Easter Calendar 2021 - rich chocolate cake with twist of coffee & orange

 

Today it is Easter Sunday, which is the fourth day in the Danish Easter vacation.

And to day it is time to bake rich indulgent chocolate cake. You can either bake this cake as the usual one big cake or I decided to bake this chocolate cake in small pieces, so I ended up with 16 pieces of chocolate cake. 

I have found this recipe in the weekly magazine "Hendes Verden" (issue 8 / 2021). The original recipe consist of a chocolate cake with a topping butter, coconut and coffee. As I found, that the cake dough already contains 200 g butter, and a topping with another 100 g butter, I decided to bake the cake without making the topping. 

I also decided to give the cake a orange twist, both from using dark chocolate with orange flavour and orange zest.

Rich chocolate cake with twist of coffee & orange: - 16 small cakes

• 200 g butter
• 150 g dark chocolate -medium chopped
• 2½ tablespoon cocoa powder
• 4 eggs
• 200 g sugar
• 1 organic orange - only the zest
• 175 g (cake) flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoons vanilla sugar
• 1½ strong coffee - made from 1 teaspoon with top of instant coffee

1. Heat up the oven to 180'C.
2. Melt the butter in a cooking pot. Add in the cocoa powder and chopped dark chocolate into the melted butter. Melt the chocolate.
3. Add the sugar, orange zest and eggs into a medium sized mixing bowl. Whip into a foamy mass.
4. Stir in the melted butter-chocolate mass into the egg-sugar mass.
5. Afterwards add into the flour, baking powder, vanilla sugar and strong coffee. Mix everything together.
6. Fill the cake dough into one large or silicone form with with small individual forms.
7. Bake the smaller cakes at 180'C for 20 minutes and the large cake at 180'C for 35-40 minutes.
8. Check that the cake is baked, before taking it out of the oven.
9. Cool down the cake, before it is served.

Easter Calendar 2021 - Egg shape cake with orange twist

Today it is Maundy Thursday (Skærtorsdag), which is a public holiday here in Denmark and starting off the Danish Easter vacation with 5 days off from work. It could be, that you are off from work, but this Easter you are not off from home due to the corona situation. So we are staying at home and staying away from each other to keep people 

So today, I am baking small cakes in the shape of eggs using a silicone form in egg shape. I have used this Easter egg cakes, where I have removed the use of liquorice powder and lemon zest, adding in orange zest instead of.  

Next time I will use cocoa powder or dark chocolate to boost the chocolate flavour. The amount of orange was just right.

Easter egg cakes with orange twist: - 8 cakes

• 100 g soft butter
• 100 g sugar
• 2 eggs
• 100 g (cake) flour
• ½ teaspoon baking powder
• 40-50 g milk chocolate - melted
• 1organic orange - only the zest

1. Heat up the fan oven to 180'C.
2. Whip the soft butter and the sugar together into a foamy white mass.
3. Add in the eggs one by one, whip between each addition of egg.
4. Add in the (cake) wheat flour and baking powder.
5. Divide the cake dough into two portions, approx. 200 g per portion.
6. Add orange zest into one of the cake dough portions.
7. Melt the chocolate using the micro wave oven.
8. Stir in the melted chocolate into the second cake dough portion.
9. Fill half the egg silicone form with the chocolate cake dough. And fill the remaining part with the orange cake dough.
10. Bake the cake in fan oven at 180'C for 20 minutes.
11. Cold down the cakes prior to serving them.
12. Store in airtight container.

Christmas Calendar 2020 Day 23 - Chocolate cream cake with cinnamon & walnuts

 

The final cake creation for the Christmas of 2020 is this chocolate cream cake with cinnamon & walnuts, where I have used have combined this chocolate cake with cinnamon together with the use of whipped cream flavoured with cinnamon sugar & walnut like this walnut cream cake a la Svinkløv. It turned out to be a great combination. 

Chocolade cake bun cinnamon: - 1 cake

• 1 egg
• 150 g brown sugar
• 75 g butter - melted
• 100 g whole fat milk
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon vanilla sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 125 g (cake) flour
• 2-2½ dl dairy whipping cream, 38% fat
• 1-2 teaspoon cinnamon sugar
• 50-75 g walnuts - medium chopped
• 5 whole walnuts - for decoration

1. Heat up the oven to 170'C.
2. Add the egg and sugar into a medium size bowl, whip it together with an electrical mixer.
3. Add in the melted butter, milk, flour, cocoa powder, vanilla sugar, cinnamon and baking powder. Whip again into a homogeneous mass.
4. Place the Tupperware MicroPro ring on top of baking parchment.
5. Fill the cake dough into the MicroPro ring.
6. Place the cake in the middle of the oven, and bake the cake at 170 for 30-40 minutes.
7. Check, that the cake is baked, before you take it out of the oven.
8. Pull softly in the MicroPro ring from time to time, so get the cake loose.
9. Remove the MicroPro ring and let the cake cool down on the baking parchment.
10. Cool down the cake, slice the cake into either 2 or 3 slices.
11. Pour the whipping cream together with cinnamon sugar into a medium sized mixing bowl.
12. Whip the cream using a electrical whipper to the right firmness.
13. Stir in the chopped walnuts.
14. Place one chocolate cake bun on a serving plate.
15. Spread ½ of the whipped cream on top of the cake bun.
16. Place the second cake bun on top of the whipped cream.
17. Decorate the top of the second/last cake bun with the rest of the whipped cream.
18. Decorate the whipped cream with 5 whole walnuts.

Christmas Calendar 2020 Day 21 - Chocolate cake with cinnamon

I have used this recipe on chocolate cake again giving it another Christmas twist in form of using cinnamon & brown sugar.  My plan is not to eat this cake as it is, however I will used it as cake buns for a cream cake with cream filling of walnut & cinnamon. 

Chocolade cake with cinnamon: - 1 cake

• 1 egg
• 150 g brown sugar
• 75 g butter - melted
• 100 g whole fat milk
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• ½ teaspoon vanilla sugar
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon
• 3 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 125 g (cake) flour

1. Heat up the oven to 170'C.
2. Add the egg and sugar into a medium size bowl, whip it together with an electrical mixer.
3. Add in the melted butter, milk, flour, cocoa powder, vanilla sugar, cinnamon and baking powder. Whip again into a homogeneous mass.
4. Place the Tupperware MicroPro ring on top of baking parchment.
5. Fill the cake dough into the MicroPro ring.
6. Place the cake in the middle of the oven, and bake the cake at 170 for 30-40 minutes.
7. Check, that the cake is baked, before you take it out of the oven.
8. Pull softly in the MicroPro ring from time to time, so get the cake loose.
9. Remove the MicroPro ring and let the cake cool down on the baking parchment.
10. Serve the cake or use it as cream cake buns.

Christmas Calendar 2020 Day 19 - English sister cake with Christmas twist

 

The English sister cake is a cake, which I recall back from my childhood, where my mother used to bake this cake. And I also think, that she was buying a similar bag containing both baking powder and spice mixture called "brown baking powder". So when I located the type of baking powder in my local supermarket, I decided to bake English sister cake with a Christmas twist in form of both candied orange peel and sucat besides from the corinths. 

English sister cake with Christmas twist: - 1 cake

• 250 g soft butter
• 250 g sugar
• 2 eggs
• 400 g (cake) wheat flour
• 1 bag f brown baking powder
• 2½ dl full fat milk
• 75 g corinths
• 20 g candied orange peel
• 20 g sucat

1. Heat up the oven to 175'C.
2. Add soft bitter & sugar in a medium mixing bowl, and whip it together in a foamy mass using an electrical beater.
3. Add in the eggs, one by one, whipping between addition of an egg.
4. Add in the brown baking powder.
5. Pour in the milk, and whip again.
6. Add in the flour and whip.
7. Add in the dried fruit, and the cake dough together, until all the dried fruit is homogeneous mixed.
8. Cover a bread form of 2 l with baking parchement.
9. Pour in the cake dough.
10. Place the form in the middle of the oven.
11. Bake the cake at 175'C for 45-75 minutes.
12. Check regular, that the bake is baked.
13. Cold down the cake prior to cutting it and serving it.

Christmas Calendar 2020 Day 8 - After Eight chocolate cake

 

It is time for yet another chocolate time, I recently shared this recipe on chocolate cake with P-tærter with you. I have yet again used this basic recipe on chocolate cake a la Tupperware as starting point. The good thing about this specific recipe is, that you get a smaller size chocolate cake, so you often so enjoy a fresh chocolate, while you at the same time to try a flavour twist.

After Eight chocolate cake: - 1 cake

• 1 egg
• 150 g sugar
• 75 g butter - melted
• 100 g whole fat milk
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
• 3 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 125 g (cake) flour
• 50 g After Eight chocolate - medium chopped - for the cake dough
• 10 pieces of After Eight chocolate - for melting on top of the freshly baked chocolate cake

1. Heat up the oven to 170'C.
2. Add the egg and sugar into a medium size bowl, whip it together with an electrical mixer.
3. Add in the melted butter, milk, flour, cocoa powder, vanilla sugar and baking powder. Whip again into a homogeneous mass.
4. Stir in the chopped After Eight chocolate pieces into the cake dough.
5. Place the Tupperware MicroPro ring on top of baking parchment.
6. Fill the cake dough into the MicroPro ring.
7. Place the cake in the middle of the oven, and bake the cake at 170 for 30-40 minutes.
8. Check, that the cake is baked, before you take it out of the oven.
9. Place the pieces of "whole / un-broken" After Eight chocolate on freshly baked cake, so the chocolate pieces can melt together.
10. Use a dough scraper to spread the chocolate pieces into a homogenous layer.
11. Pull softly in the MicroPro ring from time to time, so get the cake loose.
12. Cool down the cake and remove the MicroPro ring.
13. Serve the cake together with a cup of coffee and/or tea.

Christmas Calendar Day 4 - Banana bread with Christmas twist

As I still had some quiet matured bananas in my kitchen, I decided to make a Christmas twist to this banana bread a la "Rye 115" by using a combination of plain and brown sugar with addition of cinnamon on top of the vanilla powder. And as the chocolate part I used a dark chocolate with 55% and the flavour of orange.

You can regular to check the cake during the baking, as the indicated 42 minutes at 170'C is not enough at all in my oven. Here I had to bake for 60-70 minutes at 170'C. So, keep an open eye, if you bake this cake.

Banana bread with Christmas twist: - 1 cake

• 50 g sugar
• 50 g brwon sugar
• 2 eggs
• 250 g (cake) wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla powder
• 1 teaspoon cinnamon 
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 dl rape seed oil or sun flower oil
• 4 matured bananas - peeled and mashed
• 100 g dark chocolate with orange - medium chopped

1. Heat up the oven to 170'C.
2. Whip the eggs and sugar together for 10 minutes. I used by stand alone mixer for this purpose, so I did not have holding a hand mixer for 10 minutes.
3. Add in the wheat flour, baking powder, vanilla powder, cinnamon, salt and oil. And whip until homogenous.
4. Add in the mashed bananas and whip again.
5. Finally add in the chocolate, and whip again for a short time or stir in the chopped chocolate by hand.
6. Fill the cake dough in a bread form.
7. Bake the cake at 170'C in middle/upper part of the oven.
8. Check regular during the baking, if the cake is baked.
9. Bake at 170'C for 45-70 minutes.
10. Cold down the cake prior to serving.

Christmas Calendar 2020 Day 3 - chocolate cake with P-tærter

Some time ago I baked this chocolate cake. And I found, that you easily could twist this cake recipe in many different direction. So today I am sharing one of these twists with you as the daily Christmas Calendar entries. The twist I am doing today is to replace the chocolate with P-tærte, which as a Danish candy in form French nougat with peanuts and coated with dark chocolate. So here you cut the individual P-tærte into smaller pieces. 

I decided to double up the portion, however you can easy divide the below mentioned recipe into half, if you only need a small chocolate cake. 
 

Chocolate cake with P-tærte: - 1 cake

• 2 egg
• 300 g sugar
• 150 g butter - melted
• 200 g whole fat milk
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoon vanilla sugar
• 6 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 250 g (cake) flour
• 100 g P-tærte - medium chopped

1. Heat up the oven to 170'C.
2. Add the egg and sugar into a medium size bowl, whip it together with an electrical mixer.
3. Add in the melted butter, milk, flour, cocoa powder, vanilla sugar and baking powder. Whip again into a homogeneous mass.
4. Stir in the chopped pieces of P-tærte into the cake dough.
5. Cover the baking tray (15 cm x 25 cm) with baking parchment, before you fill the cake dough into the baking tray.
6. Place the cake in the middle of the oven, and bake the cake at 170 for 40-50 minutes.
7. Check, that the cake is baked, before you take it out of the oven.
8. Cool down the cake, before serving it.

Banana bread a la "Rye 115"

 

I have located this recipe on banana bread shared by hotel "Rye 115" in the travelling section from my local new paper. The only modification, which I have done, is that I exchanged the dark chocolate with milk chocolate. 

I also reduced the amount of vanilla powder from 2 tablespoons to 2 teaspoons. Perhaps you are you using vanilla sugar, it could be, that you should use 2 tablespoons.

You can regular to check the cake during the baking, as the indicated 42 minutes at 170'C is not enough at all in my oven. Here I had to bake for 60-70 minutes at 170'C. So, keep an open eye, if you bake this cake.

Banana bread a la "Rye 115": - 1 cake

• 100 g sugar
• 2 eggs
• 250 g (cake) wheat flour
• 2 teaspoons baking powder
• 2 teaspoons vanilla powder
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 dl rape seed oil or sun flower oil
• 4 matured bananas - peeled and mashed
• 100 g milk chocolate - medium chopped

1. Heat up the oven to 170'C.
2. Whip the eggs and sugar together for 10 minutes. I used by stand alone mixer for this purpose, so I did not have holding a hand mixer for 10 minutes.
3. Add in the wheat flour, baking powder, vanilla powder, salt and oil. And whip until homogenous.
4. Add in the mashed bananas and whip again.
5. Finally add in the chocolate, and whip again for a short time or stir in the chopped chocolate by hand.
6. Fill the cake dough in a bread form.
7. Bake the cake at 170'C in middle/upper part of the oven.
8. Check regular during the baking, if the cake is baked.
9. Bake at 170'C for 45-70 minutes.
10. Cold down the cake prior to serving.

Squash cake a la Søndag

It is time for squash, which be used for both cooking as well as baking. I have tested this recipe on squash cake in the weekly magazine "Søndag". I decided to supplement the spices with a little nutmeg. And instead of dark chocolate I used milk chocolate, as I dislike dark chocolate. So use the chocolate, which you personally prefer.

I also decided not to make the frosting of cream cheese and sour cream. 

I really like the spices part of the recipe, but I prefer the texture of this squash cake. Therefore I think, I will combine these recipes into one cake next time, when I bake squash cake.

As other suggestion for helping out on a surplus of squashes, when take a look at these baking recipes in form of

• squash buns with whole grain flour
• squash cake a la Valdemarsro
• squash cake with butter
• Preben's squash cake with cinnamon cream cheese topping
• squash cake a la Årstiderne

Squash cake a la Søndag: - 1 cake

• 3 eggs
• 170 g sugar
• 150 g (cake) wheat flour
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 2 teaspoon cinnamon
• 2 teaspoon cardamom
• ½ teaspoon nutmeg 
• vanilla sugar
• 1 dl sunflower oil
• 250 g squash (roughly grated)
• 1 organic lemon - both the the zest & juice
• 50 g milk chocolate - medium chopped
• 50 g walnut - medium chopped

1. Heat up the oven to 200'C.
2. Add sugar and eggs oil into a medium size mixing bowl and whip it together with an electrical beater.
3. Add in wheat flour, baking powder, cinnamon and cardamom into the egg-sugar mass, whip it together.
4. Stir in the grated squash, lemon zest & juice and sunflower oil.
5. Finally stir in the chopped chocolate & walnut.
6. Fill the cake in a baking tray of 23 x 33 cm. Before filling in the dough, cover the baking tray with a piece of baking parchment. 
7. Bake the cake at 200'C for 45-60 minutes. Check, that the cake is baked, before it is removed from the oven.
8. Cool down the cake, before it is served with a cup of tea & coffee.

Pumpkin cake a la Skovdal Nordic

As part of my Halloween celebration I decided to make a portion of pumpkin soup with carrot & potato. I brought a large hokkaido, so I decided to use of the pumpkin to bake both pumpkin buns as well as pumpkin cake.

The recipe on pumpkin cake I found in my local newspaper in the Sunday edition (1st November 2020). The only modification, which I have done to this cake recipe is to add in ground nutmeg to have a more rounded spices character. 

Pumpkin cake a la Skovdal Nordic - 1 cake

• 3 eggs
• 200 g brown sugar
• 2 dl sunflower oil
• 200 g (cake) flour
• 1½ teaspoon ground cinnamon
• ½ teaspoon ground nutmeg
• 2 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon fresh ginger - finely grated
• 300 g pumpkin - peeled and roughly grated
• icing sugar & lemon juice
• roasted pumpkin seeds

1. Heat up the fan oven to 175'C.
2. Whip the eggs and brown sugar in medium mixing bowl into a foamy mass.
3. Add in the oil, flour, baking powder and the species and stir well.
4. Add in the grated pumpkin, and stir the cake dough well together.
5. Fill the cake dough into a rye bread silicone form.
6. Bake the cake at 175'C at the lower part of the oven.
7. Bake the cake at 175'C for 1½ hour. Check regular, how the cake is baked.
8. Cool down the cake.
9. Make a icing from icing sugar and lemon juice. Add the icing on top of the cake.
10. Sprinkle the icing sugar with roasted pumpkin seeds.
11. Slice the cake prior to serving together with cup of tea & coffee.

Squash cake a a Gastro Fun

It is time for squash, which be used for both cooking as well as baking. I have testing this recipe on squash cake a la GastroFun. 

As other suggestion for helping out on a surplus of squashes, when take a look at these baking recipes in form of

• squash buns with whole grain flour
• squash cake a la Valdemarsro
• squash cake with butter
• Preben's squash cake with cinnamon cream cheese topping
• squash cake a la Årstiderne

The squash cake is served on a ceramic plate made by Kræs Jelling found at Upcomers market Spring 2020.

I think, that the recipe could use some more spice taste together with some raisins and/or nuts to bring some more texture differences to the final cake.

Squash cake a la Gastro Fun: - 1 cake

• 100 g sugar
• 200 g brown sugar
• 2 teaspoon vanilla sugar
• 1½ dl sunflower oil
• 4 eggs
• 275 g (cake) wheat flour
• 1½ teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon baking soda
• ½ teaspoon salt
• 1 tablespoon cinnamon
• 375 g squash (roughly grated)

1. Heat up the oven to 185'C.
2. Add sugar, brown sugar, eggs and oil into a medium size mixing bowl and whip it together with an electrical beater.
3. Add in wheat flour, baking powder, baking soda, salt and cinnamon into the egg-sugar mass, whip it together.
4. Stir in the grated squash.
5. Fill the cake in a baking tray of 23 x 33 cm. Before filling in the dough, cover the baking tray with a piece of baking parchment. 
6. Bake the cake at 185 for 45-60 minutes. Check, that the cake is baked, before it is removed from the oven.
7. Cool down the cake, before it is served with a cup of tea & coffee.

Crumble cake with blackcurrant jam

 

I have located this recipe on crumble cake in the weekly magazine "Søndag". I have made no adjustments to the recipe, well I used more blackcurrant jam, than originally mentioned in the recipe, so I could cover all crumble layer.

You can either use commercial blackcurrant jam or home-made blackcurrant jam. I can easily imaging, that you use other types of jam.

Crumble cake with blackcurrant jam: - 1 cake:

• 100 g dinkel wheat flour
• 250 g wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 175 g butter - medium diced
• 1 teaspoon anise seeds
• 2 tablespoons sugar
• 2 egg yolks
• 1½-2 dl blackcurrant jm

1. Heat up the oven to 190'C.
2. Add the dinkel wheat & wheat flour together with the baking powder into the medium sized bowl.
3. Add in the diced butter, 
4. Add in the butter pieces, rub in the butter using only your fingers, until the mixture looks like fine breadcrumbs.
5. Add in 1 tablespoon sugar & anise seeds together with the egg yolks, and knead the mixture together without over-kneading the dough.
6. Divide the dough into 3 equal portions. 
7. Cover a baking tray with a piece of baking parchment.
8. Take two of the dough portions and press into the baking tray into a height of ½ cm.
9. Spread out the blackcurrant jam on top of the crumble dough in a thin layer.
10. Add in 1 tablespoon sugar into the remaining crumble dough.
11. Sprinkle out the crumble dough on top of the blackcurrant jam.
12. Bake the cake at 190'C for 30 minutes.
13. After baking remove the cake from the oven, cool down the cake, before it is cut into smaller pieces.

Carrot cake with almond flour

 

I have located this recipe on carrot cake with almond flour in the weekly magazine "Søndag".  I did not made any changes to this recipe. Another time I think I would like to use a spice combination of cinnamon, nutmeg and perhaps cloves or ginger.

I decided not made the cream cheese topping in order to get a longer shelf-life of the cake together with the fact, that without the cream cheese topping there is no need for storing the cake in the refrigerator.

There is not used any type of cereal flour inside this cake. The "flour" part is grounded almond. Also no addition of sucrose is done, as the sweetness is coming from the use of marble syrup and raisin. So, a marketing person could easily decided to label this cake as "gluten-free and no sucrose added carrot cake" !!! I am happy to the use of butter instead of sunflower oil, so the term "lactose-free and dairy-free" is not option, so my dairy loving heart is happy :-)

Carrot cake with almond cake:- 1 cake

• 3 eggs - divided into egg yolk & egg white
• 100 g carrots - peeled and medium grated
• 4 tablespoon marble syrup
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 2 teaspoons cinnamon
• 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
• 50 g butter - melted
• 75 g walnuts - medium chopped
• 150 g almonds - grounded into flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 dl raisins

1. Heat up the oven to 175'C.
2. Divide the egg into egg yolk & egg white in individual mixing bowls.
3. Add grated carrots, marble syrup, lemon juice, cinnamon & vanilla sugar into the mixing bowl with the egg yolks, and stir well.
4. Add in the melted butter and stir well.
5. Add in the chopped walnuts, almond flour, raisins & baking powder into the cake mixture and stir well.
6. Whip the egg whites into a stiff foam.
7. Gentle add the whipped egg white little & little into the cake mixture, gentle folding, so no vigorously stirring.
8. Fill the cake dough into a spring form with diameter of 22 cm.
9. Place the cake in the middle part of the oven at 175'C.
10. Bake at 40-50 minutes at 175'C.
11. Check, that the cake is baked, before removing it from the oven.
12. Cold the cake, before you slice it.
13. Serve with a cup of coffee/ tea.
14. Enjoy.

Chocolate cake a la Tupperware

I recently brought a new Tupperware silicone parchment and included with baking parchment I got a MicroPro ring as well. The ring can be used for baking. A few days ago, I got a Tupperware recipe on a chocolate cake, which could be baked in this MicroPro ring.

When I got the recipe, I noticed, that the only chocolate part was three tablespoons of cocoa powder. For me it is too little to call it a real chocolate cake, so therefore I decided to include 50 g chopped chocolate as well.
As I do not like dark chocolate, I decided to use dark milk chocolate instead (dark milk chocolate contains 47% cocoa beans). I find dark milk chocolate to have less of a sweet taste, where some milk chocolate can be very sweet in taste. Use what ever chocolate, which you have a preference for.

Chocolade cake a la Tupperware: - 1 cake

• 1 egg
• 150 g sugar
• 75 g butter - melted
• 100 g whole fat milk
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
• 3 tablespoon cocoa powder
• 125 g (cake) flour
• 50 g dark milk chocolade - medium chopped

1. Heat up the oven to 170'C.
2. Add the egg and sugar into a medium size bowl, whip it together with an electrical mixer.
3. Add in the melted butter, milk, flour, cocoa powder, vanilla sugar and baking powder. Whip again into a homogeneous mass.
4. Stir in the chopped milk chocolate pieces into the cake dough.
5. Place the Tupperware MicroPro ring on top of baking parchment.
6. Fill the cake dough into the MicroPro ring.
7. Place the cake in the middle of the oven, and bake the cake at 170 for 30-40 minutes.
8. Check, that the cake is baked, before you take it out of the oven.
9. Pull softly in the MicroPro ring from time to time, so get the cake loose.
10. Remove the MicroPro ring and let the cake cool down on the baking parchment.
11. Serve the cake.

Easter Calendar 2020 - Easter cheese cake

Today is Easter Monday or second Easter day, which is the the final Easter vacation day here in Denmark.

I will celebrate this last day of Easter with cheese cake using this recipe on Champagne Cheese Cake as starting point. Instead of champagne/sparkling wine I will use apple juice. And the biscuit bottom layer will be blend of digetive biscuits and almonds grounded into flour.

I tried to use mirrow glaze from Tørsleffs in green colour. It did not work for me. First I tried 10 minutes in water with 70'C followed with 5 minutes in boiling water. The glaze was very thick to work with, and it was floating in a big lumpy formation on the top of the cake.

Easter cheese cake: - 8-10 servings

• Biscuit bottom:
• 120 digestive biscuits
• 100 g almonds grounded into flour (with the skin on)
• 130 g butter - melted
• Cake mass:
• 5 sheets of gelatine
• 400 g plain full fat cream cheese
• 1½ dl dairy whipping cream  
• 125 g icing sugar
• 2 dl apple juice 
• Green mirrow glaze from Tørsleffs - optional

Biscuit bottom:

1. Break the digestive biscuits into small pieces using a rolling pin. First place the biscuits and makroner in a freezing bag, so you can control the whereabouts of the cakes.
2. Grind the almonds into flour and mix together with the digestive biscuits pieces.
3. Melt the butter.
4. Stir the butter and biscuits together in a medium mixing bowl.
5. Afterwards press the mass into the bottom of the spring form (18-22 cm).
6. Place the mass cold.

Cake mass:

1. Place the gelatine sheets in a bowl with cold water, let the sheets soak for 5-10 minutes.
2. Add the cream cheese, icing sugar and dairy whipping cream in a medium mixing bowl, stir it together using an electrical mixer. 
3. Squeeze the gelatine sheets from excess water. Pour all the apple juice into a cooking pot and add in the gelatine leaves. Melt the gelatine sheets in the juice. 
4. Add the juice-gelatine into the cake mass, while you keep mixing to avoid lump formation.
5. Stir in the remaining sparkling wine by hand.
6. Fill the cake mass into the spring form on top of the biscuit layer.
7. Place the cake cold in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours.
8. Glaze the surface of the cake with mirrow glaze
9. Serve the cake with a glass of wine or a cup of tea :-)

Easter Calender 2020 - Easter carrot cake

Today it is Maundy Thursday (Skærtorsdag), which is a public holiday here in Denmark and starting off the Danish Easter vacation with 5 days off from work. It could be, that you are off from work, but this Easter you are not off from home due to the corona situation. So we are staying at home and staying away from each other to keep people around safe.

So, to keep me busy I have as usual created this little Easter Calendar 2020, where I every Easter day will be sharing a new recipe having a relation to Easter of some kind (according to my definition).

I have found this recipe on a carrot cake in Easter version at Dansukker. I decided to "only" to bake the cake and not to make the frosting to have a less calorie/energy dense cake. Instead of making a frosting from cream cheese, I will dust the cake upon serving.

I wonder why, this carrot cake is called a Easter carrot cake by Dansukker ? Perhaps it is due to high amount of eggs used (5 eggs), and back in time Easter was also the time of the year, where the hens would start to lay eggs again after a Winter without any eggs.

Easter carrot cake: - 12 pieces

• 300 g carrots - peeled and roughlt grated
• 3½ dl icing sugar
• 5 eggs - divided into egg white and egg yolk
• 230 g (cake) wheat flour
• 1 tablespoon vanilla sugar
• 1 teaspoon with top baking powder
• 100 g hazelnuts - grounded into flour
• 100 g almonds - roughly chopped
• 125 g butter - soft
• 1 dl orange jam

1. Divide the eggs into egg white and egg yolks.
2. Add the egg white and icing sugar into a large mixing bowl. Whip in a firmer foam. It actually takes some time to whip into a firmer foam, so be patient.
3. Add in wheat flour, baking powder, vanilla sugar, grounded hazelnuts and rougly chopped almonds. Stir it gentle with the whipped egg white foam.
4. Add in the egg yolks, orange jam and soft butter, and stir into a homogeneous mass.
5. Finally add in the grated carrots.
6. Heat up the oven to 175'C.
7. Fill the cake dough into a round shape form, 24 cm in diameter.
8. Bake the cake at 175'C in the lower part of the oven for 45-60 minutes.
9. Check that the cake is baked, before removing it from the oven.
10. Cool down the cake, before serving it.
11. Sprinkle with icing sugar on the cake prior to serving.

Pinkie - ruby chocolate cake

I still had some ruby chocolate left in my kitchen after making both ruby romance scones and Valentine cheese cake, so I thought why not make a brownie/blondie style cake using ruby chocolate instead of dark/white chocolate and call it a pinkie ?

I have been told, that in order to maintain the red colour of ruby chocolate, the acidity (pH) should be high (=low in pH), so therefore I replaced some of the butter with full-fat sour cream as a a way of the getting of the colour. However, as I started to mix into flour, sugar and egg, the colour became more of the usual cake yellowish colour. So the pink part of the cake is the ruby chocolate melted on the surface of the baked cake.

I had a look as this recipe on ruby chokolade blondies by Gastro Fun as inspiration, and from there I made several modifications.

Pinkie - ruby chocolate cake: - 1 cake

• 100 g butter
• 200 g full-fat sour cream, 38% fat
• 200 g sugar
• 2 eggs
• 1 teaspoon vanilla sugar
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 210 g wheat flour
• 100 g ruby chocolate - melted
• 200 g ruby chocolate as small pieces of chocolate
• 100 g ruby chocolate - melted for decoration of the cake after baking

1. Heat up the oven (conventional) to 180'C.
2. Melt the butter.
3. Mix melted butter and sour cream together in a medium sized mixing bowl.
4. Melt the ruby chocolate, and stir it into the butter-sour cream mixture.
5. Add in the sugar, vanilla sugar and salt, stir well.
6. Add in the eggs, one by one, stir well between each addition of egg.
7. Add in the flour and stir well.
8. Finally add in the smaller pieces of ruby chocolate and stir well.
9. Cover a baking tray (20 x 30 cm) with baking parchment.
10. Fill the cake dough into the baking tray.
11. Bake the cake in the middle of the oven at 180'C for 30-40 minutes.
12. Check, that the underbaked, before removing it from the oven.
13. Cold down the cake.
14. Melt the last part of the ruby chocolate and pour it over the surface of the pinkie.
15. Enjoy :-)

Valentine Cheese Cake

For Valentine Days I also created this Valentine cheese cake besides these Ruby Romance scones.

As starting point for the cheese cake I used this recipe on Champagne cheese cake with various modifications. The biscuit layer as the traditional biscuit layer made from Digestive biscuits and butter.

I worked with two different cheese cake fillings. The first filling was a more basic filling of cream cheese, icing sugar and gelatine with addtion of raspberry cordial for flavour purpose.
The second was a mixture of cream cheese, full fat sour cream, icing sugar, gelatine with the addition of ruby chocolate. I have heard, that if you want to maintain the pink colour of ruby chocolate, it is important, that the pH of the base is not neutral, but to the acidic/sour side. This is the reason, why I used sour cream instead of normal whipping cream to dissolved the melted ruby chocolate into.

Valentine Cheese Cake: - 10-12 servings

• Biscuit bottom:
• 200 digestive biscuits
• 130 g butter - melted
• Cake mass:
• 5 sheets of gelatine
• 400 g plain full fat cream cheese
• 250 g sour cream, 38% fat 
• 150 g icing sugar
• 150 g ruby chocolate - melted
• 5-10 cl raspberry cordial

Biscuit bottom:

1. Break the digestive biscuits into small pieces using a rolling pin. Place the biscuits in a freezing bag, so you can control the whereabouts of the cakes.
2. Melt the butter.
3. Stir the butter and biscuits together in a medium mixing bowl.
4. Afterwards press the mass into the bottom of the spring form (18-22 cm).
5. Place the mass cold.

Cake mass:

1. Place the gelatine sheets in a bowl with cold water, let the sheets soak for 5-10 minutes.
2. Add the cream cheese, icing sugar in a medium mixing bowl, stir it together using an electrical mixer. 
3. Squeeze the gelatine sheets from excess water. Melt the gelatine sheets in a cooking pot.  
4. Add the melted elatine into the cake mass, while you keep mixing to avoid lump formation.
5. Divide the cream cheese mass into two portions.
6. In the first portion stir in raspberry cordial.
7. Whip the sour cream with using an electrical mixer, until the texture becomes stiff.
8. Gentle stir in the melted ruby chocolate into the sour cream. 
9. Gentle mix the second cream cheese mixture with the sour cream mixture.
10. Pour the two cream cheese mixture into the spring form, and mix the two masses together.
11. Place the cake cold in the refrigerator for 2-3 hours.
12. Serve the cake with a sweet glass of real champagne and say "Happy Valentine" :-)

Banana bread with white chocolate & coconut

On a rainy and stormy day it can be great to spend time in your kitchen baking a cake, where you can use some very ripe bananas instead of throwing them into the bin.

I found this recipe in the weekly magazine "Søndag" on Banana bread with white chocolate and coconut. The only change, which I have made is, that as I could not find coconut flakes in my local supermarket, I decided to use ordinary desiccated coconut, which I when added into the cake dough instead of placing the coconut flakes on the top of the cake during baking.

Banana bread with white chocolate and coconut: - 1 cake

• 3 eggs
• 200 g brown sugar
• 125 g butter - soft
• 3 banana - use very bananas, if you have such
• 225 g wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 100 g white chocolate - medium chopped
• 50 g desiccated coconut

1. Heat up the oven to 180'C.
2. Whip the eggs and brown sugar in a mixing bowl using an electrical beater.
3. Add the soft butter and whip again.
4. Mash the bananas with a fork, and add the mashed bananas into the cake dough, whip again.
5. Add in the flour together with the baking powder, and whip the dough again.
6. Add in the white chocolate and desiccated coconut, and stir everything together.
7. Fill the cake dough in to 1 l bread form.
8. Place the cake the middle of the oven, and let the banana bread bake at 180'C for approx. 60-75 minutes.
9. Check that the cake is baked by screwing a knitting pine into the cake. The pine should be removed without any unbaked cake dough.
10. Cool down the cake, before slicing it and serving with together with a cup of tea/coffee.