Muddymudcake

This is an empty pie dish. 

It's not very happy. But with some butter, chocolate and liquorice it feels a lot better - or maybe that's just me. As always, finding a name/translation into English has been tricky - but fun! Because it is, as always, quite close to an English term/translation - here the English term Chocolate Mud cake - but not quite. In my search through the Wild Wild Web I came across an interesting little blog that was discussing, well, exactly what I am discussing right now. In a way.

For now, let's just call it Mud Cake and get on with it.

I guess every place, family, etc, has its or their own classic dish or cake that is made over and over until perfect (or as near as one can come). When I was a child, simple sponge cakes and Mud cake (or Kladdkaka) where the first ones I learnt to bake. Mud cake especially since it is so simple and quick to make. I suppose one could think of it as a 'ruined cake', as the aim is to achieve a crusty shell and a gooey, almost runny, middle.

There is probably over a 100 different ways of making them and here is also about a million different recepies, some which I hope to try very soon. Just to shake things up I decided to starts things off not with a Classic Mud cake, but one with liquorice!

Liquorice is something I've lately become very interested in (yes, I tend to obsess a bit about food). Liquorice comes in many different forms - sweet, salt, to almost tar-tasting - and it can be an acquired taste. What I had never thought of, however, was using it in cakes. In a small, cosy shop, I found a stack of liquorice products and one of them was this small jar of powdered liquorice (and I was strongly advised to try this cake). And who am I to say no to a challenge?

 Liquorice Mudcake

1. 150 grams of butter
2. 3 tablespoons of liquorice powder
3. 3 eggs
4. 3 dl sugar
5. 2 tablespoons of syrup
6. 2 dl of flour
7. 6 tablespoons of cacao

• Put the oven on 175 degrees. 
• Melt the butter, and then mix together the dry ingredients. 
• Stir in the syrup and butter. 
• Pour the batter into a greased tin or pie dish. 
• Bake in the lower part of the oven, roughly 20-25 minutes. You want it really doughy and soft in the middle! 
• Serve with raspberries and whipped cream (or vanilla ice cream.) 

Let the good times roll

A classic treat in most bakeries and cafes, I decided to try and make them myself. Turned out to be a bit of a challenge since I used uncoloured marsipan and had to add colourings myself - I also made them rather small (to make it easier to eat many). But hey, what are summer holidays for if not for playing around with silly things like this?

 Punsch-roll:

• 100 grams butter 
• 1 dl icing sugar
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla essence
• 3 tablespoons of cacao powder
• ca 4 dl of cookie crumbles (I made crumbs of a small Victoria sponge)
• Flavour the batter with Punsh or Arrack essence 
• ca 200-250 grams of Marsipan
• 3 tablespoons of icing sugar
• 100 grams of milk chocolate

1. Stir together butter, sugar, vanilla and cacao powder.
2. Add the crumbs.
3. Add flavouring of your choice.
4. Shape into two long rolls (I had do more than two due to space restrictions).
5. Let rest in the fridge for a while.
6. Flatten the marsipan with a rolling pin, add the batter and roll together - cut into ca 4.cm long pieces.
7. Dip the ends in the melted chocolate and leave to set on baking paper.

  

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Dream a little dream

Baking SOS = consult my tiny little cookie-book. You might have heard it mentioned before. The title is '7 kinds' (of cookies), in English it has the rather unimaginative title of 'Swedish cakes and cookies'. Also, the title made me laugh, because I am pretty sure that at least some of the recipes mentioned in there are used in a lot of other places beside Sweden....you know, like the ones named English Fruitcake, or Swiss roll...hmm. Be that as it may: they are still tasty, and frankly, who cares about the title. It should just have been a bit funnier. Tiny bit.

Swiss Roll time! Leaving my confused musings on those finer points in life behind (waaay behind) lets explore the yummieness that is Swiss roll.

Dreamroll

• 3 eggs
• 1 1/2 dl sugar
• 3/4 dl potato flour
• 2 tablespoons of cacao
• 1 teaspoon of baking powder

Filling

• 150 g butter
• 2 dl icing sugar
• 2 teaspoons of vanilla sugar/ or essence
• 1 egg yolk

1. Put the oven on 250 degrees (200 degrees if you have a fan-assisted oven).
2. Whisk the egg and sugar into a fluffy mess.
3. Mix together flour, cacao, and baking powder - then stir that into the egg/sugar batter.
4. Fold up the edges on a baking paper, and cover with the batter.
5. Place in the middle in the oven, ca 5 minutes. It will be done very quickly, don't worry if it seems to rise unevenly, it will be more even when it is taken out.
6. Flip the cake onto a dampened (not drenched!) tea-towel, sprinkled with a bit of sugar.
7. Remove the baking paper and let cool.

Step 2
Stir the butter and icing sugar together and add the vanilla essence and the egg yolk.
Spread on the cake, roll together swiftly and let it rest in the fridge before you cut it.

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May Day Preparations - part1

Our mayday project started with the idea to make Sima (simple enough, one would think) - a Finnish drink of sugar (loads), lemons, water and fresh yeast. The first problem was locating the dark sugar we needed; Farinsocker or Dark Brown Soft Sugar in English - took us awhile to find a translation for that!

2nd problem...which we did not foresee, was the Quest for fresh yeast.  The shop were we are usually able to find this has unexpectedly shut down, which presented a slight problem and a very long walk. The walk involved pitstops at Waitrose to start, where Nina was directed to Peckhams, (which does not sell fresh yeast). From there the quest took her to different cafes until finally meeting a lovely informative baker, at the always lovely Cafèzique, that pointed out THE PLACE that would for sure sell fresh yeast, across from the street. Arriving at a lovely Polish deli that HAD YEAST. Dried yeast works fine for baking, but with this drink the fresh version was rather essential, because there is no need to be as exact with temperatures. After that there was a very long walk back again, but at least it was sunny (a miracle in itself).

 In the end we got the brewing started for our May Day drink. Stay tuned for part two of May Day preparations - any guesses what it is -leave a comment!

Happy Valentines!

“If you live to be a hundred, I want to live to be a hundred minus one day so I never have to live without you.” 

― A.A. Milne, Winnie-the-Pooh

Argue as much as you want about the commercial, cynical sides of Valentine's, I can't help enjoying the abundance of flowers and visible love-declarations all around. Whatever you are spending this day/night doing - hope you have a blast, and if you need to satisfy that chocolate-craving, we have a nice little treat for you!

This is one of those simple, fairly quick to make, sweets that are dangerously tempting to make on Monday (or Thursday) evening when my sugar-cravings kick in. Especially since the ingredients are things I normally have at home anyway...



Chokladbollar/Chocolateballs

• 100g        butter
• 1dl           sugar
• 1tsp          vanilla essence
• 2-3 tbsp    cocoa powder
• 3dl            oats (porridge oats are fine, but bigger ones are nicer
• 2-3 tbsp    cold, strong coffee

                          'nib sugar', coconut flakes, or sprinkles

1. Stir the butter (leave it out until soft, don't melt!)R sugar and the vanilla smoothly.
2. Mix in the cocoa powder.
3. Add the oats and coffee
4. Mix well.
5. Shape the paste to small round balls and roll the in your chosen sprinkles (read more about nibsugar and other types of sugar in this interesting blog-post)

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Fat Tuesday!

Drum roll please!  My very first attempt of making 'Semlor' (in Finish they are called Laskiaispulla) a traditional cardamom filled bun eaten on Shrove Tuesday/Mardi Gras.

 

Traditionally the last day before lent, and when it is allowed to eat as much fatty stuff as you can get your hands on. These buns are filled with different things and how you make them vary from country to country - one standard variation is to fill the bun with an 'almond-paste', or marzipan, and topped with whipped cream. 
    Another way of eating these are to put them in a bowl with warm milk, called 'Hetvägg'. 

Read more about the history of the Semla  (Swedish in this case) - and learn the name of the King, who died after eating 14 in one sitting - here .

Semlor (Fat Tuesday Buns or Sledding Day Buns - for all the Finns out there)

100g of butter margarin eller smör
3 dl (300 ml) of milk
14 g od Dried Fast action yest (2 sachets)
1/2 tsp salt
1 dl sugar
1 egg
1 tsp baking powder
2-3 tsp of ground Cardamom
600-1000g wheat flour

Glazing : 1 egg
Filling: 
Whipped cream
Icing sugar

• Mix the dry ingredients, start with 600 grams of flour, and add more later until the dough has almost stopped sticking to the sides of the bowl. 

• Melt the butter and stir in the milk, make sure the butter-milk mix is not too hot when pouring into the dry ingredients, it could upset the yeast.

• Cover, and  let stand (in a warm place) for ca 30 minutes, or until the dough has doubled in size. 

• Next step is to knead the dough with flour, as you do when making bread etc. 

• Form into small, round buns about the size of the palm of your hand.

• Let stand for a while.

• Break the egg with a fork, and glaze the buns before putting in the oven, on ca.250 degrees for 8-12 minutes.

• Let cool, and then cut the top part of (like a little hat) make a dip in the bun and fill with almond-paste or jam, top with cream and then re-place the lid. Dust the whole bun with icing sugar.

 

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