More Than Sweet

Cakes

Nordic Paris-Brest

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Cardamom crusted choux with parsnip crème diplomat and rosemary poached pears

Parsnip crème diplomat

Parsnip milk

500ml whole milk 
300g parsnip, peeled and cut into cubes 
1 sri lanka cinnamon stick 
25g honey 
Pinch of salt

Parsnip crème diplomat

250ml parsnip milk
1 Tbsp. heavy cream
40g egg yolks
50g sugar
18g cornstarch
1,5 leaves gelatine

175ml heavy cream

Add whole milk, parsnip cubes, cinnamon stick, honey and salt to a pot and bring to a boil. Remove from heat and infuse in the refrigerator overnight. Strain out the parsnip and cinnamon and measure off 250ml parsnip milk for the pastry cream.

Soak gelatine leaves in cold water. Heat the parsnip milk and 1 Tbsp. of heavy cream with 15g of the sugar in a small saucepan. Whisk together egg yolks, sugar and cornstarch, then whisk in the hot milk mixture. Strain back into the saucepan and cook on medium heat while stirring continuously until pastry cream thickens. Bring to a boil and cook for 2-3 minutes, to cook out the starch. Remove from heat, squeeze excess water from the gelatine and whisk into the pastry cream. Transfer the pastry cream to a container and press a piece of clingfilm directly against the surface. Chill in the refrigerator until completely cooled.

Whip the pastry cream until creamy. In a separate bowl, lightly whip 175ml of heavy cream, then gently fold the whipped cream into the pastry cream. Pour into a piping bag fitted with a star nozzle and refrigerate until ready to assemble.

Rosemary poached pears

1l water
250g sugar
4 pears, peeled, halved and cored
4 sprigs of rosemary
5cm strip lemon rind

Heat water and sugar in a large pot until sugar is dissolved. Add pears, rosemary and lemon rind to the warm poaching liquid, cover and cook for 20-25 minutes until fork tender.

Transfer the pears and poaching liquid to a container and refrigerate overnight.

Cardamom crusted choux rings

50g butter
65g water
65g whole milk
3g sugar
2g salt
125g egg
75g all purpose flour

1 tbsp. cardamom seeds, coarsely crushed
3 Tbsp. granulated sugar

Preheat oven to 180C.

Melt butter, water, whole milk, sugar and salt in a saucepan on low heat. When the butter is melted, bring to a boil over high heat and immediately remove from direct heat. Stir in flour to make a soft dough. Return the pan to low heat and cook the dough for a few minutes, while stirring continuously. Be careful not to scrape the film forming on the bottom of the pan.

Transfer the dough to the bowl of a stand mixer and leave to cool for 5-10 minutes. Beat in the egg a little at a time until dough is glossy, elastic and holds a “V”-shape when dropped from a spatula. You might not need all of the egg for the dough.

Line two trays with baking paper and use an 8cm cookie cutter as stencil to draw four circles on each tray with a pencil. Flip the baking paper around so the pencil mark faces down.

Place the choux dough into a piping bag fitted with a 2cm star nozzle and pipe eight choux circles.

Sprinkle liberally with the cardamom sugar and bake for 30-40 minutes, until golden brown. Cool to room temperature on a wire rack.

To assemble the Paris-Brests, drain the pears and cut into 1x1cm cubes. Cut the choux rings in half and place the pear cubes in the bottom halves.

Pipe parsnip crème diplomat on top of the pears and layer with the top halves.

Serve immediately.

Strawberry tart with Tahiti vanilla & white pepper

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Strawberry tart

Makes one 20cm tart

Pate sucrée

75 g butter at room temperature 
50g confectioners sugar
1/2 egg 
15g almond flour
125g all purpose flour
1/2 tsp. salt

Cream together butter and confectioners sugar. Beat in the egg, then gently stir in flour, almond flour and salt. Be careful not to overwork the dough. Wrap in clingfilm and rest in the fridge for at least 30 minutes. 

Roll out the dough and line a 20cmx3,5cm tart ring with the pastry. Trim excess dough along the edges and rest the tart shell for 15-30 minutes in the fridge. 

Mazarin with white pepper

100g almond paste, at least 60% almonds
1 egg
75g butter
75g sugar
1/4-1/2 tsp. freshly ground white pepper
Pinch of salt

40-50g melted dark chocolate

Beat together almond paste, egg and white pepper until fully combined and there are no lumps remaining. In a separate bowl cream together butter and sugar, mix with the almond mixture and season with a pinch of salt. Set aside.

Preheat oven to 175C and prebake the tart shell for 5 minutes. Pipe or pour mazarin into the tart shell and smooth the surface with a spatula. Return the tart to the oven and bake for another 20-25 minutes, until the tart shell and mazarin is golden brown. Remove from the oven and leave to cool to room temperature.

Brush the surface of the mazarin with melted dark chocolate and leave to set.

Tahitian vanilla bean cremeux 

125ml heavy cream
125ml whole milk 
4 egg yolks
35g sugar 
1/2 Tahitian vanilla bean 
3 leaves gelatine
Pinch of salt 

Soak gelatine leaves in cold water for 10-15 minutes. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and mix with the sugar, beat with egg yolks until pale and very airy. Bring milk and cream to just below boiling with the empty vanilla bean, remove from heat and pour 1/2 into the egg mix while whisking rigourously. Return to heat and warm up to 85C while whisking continuously. Remove from heat, squeeze excess water from the gelatine and stir into the hot custard, until it is fully dissolved. Season with a pinch of salt. Strain into a clean bowl and press a piece of clingfilm directly against the surface to prevent a skin forming. Chill until fully set.

Bergamot nappage

100ml water
50g sugar
5g yellow pectin
10g bergamot juice (or lemon, lime or orange)

Whisk together sugar and pectin and set the mixture aside. Heat the water to 45C in a small saucepan, add the pectin mixture and whisk to dissolve fully. Bring to a boil and boil for 2-3 minutes, turn off the heat and add the citrus juice. Pour into a bowl and cool to about 34-35C.

To assemble and serve

300g strawberries, rinsed, hulled and quartered

Whisk the cremeux until light and smooth and transfer to a piping bag. Pipe into the tart shell and smooth the surface with a spatula. Arrange the quartered strawberries on top of the cremeux and brush with the bergamot nappage.

Best served within 3-4 hours of assembly.

Paris-Brest in the springtime

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Paris-Brest with caramelised buttermilk mousseline & pickled apple, apple sorbet and citrus herbs

For the sorbet, replace pears with an equal amount of apples.

Caramelised buttermilk mousseline

150ml heavy cream
75g sugar
4 egg yolks
25g all-purpose flour
25g corn starch
350ml buttermilk
150g softened butter, divided

Slowly caramelise the heavy cream on a nonstick pan over medium high heat, scraping the bottom once in a while, until the cream turns a a light caramel color.

Whisk together sugar, cornstarch, flour and egg yolks until no lumps remain. Whisk in buttermilk and caramelised heavy cream. Pour into a saucepan and bring to a boil, cook while whisking rigorously for a few minutes to thicken the cream and cook out the starches. Remove from heat and transfer to a bowl. Stir in 75g of butter until combined, cover with clingfilm and let cool. When the cream is room temperature, whisk in the remaining 75g butter and transfer to a piping bag with an open star nozzle. Store in the fridge until ready to serve.

Pickled apple

2 apples, peeled and cut into small balls
100g sugar
100ml water
1 Tbsp apple vinegar
A few sprigs of verbena, lemon balm and lemon thyme

Bring sugar, water, vinegar and herbs to a boil, and boil for 3-4 minutes. Remove from heat, cool for 15 minutes then add apple balls. Leave for 5-10 minutes, check to make sure apples are not mushy, then remove apple balls from pickling liquid.

Vanilla choux

Makes 6 choux rings

80g whole milk 
80g water
65g butter
5g sugar 
2g salt 
100g strong bread flour, sieved
140-160g whisked eggs 
*1 empty vanilla bean leftover from other purposes 
2-3 Tbsp. icing sugar
Flaked almonds

Preheat oven to 175C.

Add milk, water, butter, vanilla bean if using, sugar and salt to a pan and warm up over low heat until butter is melted. Bring to a boil over medium high heat and remove from heat as soon as the milk mixture is boiling. Remove vanilla bean and rigourously whisk in flour until a homogenous paste, return to low heat and cook the dough for a few minutes. Be careful not to scrape off the thin film that forms on the pan.

Transfer dough to a bowl and leave to cool for 5-10 minutes.

Beat in egg a little at a time, you might not need all of it, until dough falls off the spoon in a V. Transfer to a piping bag and pipe six 7,5cm circles on a piece of parchment paper. Dust with icing sugar and sprinkle with flaked almonds.

Bake for 30-35 minutes, until puffy and golden brown all over. Leave to cool completely on a wire rack.

To assemble and serve
Floral olive oil
Icing sugar
Lemon verbena, lemon balm, lemon thyme

Cut choux rings in half, pipe caramelised buttermilk mousseline on the bottom half and arrange pickled apple balls on top of the mousseline. Place the upper half of the choux rings back on top of the apples and dust with icing sugar.

Serve with a few extra apple balls, fresh herbs, dots of floral olive oil and citrus herbs

Lemon olive oil brownies with rosemary almond praline

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Lemon olive oil brownies with almond rosemary praline  

Makes one 20cm round or square baking pan

Salted almond praline with rosemary 

100g blanched almonds
120g sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
2 tsp. finely chopped rosemary 

Preheat the oven to 175C and toast the almonds for 10 minutes. Make a dry caramel with the sugar in a small saucepan, remove from heat and mix in warm almonds, salt and rosemary. Cool completely on a silicone mat or a piece of baking paper. Coarsely chop and set aside. 

Lemon olive oil brownies

150g lemon olive oil, alternatively 150g fruity olive oil and zest of 1 lemon
100g 70% chocolate 
225g granulated sugar 
75g brown sugar 
3 medium eggs, straight from the fridge 
75g all purpose flour 
75g unsweetened cocoa powder
1 tsp. Salt 

Warm olive oil over low heat to about 45-55C and add in the chocolate. Stir to melt the chocolate and set aside. 

Whisk eggs with both sugars until very pale and airy, about 6-8 minutes. Drizzle in the chocolate mixture while whisking on low speed until fully incorporated. 

Sieve together salt, flour and cocoa and fold into the chocolate mixture until only just combined. Fold in chopped praline and transfer the dough to a cake pan lined with buttered tinfoil. Bake at 175C for app. 25 minutes, until center of the cake is 96C. Cool to room temperature. 

Peach tarte tatin with spiced rum, lemon and thyme

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Makes six 8cm or one 23cm tarte tatin

Shortcrust

150g flour
25g confectioners sugar
1/4 tsp. salt
100g cold butter, diced
1 egg yolk
2 Tbsp. ice cold water

Combine flour, sugar and salt in a bowl and rub in the cold butter until reminiscent of breadcrumbs. Whisk together egg yolk and water and add to the flour mixture. Quickly gather the dough into a ball, be careful not to overwork the dough, flatten and wrap in clingfilm. Chill in the fridge for at least 30 minutes.

Roll out the dough and cut into either 6 small 8cm circles or one large 25cm circle. Return the dough to the fridge until ready to bake the tarte tatin (or tarte tatins).

Filling

6 large peaches
130g sugar
75g butter
50ml spiced rum
Squeeze of lemon juice
Pinch of salt
Thyme leaves

Lightly score the bottom of the peaches, blanch in a pot of boiling water for a couple of minutes before transferring to a bowl of icewater. Remove skin with a pairing knife, pit and cut the peaches in 1/8 segments.

Preheat oven to 180C.

Place a 23cm oven proof frying pan or tarte tatin tin over medium heat and slowly melt the sugar to a golden caramel without stirring it. Add butter, salt, lemon juice and rum and stir to combine. Turn the heat down to low and arrange the peach segments. Leave to caramelise for 10-15 minutes, remove from heat and leave to cool in the pan for 15 minutes. If making one large tarte tatin place the 25cm dough circle on top of the peaches. If making smaller, gently remove the peach segments and arrange in 6 plain tartlet tins (don’t use loose bottom, you will have caramel everywhere. I learned that the hard way) and top with the small dough circles.

Bake the large tarte tatin for about 30-35 minutes, the smaller for 15-20 minutes, or until golden brown.

Cool in the tin for 15 minutes before turning out onto a plate. Garnish with thyme leaves and serve with vanilla ice cream.

Danish Kringle with coffee and orange remonce

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If you just want a recipe for maybe the best nordic cake of all time just scroll down to the recipe. If you are a nerd like me and like a bit of history with your pastry keep reading.

Kringle has a very, very long history in the Nordic countries with origins dating back to the 7th century in Roman Catholic Italy from where the curiously shaped bread (supposedly it is reminiscent of arms crossed in prayer) spread throughout Northern Europe in the 13-14th century.

Somewhere down the line a brilliant cook decided to make it sweet and filled the dough with a buttery, sugary almond paste. Hooray! Most bakeries mostly sell kringler made with a Danish pastry dough, but I personally prefer it with an enriched dough. 

The traditional filling is a “remonce”, a luxurious mix of marzipan, butter and sugar, sometimes with raisins added to the filling. While the classic remonce is lovely, I do love playing around with it either swapping out marzipan for a different sweetened nut paste (walnuts or pistachios are absolutely lovely) or adding spices, herbs or zests. Really, everything that plays well with nuts and makes you happy. 

I have the original recipe from a Danish journalist, and it has become quite legendary here as “Sarah’s kringle”. Whenever it is served people go bananas over it and ask for the recipe. Thankfully she shares it with all who ask and it has also found its way to several Danish foodblogs. I love that it is surprisingly easy to make, but looks like a lot of work. And I have yet to meet someone who doesn’t sneak eat the still warm leaked remonce filling from the pan when I have my back turned..  

I made this particular kringle for my son’s birthday party today, but since the guests for the most parts were the grandparents and aunties I could take the filling in a bit more grown up direction than a children’s birthday party. So I made an almond remonce filling with ground coffee beans, orange zest and a handful of chopped toasted almonds for a bit of texture. These flavours complement each other well and cut through the sweetness of the marzipan.

With every kringle there is a chance of volcanic leakage. Adding the flour helps a lot, but your kringle will probably leak a little even so. But dont worry! It doesn’t matter. Most of the filling will stay inside where it is supposed to. And really the leakage is my favourite part: the baker’s share. It is my reward for baking a kringle to begin with! And its all mine, if someone doesn’t sneak out and eat it while my back is turned. This happens a lot around here…

Kringle with coffee and orange remonce

Adapted from Sarah Skarum

Serves 8-10

Dough

12g fresh yeast (converting to instant dry yeast)  
50ml whole milk
1 egg
2 tsp. sugar
1/2 tsp. salt
250g all-purpose flour
125g unsalted butter, softened

Remonce
100g almond paste
100g unsalted butter, softened
100g sugar
15g all purpose flour
25g toasted, finely chopped almonds
1/4 tsp. salt
1 1/2 tsp. finely ground coffee beans
Finely grated zest of 1 orange

1 beaten egg for eggwash
3-4 Tbsp. almond slivers
3-4 Tbsp. pearl sugar

Dissolve the yeast in the whole milk, then whisk in sugar, egg and salt. Alternately mix in butter and flour until dough comes together. Turn onto a lightly floured work surface and knead for 5-10 minutes. Put in a clean bowl, cover lightly and leave to rise for 1 1/2 hour. 

Meanwhile make the remonce filling. Mix together butter and sugar until just combined, then mix in flour, almond paste, chopped almonds, salt, coffee beans and orange zest. Taste and season to your liking. 

Make a 1m log of the dough and roll it out so it is 10cm/4inch wide. Place the remonce in the center of the dough rectangle and flatten it so it is about 2cm 3/4 inch wide. Fold the two sides over the remonce and press gently to close. Shape the kringle like a pretzel and gently place on a baking tray lined with parchment paper. 

Brush the entire surface of the kringle with egg wash and sprinkle with sugar and almond slivers. Leave to rise for another 2 hours then bake at 200C for 18-20 minutes.  

Spicy brownies with white chocolate and pistachios

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It is a strange feeling, packing ten years into boxes. Saying goodbye to my home knowing I will probably never see the inside of these walls again. I have never been any good at goodbyes. I hate them. I procrastinate, try to keep myself from thinking too long on the inevitable and then bawl my eyes out when it’s actually time to leave. I have loved this place, in a way I grew up here. 

I met Christian, my husband, more than 10 years ago. And 10 years + 1,5 months ago we moved in here together. Now our life here is in boxes and we are preparing for a new home. 

But having packed already means an almost empty kitchen which also means my bakeware is gone until Saturday. That has caused a few minor crisis already, because what can you make  when all of your equipment is gone? Brownies. Thankfully brownies are as delicious as they are easy to make. 

Occasionally I do make a classic no-fuss, no-frills brownie, which I of course then serve with something fussy and frilly. But more often than not I add the fuss and the frills to the brownie batter itself. Or like here sandwich it in between to brownies. I love the combination of star anise and coriander with citrus fruits and dark chocolate. It emphasizes the fruity bitterness in chocolate and balances the sweetness. My chocolate of choice for this particular brownie was Valrhona’s Alpaco because of its oaky, floral flavours. In a brownie they do get mellowed down because of the sugar, butter and other ingredients you mix it with, but I personally still think it does make a difference what chocolate you use.

I wanted to play on the oaky notes in the chocolate, so I layered the brownie with my whiskey fig jam. It turned out really great. If you haven’t/don’t want to make fig jam then a not too sweet raspberry or black currant jam will also work well, or just skip the jam all together. 

Spicy brownies with white chocolate and pistachios

125g unsalted butter
125g 66% dark chocolate
2 eggs
100g sugar
125g light muscovado sugar
1 tsp. fine salt
90g flour
1 Tbsp. cocoa powder
1 tsp. ground star anise
1 tsp. ground coriander
1 tsp. finely grated orange zest
1 tsp. finely grated lemon zest  
50g shelled pistachios, roughly chopped
50g white chocolate, roughly chopped 

Preheat oven to 175C/350F.

Butter a 20cmx20cm/8”x8” square cake pan with loose bottom. Set the pan aside.

Melt butter and chocolate in a bowl over a water bath, stir until the mixture is completely melted and smooth. 

Remove from the water bath and leave to cool slightly. 

Whisk together the flour, cocoa powder, spices and citrus zest. 

Meanwhile beat the eggs with the salt and sugars until pale and fluffy. First fold in the chocolate mixture, then the flour and finally the chopped white chocolate and pistachios. 

Pour the batter into the cake pan and bake for 20-25 minutes in the centre of the oven, or until done. 

Leave to cool in the pan on a wire rack until the brownies is at room temperature before turning out. 

I would definitely recommend wrapping the brownie tight in clingfilm and storing it in the fridge overnight. This is a cake that is at its best quite cool. 

If you want to make a simple brownie layer cake either make a double portion and bake two 20x20cm cakes or cut the brownie in two 10x20cm rectangles. Spread the bottom layer with the jam of your choosing and sandwich with the top half. 

Porcini and coffee dark milk brownies with hazelnuts and rosemary ganache

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A while back I bought a dark milk chocolate bar from a Chocolate Naive, an artisan bean to bar maker, that had porcini mushrooms in it. I knew right away I had to try that combination in a dessert. The flavour of the porcini chocolate was nutty and earthy like the smell of a wet autumn forest floor. And that of course made me want to make it a gooey, fudgy brownie with my favourite earthy, nutty ingredients. And that basically is how this absolutely delectable brownie came to be.

Porcini and coffee dark milk brownies with hazelnuts and rosemary ganache

Dark milk brownie

150g dark milk chocolate
80g butter
2 large eggs
120g sugar
40g all purpose flour
30g cocoa powder
10g dried porcini mushrooms, ground to a
1 tsp. finely ground coffee beans, I used darker roasted espresso beans
fine powder
1/2 tsp. salt
50g roughly chopped dark milk chocolate
50g toasted hazelnuts 

Sieve together the flour, coffee, cocoa powder and porcini mushroom powder. Set aside. 

Melt dark chocolate and butter in a bowl over a water bath (or in the microwave, stirring every 30 seconds or so). 

Meanwhile whisk the sugar and eggs light and airy and then fold in the chocolate mixture. Gently fold in the flour mix and salt and finally the chopped chocolate and hazelnuts.

Pour into a 20cmx20cm/8inchx8inch cake tin lined with parchment and bake at 180C/360F for about 30 minutes. 

Cool completely on a wire rack.    

Rosemary ganache

150g finely chopped dark milk chocolate
15milk glucose syrup or light corn syrup
90ml heavy cream
1 large sprig rosemary
1/4 tsp. salt  

Handful of toasted, chopped hazelnuts

Heat cream with the rosemary to to just below boiling point. Leave to infuse for 15 minutes. Remove the rosemary sprig, stir in the glucose syrup and reheat.   

Put the chocolate and 1/4 tsp. salt in a small bowl. 

Pour the hot cream over the chocolate, stir in small circles to emulsify for a minute or two. Then beat with a hand mixer on medium speed for 30 seconds until the ganache is creamy. Spread over the cool brownie and garnish with hazelnuts.