Wednesday, 16 December 2015

Pepper cake house

The tradition, I believe, calls for a ginger bread house around Christmas time. This year however, Caroline asked if she could have a “Hansel and Gretel”-style house made out of pepper cake dough, when she was having her friends from kindergarten over for a birthday party. Of course she could:





The dough was pre-made  gluten free and bought by yours truly at the local super market. But I did role it out, cut out the different elements for the house, bake them, stick them together with royal icing and decorate the whole thing. So the house consisted of a little bit of cheating and a whole lot of fun!

Monday, 14 December 2015

Penguin cake / Pingu cake

Another tradition in Denmark: we bring cake to work and kindergarten and… when it’s our birthday. It is really remarkable that the Danes are generally able to keep fit and slim with all the cake we eat…

Now Caroline had asked if she would please have a cake with ice and snow and penguins to bring to her friends at the kindergarten to celebrate her birthday with all of them. Of course she could:


The figurines were made out of fondant (which was also used to cover the cake).


The cake was P’s brown Christmas cake covered in 1:1 ganache:

Melt 100 grams of butter, 100 grams of sugar and 100 grams of syrup (don’t boil too much as it will turn in to a thick caramel and burn). Once cooled down a bit add 2 tea spoons of cinnamon, 1 tea spoon of clove and 1 tea spoon of cardamom. Then add 1 tea spoon of natron (hydrated sodium carbonate) dissolved in 1 dl of buttermilk. Finally stir in 250 grams of flour. Poor into a well greased baking tray and baked for approx. 20 min at 180 degrees.

I made one batch in a bowl shaped baking tray for the igloo and a normal round tray (22 cm in diameter) for the penguins and igloo to sit on.

1:1 ganache:
100 ml of boiling cream poured over 100 grams of fine chopped chocolate, stirred and chilled until it feels like butter.

Sunday, 13 December 2015

Lucia cake (gluten free chocolate mousse cake)

Our daughter Caroline’s birthday is on December 13.

The 13th December is also Saint Lucy’s day (Sankta Lucia’s Day), which in Norway, Sweden and Denmark is celebrated by holding processions, where girls in white dresses walk through the building singing. Saint Lucy is represented by a girl with a wreath of spruce and candles on her head. In the dark Scandinavian winter it’s beautiful and magical. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Saint_Lucy%27s_Day

Each year since her birth my parents have come round in the early morning and we wake Caroline up by holding our own Sankta Lucia procession - perhaps not so beautiful but still very special...

Not surprisingly Caroline had asked for a Sankta Lucia cake this year – the amount of candles to show her new won age:


As adults typically don’t fancy fondant, I make an extra cake without it – just covered in 1:1 chocolate ganache and lots of little white pearls (the inside was exactly the same):



The cakes were cocoa sponges and chocolate mousse all covered in 1:1 ganache.

Thin cocoa cake sheets:
2 eggs whished white with 80 grams of sugar + 40 grams of gluten free flour, 30 grams of cocoa powder, a pinch of salt, ½ tea spoon vanilla sugar and ½ tea spoon baking powder. Spread out on baking paper covered baking tray and bake for 6-8 minutes at 200 degrees.

Chocolate mousse
150 grams of chocolate melted in water bath. Add 2 egg yokes. Carefully add 2 egg whites whisked stiff with 1 tablespoon sugar. Whip 2 dl cream and add to chocolate.

1:1 chocolate ganache

100 ml of boiling cream poured over 200 grams chopped dark chocolate. Let sit for a little while, and then stir until smooth. Let chill until it has the same feel as soft butter. Cover the cake and let chill before covering the cake in marzipan or fondant.

Monday, 7 December 2015

Christmas wreath 2015

When a baby is born in Denmark a nurse is assigned to visit the family to check and monitor the health of the baby (and the mother). 

The nurse; Susanne, who came to visit Christopher was a bubbly lady, who probably sensed that her services weren’t really required and therefore mainly talked about her house in the Swedish country side, cooking and her grown children. On several of her visits I had decorated cakes sitting on the kitchen bench ready to be sent of to friend and family. Susanne always made such kind comments about the cakes, and indicated that she wouldn’t mind a taste. Her last visit was scheduled for December, so I decided that she should have a cake as a good-bye present.



The cake was the traditional Christmas cake better know as P’s brown cake:
Melt 100 grams of butter, 100 grams of sugar and 100 grams of syrup (don’t boil too much as it will turn in to a thick caramel and burn).
Once cooled down a bit add
  1. 2 tea spoons of cinnamon, 1 tea spoon of clove and 1 tea spoon of cardamom,
  2. 1 tea spoon of natron (hydrated sodium carbonate) dissolved in 1 dl of buttermilk and
  3. 250 grams of flour.

Poor into a well greased baking tray and baked for approx. 20 min at 180 degrees.
The cake was covered in 1:1 ganache (100 ml of boiling cream poured over 100 grams of fine chopped chocolate, stirred and chilled until it feels like butter).

Then there was a layer of marzipan cut out with a leaf cutter.

Sunday, 6 December 2015

Christmas tree cake 2015

No second Sunday in Advent without a Christmas party, and no Christmas party without a Christmas tree cake.



The cake was the traditional Christmas cake better know as P’s brown cake:
Melt 100 grams of butter, 100 grams of sugar and 100 grams of syrup (don’t boil too much as it will turn in to a thick caramel and burn).
Once cooled down a bit add


  1. 2 tea spoons of cinnamon, 1 tea spoon of clove and 1 tea spoon of cardamom,
  2. 1 tea spoon of natron (hydrated sodium carbonate) dissolved in 1 dl of buttermilk and
  3. 250 grams of flour.

Poor into a well greased baking tray and baked for approx. 20 min at 180 degrees.
The cake was cut into 6 circles (9, 8, 7, 6, 5 and 4 cm in diameter and “glued” together with 1:1 ganache (100 ml of boiling cream poured over 100 grams of fine chopped chocolate, stirred and chilled until it feels like butter) to form a cone.

Then the “cone” was covered in 1:1 ganache and marzipan cut out in triangles. Finally, candy canes and Christmas balls made out of fondant were added.

Thursday, 3 December 2015

Snow man cake 2015

So this is Christmas…..

…..and oh, have we (Caroline and I) been looking forward to this!! It’s finally December, the house is one big Christmas decoration and the excuses for baking cakes are just lining up.

First Christmas cake of 2015 went to my colleagues (I went there to pick up my Christmas present and didn’t want to come empty handed).


The cake is the traditional Christmas cake better know as P’s brown cake:
Melt 100 grams of butter, 100 grams of sugar and 100 grams of syrup (don’t boil too much as it will turn in to a thick caramel and burn).

Once cooled down a bit add
  1. 2 tea spoons of cinnamon, 1 tea spoon of clove and 1 tea spoon of cardamom,
  2. 1 tea spoon of natron (hydrated sodium carbonate) dissolved in 1 dl of buttermilk and
  3. 250 grams of flour.

Poor into a well greased baking tray and baked for approx. 20 min at 180 degrees.

The cake was covered in 1:1 ganache (100 ml of boiling cream poured over 100 grams of fine chopped chocolate, stirred and chilled until it feels like butter).

Then there was a layer of marzipan and finally covered in fondant.


The snowman, leaves and snowballs were all made out of fondant.

Friday, 13 November 2015

Autumn birthday cake for great grandfather’s 80th birthday

Caroline’s great grandfather turned 80 and we were all asked to bring a cake for the party. I planned something spectacular, but as the case often is in this house, things didn’t go according to plan, so I had to down scale and improvise.



My father and my husband kindly volunteered the comment that the look was boring and that they had expected something more creative. I will suggest that they are spoiled when it comes to cakes!

The cake was a chocolate/nut cake:

4 egg yokes whipped light with 75g brown sugar. Add 150 g chopped chocolate, 50 g chopped hazelnut, 50 g chopped pistachio nuts, orange zest from 1 orange and 25 g flour. Gently add 4 egg whites beaten stiff with 75 g brown sugar. Bake in a well-greased baking tray with baking paper at the bottom for approx. 1 hour at 170 degrees.

A there were quite a big number of guests, I have 2 1/2 time the above-mentioned amounts.

Once out of the oven pour ginger syrup over the cake: orange juice, sugar and ginger.


Once completely cooled covered in nougat and marzipan.