Ceramic breakfast bowl and green vase

Every morning I eat oat flakes for breakfast, and these oat flakes is served in various ceramic bowls. I have two types of breakfast bowls. For working days I use a more heavy type of bowl, and for the week-end morning I used a thinner bowl type. Anyway, when you use ceramic or china day in and day out, you will from time to time break something, well at least I do !

This Summer one of my working days breakfast bowls broke, so therefore I went shopping for a new breakfast bowl. It actually took some time to find a new "right" breakfast bowl. I located the right bowl during a trip to Odense at Dina Vejling.

My new breakfast bowl is of cause in my favourite colour of green, and is made by  Hanne Bertelsen. Besides from the breakfast bowl I found a green vase in skewed shape made by Karina Skibby, which I could not live without, and I got it to ½ price :-)

Chocolate cake with liquorice cream layer

I have been baking this chocolate cake with a liquorice cream layer using a recipe from baking recipe magazine coming together with the weekly magazine "Femina". I have made no change to this recipe.

When I finally had put the cake together, I noticed a jam of blackcurrant standing untouched together on the kitchen table !!! So it turned out, that I had forgot to use the blackcurrant jam, so therefore I have been serving blackcurrant jam as a sauce together with the cake.

I find this cake to be very, very rich in chocolate taste, so this is cake for the chocolate lovers being full of dark chocolate together with plenty of butter. The liquorice taste is not very dominating in the final cake. Perhaps replacing the brown sugar with dark muscovado sugar with give more of a liquorice twist to the cake ?

Chocolate cake with liquorice cream layer:

Cake buns:

• 200 g dark chocolate
• 150 g butter - soft
• 200 g brown sugar
• 5 eggs - divided into egg white and egg yolk
• 100 g (cake) wheat flour 
• 1 teaspoon baking powder
• 5 tablespoon blackcurrant jam

Liquorice cream layer:

• 2½ dl dairy whipping cream, 35-40% fat
• 50 g icing sugar
• 2 tablespoon liquorice syrup

Chocolate glazing:

• 200 g dark chocolate
• 100 g butter
• 1 tablespoon liquorice syrup

1. Heat up the oven to 180'C.
2. Melt the chocolate for the buns together in water bath. Let the chocolate slightly cool down.
3. Meanwhile the butter and brown sugar into foam texture.
4. Add the one egg yolk at the time into the butter-sugar mass, whip in the each egg yolk, before the next egg yolk is added.
5. Add in the wheat flour and baking powder.
6. Afterwards add in the melted chocolate.
7. Whip the egg white stiff.
8. Gently stir in the whipped egg white.
9. Divide the dough into 2 portions.
10. Fill the dough into 2 round 20 cm round forms.
11. Bake the two chocolate buns at 180'C for 20-25 minutes.
12. Let the chocolate buns down after the baking.
13. Mix the dairy whipping cream, icing sugar and liquorice syrup together.
14. Whip the cream into a whipped foam.
15. Place the first chocolate bun into a round spring form as bottom layer.
16. Spread the blackcurrant jam on top of the this chocolate bun layer.
17. Spread the whipping cream layer on top of the blackcurrant jam.
18. Place the second chocolate bun on top of the whipped cream.
19. Place the cake cold in the refrigerator.
20. Melt the dark chocolate, butter and liquorice syrup together over a water bath.
21. Add this melted mass into a another bowl, which is placed cold in the refrigerator.
22. Stir in this chocolate glazing every 5-10 minutes.
23. When the chocolate glazing is thick enough spread it as top of the chocolate layer.
24. Place the cake cold, until it is time to serve the cake.
25. Consider to take the cake out of the refrigerator ½ hour prior to serving, as the chocolate glazing is very, very firm to cut through. 

G&T festival 2017 at Serridslevgård

Last Saturday I went for the first time ever to a G&T Festival at Serridslevgård together with my two good friends from Horsens. It was a outdoor festival, which always can be a challenge in Denmark. However, we were lucky, it did not rain. The surroundings is great for such an event with plenty of space and good sound conditions.

The very first booth we visited at the festival was the tonic stand, where we tasted various types of tonics. It was a very good start, as we later on at the various gin stand had a better understanding, if the select for tasted gin was the right choice for our individual taste buds. One tonic can lift the combination of G&T up to the sky, while another tonic can lower the G&T combination to a bad experience.

Afterwards we went from gin booth to the next gin booth tasting the various gins. At the first gin booth we started out getting one small of gin for each of us three persons, we soon realized, that if we wanted to taste gins from more booths, when we needed to minise the gin intake at each booth. Therefore we soon started to share one small of gin for three persons.

As most of the gin booths we were either talking to the persons, which were producing the gins or had good relation with the gin, which they represented. It was great, as we got a great understanding of the gin, which we tasting. And yes, if you did not like the gin, when it was easy to empty the gin into the grass.

At all the gin booths there were a good filling up of the glasses with gin, so you had to ask for less gin into the glass ! After some time you taste buds are actually saturated with gin flavour, so you feel less for tasting more gin.

Besides from the various gin booths, there was also a gin bar, where 11 different types of gin tonics could be brought.

I did not buy any gin, as my bar is already full of various gins. I went away with two new tonics as well as some quinine, so I can make my own tonic.

All in all it was great experience, so I good easily imaging me turning up next year.

Shopping in Ebeltoft

On the annual rowing Summer vacation (rowing along the East coast of Jutland) the weather was a mixture of good rowing weather and bad rowing weather. On the days with bad rowing weather we spend some time in Ebeltoft doing both sightseeing as well as shopping. 

I went home with some candies from Mols Bolsjer, some glass flowers for my garden, a new replacement tea cup from Potteriet, a green glass vase from Pust for the windows of my bedroom.

Lighthouse at Sletterhage

Green ceramic trays by Pi Bjørg

At the annual Summer sale in the Decorate shop here in Vejle I found these three ceramic trays by Pi Bjørg in my favourite colour (green, if you should not know it) with 30% discount.

I see, that I can use these trays could be used as serving trays for tapas dishes or cookies and small cakes.

Hindbærsnitter (raspberry cuttings) for the 2017 cake regatta at the rowing club

The winning cake of the 2017 cake regatta at the rowing club in form of hindbærsnitte (raspberry cutting), which is a very Danish type of cake.

I found a recipe in weekly magasin some time ago, which I twisted by adding in a small amount of raspberry extract in the icing part of the cake to boost the raspberry taste (using this raspberry cutting recipe as inspiration).

Hindbærsnitte (Raspberry Cutting): 8-10 pieces

• 200 g (cake) flour
• 50 g almond flour
• 25 g icing sugar
• 1/4 teaspoon vanilla sugar 
• 150 g cold butter - cut into small pieces
• 1 egg yolk
• 250 g raspberry 
• 125 g sugar
• 1 tablespoon lime juice
• zest of ½ lime
• 2-3 g pectin - optional
• 1 tablespoon lemon juice
• 1 teaspoon raspberry extract
• icing sugar
• freeze-dried raspberries

1. Start by making the raspberry jam. Heat up the raspberries, sugar, lime juice and lime zest to the boiling point.
2. Let the jam simmer for 8-10 minutes to reduce the water content, and make the texture more thick. Addition of pectin can also increase the viscosity, so the jam will not float too much during the baking process.
3. Cool down the jam in a container. The jam can easily be made the day in advance.
4. Mix flour, almond flour, icing sugar and vanilla sugar together in a mini-blender (using the meat knife).
5. Cut the butter into smaller pieces, which is added into the flour mix. Mix it together, untill the butter in crumbled into the flour.
6. Afterwards add in the egg yolk, and mix until a dough is formed. The last knead can be done by hand.
7. Form the dough into a square, cover it with cling film and place for min 30 minutes in the refrigerator.
8. Heat the (conventional) oven up to 200'C.
9. Roll the dough into a square with a size of 30x40 cm on a piece of baking paper and using the cling film for the upper of the dough, so the dough is not sticking to the rolling pin.
10. Place the baking paper with the dough on a baking tray.
11. Shread the raspberry jam on half of the dough and fold the rest of the dough on top of this jam layer. Use the baking paper as support, while you do this.
12. Bake the cake in the middle of the oven at 200'C for 18-20 minutes.
13. Let the cake cold down, before you decorate it.
14. Mix the icing sugar, lemon juice and raspberry extract into a icing layer, which should cover the upper part of the cake together with freeze-dried raspberry.
15. Cut the cake into smaller pieces using a sharp knife. 

Cake regatta at the rowing club

Yesterday afternoon it was time again for the annual cake regatta at the rowing club. The winner of the previous year´s cake regatta select the time as well as theme for the year´s cake year. And the theme for this year was hindbærsnitter (raspberry cuttings).

We were a small selected group of three persons, who joined this year´s cake regatta. We started by rowing a tour of 15 km on the Fjord of Vejle, which yesterday as unusual silent/still. After the return to the club is was time for some serious cake tasting. We were tasting the cake blinded by tea towels followed by voting on the preferred cake by taste only. After we had given out vote we would allowed at actually see the various cakes visually.

My hindbærsnitter (raspberry cuttings) got the majority of the votes, so I can now call myself the 2017 champion baker of Vejle Rowing Club. On top of this I got a trophy in form of sleeve protectors and the responsibility of arranging the cake regatta in 2018 and selecting the cake theme. I will share the winning recipe with you in the near future.