glass of sweet bubbles.

Royal Icing

The perfect icing for gluing and decorating gingerbread houses. 

Ingredients:

• 450 g (1 pound) confectionary sugar 
• ¼ teaspoon cream of tartar
• 3 egg whites

Directions:

Put all the ingredients in the bowl of the stand mixer. Whip the icing for 2 minutes, until it has an uniform consistency and is crisp white color. It starts of with a grayish hue.

Use icing to glue and decorate gingerbread houses.

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!