Chokoladelagkagebunde - Chocolate Cake

Chokoladelagkagebunde - Chocolate Cake

Great light chocolate cake for classic Danish layer cakes.

Makes 2-3 thin cake discs, depending on your slicing skills.

Ingredients:

• 4 eggs
• 120 g sugar
• 85 g flour
• 50 g unsweetened cocoa powder
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon espresso, cooled (use milk if you don't want the coffee taste)
• ½ teaspoon vanilla paste

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 355℉ (180℃), or 465℉ (240℃) if baking one disc at a time.

Spray a 9-inch (22 cm) springform. Place a piece of parchment paper in the bottom and spray this too. Set aside. (Repeat if baking one at a time)

Sift flour, baking powder and cocoa powder together, 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. 

Very gently fold the dry ingredients vanilla paste and coffee in the foamy eggs. Be very careful not to deflate the egg mixture to much. 

Pour the batter in the prepared springform.

Bake the large cake for 20-25 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.

When cooled completely, place the cake on a sturdy work surface. Using a long serrated knife and a sawing motion, split the cake horizontally. Don't worry if the layers are not perfectly even. The filling and frosting will mask that. 

If baking 3 thin cakes:

Divide the batter in 3 9-inch pans. And bake the cakes at 465℉ (240℃) for about 5 minutes, until a cake tester comes out clean.

Use the cake discs with your favorite filling for a perfect layer birthday cake.

Enjoy!

Nødde-Lagkagebunde - Hazelnut Cake for Danish Layer Cake

Nødde-Lagkagebunde - Hazelnut Cake for Danish Layer Cake

When making traditional Danish layer cakes I like using different types of cakes. This will give different textures and tastes. This one is really good, with a hit of hazelnut flavor. 

Makes 2-3 thin cake discs, depending on you slicing skills.

Ingredients:

• 6 whole eggs
• 2 egg whites
• 75 g sugar
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 100 g all-purpose flour
• 50 g hazelnut flour

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 400℉ (200℃).

Spray a 9-inch (22 cm) springform. Place a piece of parchment paper in the bottom 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 flours and baking powder together, and set aside. 

Very gently fold the dry ingredients in the foamy eggs. Be very careful not to deflate the egg mixture to much. 

Pour the batter in the prepared springform

Bake the large cake for 20-25 minutes, until light brown.

When cooled completely, place the cake on a sturdy work surface. Using a long serrated knife and a sawing motion, split the cake horizontally. Don't worry if the layers are not perfectly even. The filling and frosting will mask that. 

Enjoy!

Greek-Style Stuffed Peppers

Greek-Style Stuffed Peppers

These stuffed peppers were really delicious. The peppers were sweet and perfectly roasted, but without getting mushy and bland. The filling was soft and flavorful. I don't like when the filling comes out like a little hard meatball. This gives me flashbacks to bland stuffed cabbage (kåldolmer) dinners in my childhood. The greek flavors is just as vibrant as the colors of the beautiful roasted peppers.

Serves 3-4

Ingredients:

• 100 g orzo
• 1 red onion, chopped
• 2 garlic cloves, minced
• 450 g (1 pound) ground lamb
• 1 teaspoon oregano
• 1 teaspoon chopped, fresh mint leaves
• 1 little handful Italian parsley, chopped
• 1 can diced tomato, drained
• 10-12 pitted kalamata olives, chopped
• 3 tablespoons crumbled feta cheese
• salt & pepper to taste
• 4 bell peppers
• olive oil

Directions:

Cook the orzo according to the package, I used the liquid drained from the tomatoes in the cooking water. 

Prehaet the oven to 400℉ (200℃).

Sauté the onions until translucent, add garlic and meat and brown it. Remove from the heat. Mix in spices, herbs, tomato, feta, olives and the cooked orzo, season with salt and pepper.

Cut the tops of the peppers, and remove the seeds. Coat the outside with olive oil, and place them in an ovenproof dish. Fill the peppers and place the top on the peppers as small lids. Bake the peppers for 30-40 minutes until the peppers are tender, but still holding up.

Serve the peppers with a simple greek salad, containing greens, cucumber, red onions, tomatoes, olives and feta.

Enjoy!

Rutebiler - Chocolate Meringues

Rutebiler - Chocolate Meringues

Rutebiler is a very light and airy cookie, kinda like a chocolate meringue, but rutebiler has a rising agent, and in my version you use whole eggs. Rutebiler are small crispy chocolate rectangles, with a hollow center. They will melt in your mouth with a sweet chocolaty taste, making you want another one.

We had rutebiler at birthdays, as light cookies. Well, my mom had a bad experience with meringues and rutebiler at birthday parties. At one of my brothers birthdays the boys had a big food fight with meringues, and I remember my mom cursing a lot while cleaning up the sticky mess from carpet and furniture in the living room. That was the end of meringues at birthday parties in my family. 

Makes about 100. 

Ingredients:

• 750 g confectionary sugar (powder sugar)
• 2 eggs
• 2½ tablespoons unsweetened cocoa powder
• 1¼ teaspoon Ammonium bicarbonate (baker's ammonia)

Directions:

Preheat the oven to 350℉ (175℃).

Line baking sheets with baking paper.

Crown cookie press attachment

Sift the dry ingredients together, and mix them in the eggs. The batter will be kinda thick paste, a little on the dry side.  Run the dough through a cookie press or meat grinder with cookie attachment, that looks like a crown. Each cake should be about 5 cm (2-inches) long, place them about 2-inches apart, because the cookies will expand. Bake the cakes in the center of the oven for 6-8 minutes. These cookies are light and airy, with a hollow center.

Keep the cookies in an airtight container.

Enjoy!

Hønsesalat - Chicken Salad

Hønsesalat - Chicken Salad

This chicken salad is an old classic served at most lunch restaurants or smørrebrøds shops. Smørrebrød is the open-faced sandwiches, mostly served on Danish rye bread. Originally you would boil the a whole chicken with onions, carrots and bay leaves. And then use the chilled chicken in the salad, but I had some leftover rotisserie chicken, so why not use this for the salad, and it worked perfectly.

Serves 6-8

Ingredients:

Dressing:

• 200 g sour cream
• 1 tablespoon mayonnaise
• 1 teaspoon Dijon mustard
• 2 teaspoons madras curry
• salt & pepper

Filling:

• ½ rotisserie chicken, cooled
• 250 g mushrooms, fried and cooled
• 6-8 slices of bacon

Directions:

Mix the dressing and season with salt and pepper to taste. Chop the chicken meat up into smal cubes and mix it in the dressing together with the mushrooms. 

Serve the chicken salad on a slice of Danish rye bread or in a croissant, with a slice of crisp bacon on top. 

Enjoy!