Rhubarb cake a la Camilla Plum

I found this recipe in the cake book "Helt i kage" by Camilla Plum, and as the rhubarbs in my little garden are doing their best to make a jungle, this recipe on rhubarb cake was the obvious choice for me to bake for my birthday coffee.

Instead of star anise for the sugar sprinke, I decided to mix plain sugar with home-made chai sugar.

Rhubarb cake a la Plum: - 1 cake

• 250 g butter (soft)
• 250 g sugar
• 1 organic lemon - only the zest
• 3 eggs
• 160 g (cake) wheat flour
• 40 g rice flour
• 1 teaspoon ground ginger
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 800 g rhubarb stems - cut into 1-1½ cm pieces
• 100 g sugar
• 50 g chai sugar

1. Heat up the oven to 175'C.
2. Whip the butter and sugar into a foamy white mass on a stand-alone mixer.
3. Add the eggs one by one, whipping in between.
4. Add in the flour, ginger and baking powder.
5. Afterwards stir in the rhubarb pieces.
6. Add the cake dough into a round form (22-25 cm).
7. Cover the surface of the cake dough with the mixture of sugar and chai sugar.
8. Place the cake form in the middle of the oven, and bake the cake at 175'C for 1-1½ hour. The baking time is a little tricky to figure out due to the high water content coming from the rhubarb pieces.
9. Cool down the cake, before it is remove from the form.
10. Enjoy the cake together with a cup of tea/coffee.

Birthday coffee for the rowers 2017

After the birthday lunch it was time for my rowing friends to come around for equal traditional birthday coffee. A classic Danish birthday coffee contains three key ingredients: freshly baked bun served with plenty of butter, cream cake and hot chocolate. Hot chocolate or chocolate has no space inside my kitchen, as I DISLIKE the taste of hot chocolate and cocoa milk !!! I still recall my dislike, when I as a child was served hot chocolate at the other children´s birthday :-(

This year I had not selected rhubarb as a specific theme as last year, but two of the four things served did contain rhubarb, as the rhubarbs in my garden is almost a jungle.

We started with the usual glass of sparkling wine to the talk running, before we sat down and enjoyed the saffron buns. These buns more or less equal birthday celebration for me, as the use of saffron in huge amount is a great way to celebrate life/birthdays.

Afterwards it was time for the first rhubarb cake in the form of rhubarb cake from the cake book "Helt i kage" by Camilla Plum. For one cake 800 g of rhubarb pieces was required ! This is a quiet big amount of rhubarb, however a great way of controlling my rhubarb "jungle" :-)

The first rhubarb cake was followed by the second cake in form of a rhubarb cream cake, where ½ l dairy whipping cream was mixed with 500 g rhubarb compote, this gives a fantastic taste.

For those of my guests still having room in their stomach they could enjoy a sweet treat in form of strawberry-champagne marzipan in white chocolate. I will be sharing the various recipe from this birthday lunch in the very near future.

I received some very nice birthday gift in form of a water-proff seabag, a green glass vase (Lyngby) for my glass window and a small green ceramic bird by Anne Black. Thank you very much to my rowing friends for some great gifts and your excellent company :-)

Rhubarb 75

To start off the birthday lunch we enjoyed a cocktail with inspiration from French 75, however with a big twist of rhubarb :-)

Instead gin, sugar and lemon was used rhubarb gin and rhubard cordial. The sparkling wine was still sparkling wine !

Rhubarb 75:- 1 cocktail

• 2 cl rhubarb gin
• 2 cl rhubarb cordial
• 2-4 ice cubes
• sparkling wine

1. Add the ice cubes into a champagne glass.
2. Pour in the rhubarb gin and rhubarb cordial.
3. Fill the rest of the glass with sparkling wine
4. Cheer :-)

Birthday lunch for the girl friends

I have been celebrating my upcoming birthday today with a lunch for the girl friends and my mother (could be referred to as the extended family). 

We started off the lunch with a sparkling cocktail, a rhubarb version of French 75, where the plain gin and lemon juice had been replaced with rhubarb gin and rhubarb cordial. A glass of bobbles always get the talking going :-)

The lunch menu was Skagensrøre, patty shells with asparagus and scrimps and pie with bacon, mushrooms, spinach and Gryere cheese.

Afterwards a cheese board followed by cream cake with rhubarb compote and white chocolate cream  and strawberry-champagne marzipan sweet treat. I will be sharing the various recipe from this birthday lunch in the very near future.

As birthday gifts I got Haute Couture Tea from TWG Tea and a green ceramic vase. And as you can see, my girl friends have a great grip of my favourite colour :-)

Strawberry-champagne marzipan in white chocolate

As a little sweet treat I have been making strawberry-champagne marzipan coated in white chocolate and sprinkled with freeze-dried raspberries as preparation for my up-coming birthday.

The strawberry-champagne marzipan has been brought at Odense Marcipan as a special marzipan. So I did only have to cut the marzipan into smaller pieces, which were rolled into small bread shape follwed by coating in white chocolate.

Strawberry-champagne marzipan in white chocolate: - approx 20 pieces

• 450 g strawberry-champagne marzipan
• 300 g white chocolate
• freeze-dried raspberries

1. Cut the marzipan into smaller pieces, which is rolled into bread shape by hand.
2. Temper the white chocolate to 29-31'C.
3. Dip one piece of marzipan by the time into the melted white chocolate. Let the chocolate drip of, before the pieces in placed on a piece of baking paper, while it hardens.
4. Sprinkle the white chocolate with freeze-dried raspberries.
5. Store the marzipan sweet in an air-tight container, perhaps in the refrigerator.

Hveder a la Isabellas

Today it is Store Bededag (Great Payer Day) (a Danish religious holiday celebrated on the 4th Friday after Easter). And it is the peak evening for enjoying roasted "hveder" - wheat buns with cardamon.
I found this recipe on "hveder" at Isabellas, where I have exchanged the grahamflour with wholegrain wheatflour. I reduced the yeast amount, as I was adding some sour dough together with the yeast.

The dough was to the liquid side after raising, so I am wondering, if the sour dough level was to much or should not have been added at all. The taste was good.

Hveder a la Isabellas: - 12 buns

• 100 g butter - chopped into smaller pieces
• 150 g wholegrain wheat flour
• 450 g wheat flour
• 1 teaspoon salt
• 1 teaspoon sugar
• 2 teasoons cardamone
• 25 g yeast
• 50 g sour dough (optional)
• 350 g water
• 1 egg

1. Add the flours, salt, sugar and cardamone into the mixing bowl on a stand-alone mixer. Add in the butter pieces. Mix the butter pieces into the flour mix for 1-2 minutes.
2. Stir the yeast into some part of the water. Afterwards add the rest of the water together with the sour dough.
3. Add the liquid into the mixing bowl together with the egg.
4. Knead the dough together at speed 3 for 5 minutes.
5. Let the dough raise for 2-3 hours.
6. Divide the dough in equal sizes of 80-90 g. Place the bun pieces in a baking tray covered with baking paper.
7. Place the baking tray with dough in the oven without heat together with another tray filled with boiling water. Let the buns raise and "grow" together in the steam for 30 minutes.
8. Take water and bun dough out of the oven.
9. Heat up the (conventional) oven to 200'C.
10. Bake the buns in the baking tray at 200'C for 20-30 minutes placed in the middle part of the oven.
11. Cold down the buns
12. Cut the wheat bun into 2 pieces - lets those roast at 225'C for 4-6 minutes
13. Served hot or cold together with butter - plenty of butter, cheese and some fantastic home-made jam.

Inspiration for hveder for Store Bededag - inspiration for baking wheat buns with cardamone

This evening is the evening before Store Bededag (Great Payer Day) (a Danish religious holiday celebrated on the 4th Friday after Easter). And it is the peak evening for enjoying roasted "hveder" - wheat buns with cardamon.

Having discovered the great taste of home-made "hveder", where is no turning back for commercial baked "hveder". The combination of freshly grounded cardamon covering your kitchen in wonderful flavour and eating freshly baked/roasted buns is a combination made in heaven !!!

As inspiration for you I hereby share a selection of the various "hveder", which I have been baking over the years. And tomorrow I will share the recipe of the "hveder", which I am baking this evening.

Hveder af purpur hvede og surdej

Hveder med inspiration from "Maden imit liv"

Hveder med marcipan

Klassike hveder

Day of the Cake in Vejle 2017

In Vejle 2 May 2017 was celebrated as Day of the Cake, where you could buy a ticket for 75 kr (10 €), which would give you entrance to a tent next to the town hall of Vejle. Inside this tent 5 local bakers had made a long table full of great looking and tasting cakes. You when had 45 minutes to eat as much cake as possible. The event was used to raise money for local charities, so you could fill your stomach with a good conscience.

As the day is my mother's birthday I had brought 2 tickets, so I had invited my mother along for a big birthday cake table :-)