Cakes

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.  

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. 

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.