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!

Liquorice Wreaths - Lakridskranse

Liquorice Wreaths - Lakridskranse

Dansk version

December 3.

One of the classic Danish christmas cookies is vanillekranse, a crispy, sweet, buttery cookie with the distinctive vanilla flavor. These cookies have always been one of my favorite. 

What can you do with a perfect cookie to make it more Danish or Nordic? In this day and age - you have to add liquorice, and so I did. 

Liquorice wreaths is a new take on vanillekranse, the traditional christmas cookie in Denmark. The liquorice taste is subtle and is perfect in this classic crispy cookie.

Ingredients:

• 200 g butter
• 150 g sugar
• 1 egg
• 250 g all-purpose flour
• 100 g liquorice marzipan
• 3 teaspoons raw liquorice powder

Directions:

Cream the sugar and liquorice marzipan with the butter. Mix in the egg, and finally mix in the liquorice powder and flour. 

The attachment and process 

Put the dough into a decorating bag with a star decorating tip. You can also use a cookie press. Pipe the dough in small circles approximately 2 inches (5 cm) in diameter, onto a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

If you have a stand mixer, a meat grinder attachment and a vanillekranse attachment to make stings of star shaped dough; you can do this instead of piping the cakes:

If using a stand mixer, chill the dough in the refrigerator overnight. Add the cold dough to the feeder on the grinder, and push it into the grinder, and long strings of star shaped dough comes out of the grinder. I do this on medium to high speed. Place the strings of dough on the table, an cut them into 4 inch pieces. Join the ends to form a wreath, and place the cookies on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper.

Bake at 356℉ (180℃) 12-15 minutes, until browned on the edges. It's kinda hard to tell, but it's better to bake them 30 seconds longer than ending up with soft cookies. Cool the cookies on a wire rag. Store in an airtight container at room temperature.

Enjoy!

The Danish version:

Lakridskranse

Dette er en del af Madblogger udfordringen #5 Nordisk Jul. 

#MadbloggerUdfordringen5 og #MadbloggerUdfordringen.

Der er lakrids i alt efterhånden, så jeg måtte lige se om dette ville fungere. Og ja det holder hele vejen. Det er stadig den sprøde lækre krans man kender fra vanillekransen, med en skøn eftersmag af lakrids.

Ingredienser:

• 200 g smør, stuetemperatur
• 150 g sukker
• 1 æg
• 250 g hvedemel
• 100 g lakridsmarcipan (jeg brugte liquorice marzipan fra Bülow)
• 3 tsk rålakridspulver (raw liquorice powder fra Bülow)

Fremgangsmåde:

Sukker, lakridsmarcipan og smør røres sammen, indtil det er luftigt. Rør ægget med i og tilsæt slutteligt lakridspulver og hvedemel. Mix kun til dejen netop har samlet sig. 

Dejen kommes i en sprøjtepose med en stjerne tyl & sprøjtes straks ud i "kranse" på bagepapir - diameter ca. 5 cm. Bages ved 200℃ til de er let gyldne - ca. 12 - 15 minutter. Giv dem hellere lidt længere tid, da de er svære at bedømme udfra farven. Det er ikke sjovt at få bløde småkager.
Afkøles på bagerist og opbevares i tætsluttende dåse.

Velbekomme!

Christmas Cream Puffs - Pebermynteflødeboller

Christmas Cream Puffs - Pebermynteflødeboller

December 2nd.

Peppermint is one of the most recognized tastes of Christmas. Red and white is classic christmas colors and you see candy canes and peppermint flavored coffee and chocolate everywhere. So why not make peppermint cream puffs/flødeboller. Even though cream puffs can be eaten all year round, these are very christmasy.  

Ingredients:

Makes 20.

Base:

• 200 g marzipan

Filling:

• 100 g (little over ⅓ cup) pasteurized egg whites 
• 200 g (1 cup) sugar 
• 50 ml (a little under ¼ cup) water
• a few drops peppermint extract

Chocolate coating:

• 200-250 g milk chocolate, a good one I used Valrhona

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350℉ (180℃).

Cut the marzipan log into 20 slices. Place them on a baking sheet lined with parchment paper. Bake the marzipan for 5 minutes, let them cool completely.

Filling:

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.

The cream puffs without coating

Whisk the egg whites until they just turn fluffy. Meanwhile heat sugar and water in a saucepan. Bring it to a boil and keep it simmering until it reaches 243℃ (117℃). 

Pour in the scolding hot syrup into the egg whites while whisking. The meringue becomes pretty warm, but keep whisking for 15 minutes, until stiff peaks. Gently fold in the peppermint extract.

Add the meringue to a piping bag with a plain round tip. Pipe the meringue in a high peak.

Bake the cream puffs for 5 minutes, just until the surface sets, but haven't got any color. This makes it easier to cover in chocolate. Let the cream puffs cool completely.

Tempering the chocolate:

This is how I do it, but if you have your own way, that works for you, use that method.

Chop the chocolate finely, set just under ⅕ of the chocolate aside, and add the rest into a stainless steel bowl. Set the bowl on a saucepan with very hot water (don't let the bowl touch the water) . Let the chocolate melt while stirring. When the chocolate reaches 111℉ (44℃), take the bowl off the hot water. While stirring let the chocolate cool until it reaches 80-83℉ (27-28℃), add the rest of the chopped chocolate and stir vigorously until its all melted. Put the bowl with chocolate over hot water again, and heat the chocolate to 86℉ (30℃). Now its ready to use for coating.

Coating:

Place the cream puffs on a wire rack. Drizzle the chocolate on top until the whole peak is covered with chocolate. Tap the wire rack on the counter to get the excess chocolate to run off. Place the cream puffs in the refrigerator for a few minutes until the chocolate has set. 

The cream puffs will keep 3 days a 50-54℉ (10-12℃).

Enjoy!

Mulled White Wine

Mulled White Wine

Today is December 1st and now the countdown for Christmas starts. Like last year, I'll post a new christmas-related recipe every day. I hope you will enjoy this December celebration.

Normally mulled wine is made with red wine, but making it with white wine makes it more fruity, crisp and light. This lighter version is really nice here in the warmer climate, and will even work as an ice cold drink.

Serves 4. 

Ingredients:

• ¾ cup (180 ml) elderflower syrup (I used Darbo elderflower syrup)

• 1 vanilla bean pod

• 2 thin slices fresh ginger

• 8 whole cloves

• 1 crisp white wine

• 1 splash white rum

• slivered almonds

• diced dried yellow fruits (pineapple, mango, melon, golden raisins)

• 1 orange

Directions:

Pour the syrup in to a tall glass, add whole cloves and vanillapod, cut lengthwise. Cover the glass and place it in the refrigerator overnight. 

Pour the syrup into a large pot, add white wine, ginger, 2 thin slices orange, a splash rum and heat it up. Be careful not to let it boil. Remove, orange slices, ginger and cloves. 

Add the dried fruit and the almond slivers and serve in small heatproof glasses.

Enjoy!