Scandinavian Kitchen

Recipe of the week - The Love Cake (Kärleks Mums / Den Du Ved Nok Kage)

The Love Cake (Kärleks Mums / Den Du Ved Nok Kage)

Enough to feed 20 people for afternoon tea – you can freeze whats left, but it keeps for a week in the fridge as well.

 

Stuff you need:

 

500 grams sugar

5 eggs

400 ml milk

400 grams plain flour

4 tsp vanilla sugar (or extract, if that is what you have)

3 tbsp cocoa powder

4 tsp baking powder

300 grams butter

 

Icing:

200 grams butter

7 tbs strong coffee

2,5 tbs cocoa powder

3 tsp vanilla sugar (or extract)

150 grams of desiccated coconut

375 grams icing sugar

 

This is how you do it:

 

Whisk egg and sugar till light and fluffy.  Sift flour, vanilla, cocoa and baking powder into the mix, alternate with the milk.  Whisk well.  Add the slightly cooled, melted butter at the end and mix well.

 

Pop the batter into a large baking tin (minimum 20 x 30 cm) and bake on 180 degrees for about 20-25 minutes until just baked through (it’s done when a skewer comes out clean – this cakes goes very dry if over baked, so keep an eye on it)

 

Make the icing:  pop all ingredients into a saucepan and heat until melted through  (You can also do this bit in the microwave if you prefer).  When the cake has been out of the oven for a wee while (just cooled, does not have to be totally cold), spread over icing and chill until set. Drizzle with a bit of coconut beofre the icing set, if you wish.

Recipe of the week: Danish "Dream cake"

We're not really sure why it is called a dream cake, other than it is very dreamy and more-ish.

Ingredients for the cake

350 grams caster sugar

5 eggs

80 grams margarine or butter

350 ml milk

450 frams flour

3 tsp baking powder

2 tsp vanilla sugar or 2 tsb vanilla extract

 

Ingredients - topping

150 grams butter or margarine

350 grams soft, dark brown sugar

175 grams desiccated coconut

50 ml milk

This is how you do it:

Melt the butter/margarine and put to one side to cool a bit.  Whisk sugar and egg till it is light and frothy.  Sift the flour, baking powder and vanilla (if using vanilla sugar, if using extract, add this at same time as butter) and fold into the mixture (don’t over work it).   Mix margarine and milk and fold carefully into the batter.

Line a baking tray with baking paper (a 30 cm by 30 cm is about right) and add the mixture.  Bake the cake at 170 degrees Celsius for about 20 minutes or until almost done (the cake is done when a skewer comes out clean)

To make the topping:

Add all ingredients to a saucepan and melt – stir until all sugar has melted and you have a good spreadable consistency.

When the cake is done add the topping immediately on the whole cake and bake for another 5 minutes on 180 degrees. 

Let cake rest before slicing.

The Scandinavian Cookbook by Trina Hahnemann

Danish Trina has written a great Scandinavian cookbook - with some really stunning photographs by Lars Ranek.  Trina used to live in the UK before returning  to Denmark again where she's currently writing for Alt for Damerne and runs catering for the cafes inside the Danish House of Parliament.

There are plenty of Scandinavian cookbooks - but most are written in Scandinavian languages.  Trina's book is being published in English.  The launch of her book is on 21st October at the Danish Embassy and one lucky Scandi Kitchen blog reader can win a ticket to go to the official launch as well as a signed copy of this fantastic book.  Two runners up will win signed copies of the book.

To enter the competition, all you need to do is answer this question:

Which one of these  is not a traditional Scandinavian dish:

a)    Crayfish with dill and vasterbotten cheese

b)    Linguine Carbonara

c)    Meatballs with cowberry jelly and cream gravy

Mail your answer to iloveherring@scandikitchen.co.uk before 13th October.  Terms and conditions apply.  Only one entry and prize per person.  There's no cash alternative to the prize and it cannot be exchanged.  Winning the entrance to the Danish Embassy do does not guarentee Ferrero Rochers free-for-all: just because the advert says that all ambassadors eat them doesn't make it true, you know.  We will draw the winner from all correct entries on Monday evening.

 

Postcard from Heather and Jo #4

Enjoying my Polkadrom ice cream

As we discovered on our final morning in Göteborg, where we thought we were getting away without paying for things, everything during the culture festival is in fact put on for free! An excellent idea we thought, especially for all the travelling families we saw. We opted to explore the city museum in our final hours and what a fantastic place this is! Most reccommended thing to do in Göteborg after the "Hagabulle". The viking exhibition with the only viking boat on display in Sweden was excellent, as was the history of family life in the city.

As the rain comes down on our last day in Stockholm, we are greatful for the better weather that this wonderful city has given us over the last two days - warmth and sunshine.

Our train journey from Göteborg was swift and we arrived at our hostel to find ourselves in a strange room with no windows or ventilation, however, it did have a proper matress and not a slice of foam to sleep on! That said I at least, have slept better here despite these factors. Although it's very disconcerting every morning waking up in pitch black!

Since arriving in Stockholm, we have spent our hard earned money in Gamla Stan, on Drottingholm and in it's vicinity. We have solved the mystery of the cover of the new Stig Larsson books (why does the first English translation have the cover of the second Swedish book in the trilogy - the clue is in the direct translation of the Swedish title!) and thoroughly enjoyed ourselves. Although sadly the chance to eat some crayfish has not presented itself, I'll have to tuck in back at SK. Any chance you can put some aside for me?!

Like Göteborg, Stockholm has it's Culture Festival this week, which we have been able to enjoy in Gustav Adolfs Torg seeing a concert by Che Sud Aka, that had us dancing on the streets and last nights finale of Opera selections, which was to be followed by a carnival featuring three different themes; Brazilian, Latino and Caribbean. Whilst the opera was great, sadly the carnival was billed to be more than it turned out to be, no carnival costumes except on the three lorries and just a mass of Stockholmers, mostly the young following each lorry in normal clothes, as the Ung08 festival had just finished. Most disappointing of all, no fireworks! Ah well, we can't have everything.

A trip to Sweden is never complete without an escape to the archipelago and we took the boat to Fjäderholmen, with it's craft shops, Swedish whisky and restaurants. What has, after 2 pieces of Princess Torta, 2 vanilla buns and half a hagabulle each, become a "cake tour" of Sweden, was in Fjäderholmen, supplemented with a "Polkadröm" ice cream (picture to be added tomorrow). Whilst expensive, it was a sight to be seen and very delicious. Perhaps it could be used as a template for SK ice cream? - Flavours to include blueberry and elderflower, we suggest.

We have been looking out for words that read funny in English, but have failed to come up with anything new. What does make us smile is the sight of young Swedes in groups looking "hard and cool" (gosh I sound like my mother!) which they do well, until they start speaking Swedish! It's too nice a language to listen to and just doesn't have the right effect!

Time to enjoy our final hours in Stockholm. Last postcard tomorrow.

Time for Lagkage

We made Danish layer cake for the Mum's Group at SK the other day.  It was heavenly and tasted just like Farmor's cakes used to taste.  For a good, Danish layer cake you need some really light and airy sponge bases (3), thick vanilla custard mixed with crushed up ameretti biscuits ("makroner"), some good quality raspberry jam and some chopped, fresh strawberries.  Layer one is the custard mixture, layer two is jam, then custard, then strawberries.  Pour thin icing over the top and decoate with whipped cream and some flags/candles/frozen penguins or whatever else springs to mind.