The Chocolate Cake

The Chocolate Cake with black currant sorbet.

It's no secret that I'm married to a chocaholic. He will eat and love anything chocolate, and he will be very disappointed if you talk about chocolate notes in a whiskey, but all he feels is the burning alcohol.

Normally I'm not into cakes and desserts that are overly chocolaty, but this cake, has the right amount of chocolate to my taste. The texture is dense, with a slightly crispy crust. The small amount of flour makes it a little truffle like. The chocolate cake is perfect dessert cake, served with fresh fruit or fruit sorbets.

Serves 8-10.

Ingredients:

• 175 g dark chocolate, I used Valrhona
• 175 g butter, salted
• 175 g sugar
• ½ teaspoon vanilla paste
• ½ teaspoon strong coffee
• 4 eggs
• 1½ tablespoons all-purpose flour

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 355℉ (180℃). Grease a (8-inch by 8 inch / 20 cm x 20 cm) baking pan, and place a piece of parchment paper in the bottom, set aside. 

Melt butter and chocolate over low low heat (or in the microwave oven), until just melted. Stir in sugar, vanilla and coffee.  

Separate the egg yolks from the whites. Whip the whites until stiff peaks, set aside.

Mix the yolks with the flour, and mix it in the chocolate mixture.

Gently fold the egg whites in the chocolate mixture. Pour the batter into the prepared pan, and bake it for about 45 minutes. 

Let the cake cool completely before removing it from the pan. The cake will deflate somewhat.

Serve the cake with sorbet or fresh fruit.

Enjoy!

Ninja Turtle Cakes

Ninja Turtle Cakes - Ninja Kajkager

These cakes have been on my to-do list for the longest time. Normally they are made without the ninja bandana, and are called Kaj cakes. The name Kaj is the name of a puppet from a Danish children's program "Kaj og Andrea" I grew up with in the 1970's. The cake is a spongecake with a strawberry buttercream and marzipan.

This time Kaj went undercover or mutated into Teenage Ninja Turtles. 

Makes 8 cakes.

Ingredients:

Cake:

• 4 eggs, room temperature
• 150 g sugar
• 110 g all-purpose flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 tablespoon milk
• 1 teaspoon vanilla paste or the seeds from 1 vanilla pod

Strawberry Buttercream:

• 2 tablespoons pasteurized egg whites
• 125 g confectionary sugar
• 150 g butter, salted and room temperature
• 6 tablespoons cooled strawberry pure (Pure:400 g strawberries boiled with 25 g sugar, blended and strained)
• Red food color, optional

Decorating:

• Strawberry jam
• 200 g Marcipan
• green food color (orange, puple, red and blue for the bandana's)
• dark chocolate, small flakes for the eyes

Directions:

Cake: 

Preheat oven to 350℉ (180℃).

Spray three 9-inch (22 cm) baking pans. Place a piece of parchment paper in the bottom of each and spray this too. Set aside. 

Whisk the eggs light and foamy with the sugar, it takes about 5 minutes to get maximum foaming when whisking on a stand mixer.

Mix and sift flour and baking powder together, and set aside. 

Very gently fold the flour, vanilla and milk in the foamy eggs. Be very careful not to deflate the egg mixture to much.

Pour the batter onto a parchment paper lined baking sheet

Bake the cake for about 8-10 minutes, until light brown.

Set aside to cool.

You only need about a third of the cake for the 8 cakes.

Strawberry Buttercream:

Mix egg whites, butter, sugar 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. Save 1-2 tablespoons of this white buttercream for decorating. Mix in the strawberry pure. Put buttercream into a piping bag, with a large round tip.

Marzipan:

Color most of the marzipan with green color. Color small amounts marzipan with blue, purple, orange and red for the bandanas.

Assembly:

Ninjas in the making.

Using a cookie cutter cut out 8 circles about 2-inch (5 cm) in diameter. Divide each disk horizontally. Spread a thin layer of jam between the two thin disk of cake. Pipe a nice top onto the disk. 

Roll the green marzipan out very thin. I did it a little at a time between two pieces of plastic wrap.   Wrap the marzipan on top of the buttercream, trying to seal the marzipan close to the cake disk. This way you end up with a green bobble.

Cut a large slid into the cake in about a 45 degree angle, press a little on each side to open the cut. This will be the mouth. 

Roll out the colored marzipan and cut a ribbon for the bandana. Pipe white buttercream dots on top of the bandana, for the eyes, place a small chocolate flake on top for the pupil. 

Serve the cake with a cup of tea or coffee. 

Enjoy!

Chocolate Mazarin Cake

Chocolate Mazarin Cake

This chocolate cake is a little dense. But it's not as dense as a brownie, but you can clearly tell it's made with real chocolate. Serve the cake with fresh fruit and ice cream. The cake can easily be made a day in advance.

Makes one 9-inch cake, serves 8-12.

Ingredients:

• 200 g dark chocolate, I used Valrhona
• 200 g butter, salted
• 200 g sugar
• 5 eggs
• 150 g marzipan, I used ren rå marcipan from Odense
• 1 orange, the zest of
• 75 g all-purpose flour (30-100 g)
• 100 g almond flour
• 1 teaspoon vanilla paste

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 375℉ (190℃).

Butter a 9-inch springform, set aside. 

Mix the marzipan with the eggs until you have a homogenous mixture, add the sugar and whisk with a flat-beater for a few minutes to incorporate air into the mixture.

Melt butter and chocolate over a double boiler. (I put boiling water in a pot, and melt chocolate and butter in a stainless steel bowl, placed on top of the pot. No need for having it over the heat.

Fold in the chocolate mixture, orange zest, vanilla and flours into the marzipan. Pour the batter into the prepared springform, and bake the cake for about 40 minutes. Sprinkle the cooled cake with powdered sugar. Serve the cake with fresh fruit and ice cream.

Enjoy!

Cinnamon Knots - Kanelsnurrer

Cinnamon Knots - Kanelsnurrer

This is a take on a cinnamon roll, without the frosting. In my opinion these are a million times better than the classic cinnamon roll. The cinnamon knot is still cake-like, but it is not overly sweet.
The cinnamon knots reminds me of the Danish kanelstang without the custard.
Yum, yum, yum.

This recipe is adapted from Claus Meyer.

Makes 12-15.

Ingredients:

Dough:

• 500 ml cold milk
• 50 g live yeast, 4 tsk dry yeast
• 1 egg
• 975 g all-purpose flour
• 150 g sugar
• 10 g salt
• 15 g cardamom
• 150 g butter, diced room temperature

Filling:

• 200 g butter, soft
• 200 g sugar
• 20 g cinnamon

Directions:

In the bowl for a stand mixer dissolve the yeast in the cold milk. Add sugar, salt, cardamom, egg and flour. Knead the dough for 7-8 minutes until you have a smooth not sticky dough.

Add the butter dices to the bowl and mix the butter into the dough on low speed. It's a bit messy, but the dough will come together again. Knead the dough for another 7-8 minutes. Let the dough rise covered for about 60-80 minutes. Place the dough in the refrigerator for 60 minutes.

Mix the filling by whisking it together with a hand mixer, set aside. 

Preheat the oven to 400℉ (200℃).

Divide the dough into 12-15 even balls. 

Roll out each dough ball into thin rectangles-ish. Spread some of the filling onto the dough in a thin layer. Roll up the dough to a log. Seal the log by pinching the edge into the dough.

Cut the roll in two almost all the way, and twist the now two strings around each other, filling-side up, and  finally tie a knot on the dough. 

Place the knots on a parchment paper lined baking sheet. 
Bake the cinnamon knots for 12-14 minutes.

Serve cinnamon knot with a nice cup of tea or coffee. 

Enjoy!

Lavender Shortbread Cookies

Lavender Shortbread Cookies

I bought some dried culinary lavender, for my cheese cake. I thought that I would receive about a cup lavender. But no, I got a big bag full of lavender. I have enough lavender to last a lifetime or two. So I have to come up with new ways to use the lavender, so now I warned you. 😉

Makes about 30

Ingredients:

• 60 g confectionary (powdered) sugar

• 1 tablespoon dried culinary lavender

• 1 lemon, the zest of

• 225 g butter, salted and room temperature

• 215 g all-purpose flour

Directions:

In the bowl for the stand mixer, mix the sugar, dried lavender, and lemon zest until well incorporated. Add the softened butter and cream it with the sugar. You are looking for at light and fluffy butter mixture. Slowly add flour mixing until just combined.

Roll dough into a log (2 inch in diameter), wrap in glad wrap and refrigerate for  minimum 3 hours. Make sure to have a smooth surface to get an even look on the finished cookies.

Preheat the oven to 375℉ (190℃).

Slice the chilled dough into ¼-inch slices, place them on a parchment lined baking sheet, spacing about 1 inch apart. Bake cookies 12-15 minutes, not getting any golden edges on the cookies.

Cool cookies on the pan on wire racks. Store in an airtight container at room temperature for up to 2 weeks.

Enjoy!