Double Up on Lemony Goodness

*Taps mic*

So nice to see you again! Admittedly, it's a bit rich to celebrate the anniversary of a blog you hardly update, but 5 years is 5 years all the same - hooray! It's been 5 years since I stopped my food column at the Copenhagen Post for the reasons anybody else who's ever worked for them will easily understand, and started sharing my culinary adventures here. And also so people reading my regular blog wouldn't get sick of all the food pics. Alas, as time has shown, I had naught to worry. :)

So, in light of this joyous occasion, I have two, count 'em two, lemon cake recipes to share with you that will both delight and tickle your tastebuds. There's just something special about lemony sweets, isn't there?

The first lemon cake recipe is somewhat of a Danish joke. Not because it's a bad cake, it's just a cake that most people never make themselves, rather preferring to buy it vacuum packed at the local discount supermarket. And the Danish police are supposed to have a certain weak spot for this very cake, to be enjoyed during breaks with a cup of institutional coffee served in plastic cups. You get the gist. Bit of a shame, really, since the real deal is easy to make, and so delicious and satisfying. 

I give you - Citronmåne (Lemon Moon) 

You'll need:

Zest of 1.5 lemons (preferably organic)

1 generous tbsp lemon juice

200 grams butter, cut in smaller pieces

200 grams sugar

100 grams marcipan, grated

5 eggs

150 grams flour

1 tsp baking powder

3-4 dl. powdered sugar

Preheat the oven to 175 C. Whisk the butter and sugar together, preferably with an electric handmixer, adding the marcipan when they're mixed well. Now add the eggs, one at a time. Add the zest of one lemon. Mix the flour and baking powder well in a separate bowl before folding it into the butter/sugar/egg mix. 

Grease a round 24 cm. cake pan, and sprinkle with flour or breadcrumbs before pouring in the dough. Smooth the top of the cake before placing it in the middle of the oven for a good 40 minutes bake time. When the cake is done, let it cool completely down before taking it out of the pan and placing it on the dish you'll be serving it on. 

For the icing, mix the powdered sugar into the tbsp of lemon juice, a little at a time until you've got a thick, smooth mixture. Smooth over your cake, and sprinkle with the rest of the zest. 

If this were to pass as a real Danish citronmåne, as described above, with vacuum wrap, bad coffee and cops, you'd serve the cake by the half. Like a half moon. Whatevs. Just eat the damn thing, and try to share as much of it as possible, or you will eat it all by yourself.

For my next lemon cake trick, I present to you the Swedish version of a mud cake. With lemons instead of chocolate. So not really a mud cake, but with the same gooey denseness going on. Even if you overbake it. Which we did. No matter. It is GOOD. It is TART. It tastes like MOAR. You'll have to forego a pic on this one, we ate it too fast, but you can check out the Swedish recipe for one if you like, and enjoy the readers' own pictures. 

Syrlig citronkladdkaka (Tart lemon sticky cake)

You'll need: 

1 large lemon

150 grams of butter

2 large eggs

2.5 dl sugar

1 tsp vanilla sugar

1.5 dl flour

Preheat the oven to 150 C. Grease and flour a 20 cm. cake pan. Melt the butter and let cool. Grate and juice the lemon. Mix the egg and sugar together until white, light, and fluffy. Turn the handmixer on low and add the vanilla sugar, the lemon zest and juice. Add the butter and flour, mix well, and pour the mixture into the pan. 

Bake 30-40 minutes in the center of the oven. 

That's it. Super easy. Super good. And super tart, so don't be timid, and serve this with a helping of fat, either sour cream or whipped cream.  

For people with gluten intolerance, without having tried it, I'm pretty confident that almond flour would do really well with these two recipes, so have at it!

A Quick Strawberry Fix

Getting older, I am starting to be every bit the sour cream fiend that my dear old Dad was. He put sour cream on everything. His cornflakes, his t-bone steak, his fruit. You name it, he sour creamed it. Sometimes he just ate it straight from the container. I, in turn, have done all those things myself. Tentatively at first, but now unabashedly. Sour cream is tha BOMB!

So, if you have some strawberries, and want to dress them up a bit for a quick dessert, just halve them, put a nice big dollop of the stuff on top, and sprinkle with brown sugar (baby). Yum. Really! And when the strawberry season is over and done with, do it with green grapes instead. Just don't cheat yourself with the low percent sour cream. 18%, at the very least :)

The Berries are Coming!

*Pardon the missing picture, Blogger ate it!*

This is about as summery a dessert as you can get. It is pink, fluffy, fruity - if Barbie had a flavor, this would be it. (Mattel, please keep your patent off my dessert)

Meringues:
4 egg whites
200 grams sugar
1 tsp. white vinegar
1 tsp. rose water (optional)
few drops of red food coloring (optional)

Topping:
Assorted berries, red currants, raspberries, blueberries, blakberries, mulberries, boysenberries, cloudberries etc.
Lemon curd (optional)
Whipped cream
Passion fruit

Whisk the whites until peaky. Add the sugar one spooon at a time until stiff. Fold in the other ingredients. Drop tennis ball size meringue on baking sheet, making a little dip in the middle for the topping. Bake for 20 minutes at 160 Celsius.

When completely cool, spread on lemon curd and whipped cream. Top with berries of choice. I added a spoonful of passion fruit for an exotic twist. It's a tad unsightly, so you might want to put it under the fruit instead. The rose water is optional, but it gives the meringue the yummy delicate taste of Turkish Delight.

For some reason, I haven't made these for a couple of summers, this post being one from the archives. Why, I do not know. The weather just went a bit dreary here, but at the first ray of light, I'm hauling berries home, and enjoying these in the yard!

Moist, Dense, Perfect Gingerbread

This is another re-post from my family blog. From back in 2007 I think. But still just as fine as it ever will be. I am a busy bee with my last term paper, my innumerous jobs, and taking to the streets on the behalf of our climate.

This cake is...perfect. I remember tweaking it just a tad here and there, as I didn't have the exact sugars called for, but nevertheless, it was...perfect. And popular.

Kille Enna's Gingerbread

300 grams flour
2 tsp baking powder
1/2 tsp salt
1 1/2 tsp cinnamon
1/2 tsp allspice
50 grams dark chocolate
250 grams butter
2 dl boiling water
3 tbsp fresh finely grated ginger
200 grams dark muscovado sugar
200 grams molasses cane sugar
4 eggs

Sieve the flour, baking powder, salt, cinnamon and allspice in a bowl.
Melt the chocolate in a water bath.
In another bowl, whisk the butter until frothy.
Add hot water, ginger and sugar and whisk well.
Add one egg at a time while whisking.
Fold the chocolate in the mixture, then add the dry ingredients. Whisk well.
Pour into a buttered and floured cake pan (20 cm x 25 cm).
Bake at 170 Celsius for 45-60 minutes.
It's done when a knife comes out clean.

The Next Best Thing

These are just about as close to being chocolate chip cookies with out actually being chocolate chip cookies. They are but humble meringues. As in, no flour. Ergo no gluten. And these in particular are chock full of nuts and chocolate chunks. Delightful and delicious.

40 grams egg white (one large egg white)
100 grams powdered sugar
100 grams almonds (or hazelnuts) chopped
100 grams dark chocolate chopped
2 tbsp cocoa powder
1 tsp vanilla
1 tsp white wine vinegar

Brown the chopped nuts lightly in the oven. Mix the egg white and sugar with vanilla and vinegar until it gets peaky. Fold the other ingredients in. Drop with a spoon on baking parchment, and bake for ten minutes at 160 degrees Celsius.

That easy.

I've added the cocoa powder, vanilla and vinegar, otherwise this recipe is taken from a Nikolaj Kirk cookbook. The bigger the chunks of chocolate, the more you will fool yourself into believing that you have a real chocolate chip cookie on your hands.

Chocolate-covered Caramel Crunch

This recipe is well known on the internets. I think this was the guy who started it all. But in these matters, I don't mind being a sheep. It's worth it. The recipe is easy, delicious, and best of all, impressive. If you make it for guests, they'll be flabbergasted that you've mde your own Daim, or Skor as it's called in the US. Just don't let on how easy it was.

You'll need:

enough crackers to line a baking sheet (matzoh crackers make this an appropriate Passover treat)
1 c unsalted butter, cut into chunks
1 c packed light brown sugar
big pinch of fleur du sel (optional)
1/2 t vanilla extract
1 c semisweet chocolate chips
1 c toasted coarsely chopped almonds

1. Line baking sheet with foil, making sure you have enough to create a tall rim around the pan. Line pan with crackers, breaking up pieces if you have to, to fill in any cracks. Preheat the oven to 375° F/190° C.

2. In a medium sized saucepan, melt the butter and brown sugar together over medium heat. Stir frequently until the mixture begins to boil. Boil for 3 minutes, stirring constantly. Remove from heat and add in vanilla. If you are using unsalted crackers, add in salt. Pour caramel over crackers and spread evenly with a silicone spatula.

3. Put the baking sheet in the oven, reducing heat to 350° F/190° C. Bake for 15 minutes, watching carefully that the caramel does not burn.

4. Remove from heat and cover with chocolate chips. Let stand 5 minutes until chocolate melts and then spread evenly with a spatula. Sprinkle with toasted almonds and fleur du sel or whatever toppings you desire. Let cool completely and then break into pieces, storing in an airtight container.

I happened to have some pecan-meal on hand which I used in lieu of the almonds, but the variations on this are endless!

More of Them Apples

This dish is an old Danish favorite. It translates to "apple cake", but it's not apple cake like the one most people think of, which I'd more call a "kuchen". This is a concoction consisting more or less of apple sauce, a crispy topping, and whipped cream. Everybody's grandmother has their own recipe.

You'll need:
Apples
Bread crumbs
Cream
Sugar

Start with your apples. Peel them, core them, cut them into biggish chunks, so there's still some texture. In a pot, simmer them with just the slightest bit of water, until they go all mushy, but not too liquidy. Add sugar to your liking, a little vanilla is a good thing too.

Now, while those are bubbling gently, and reducing, gently toast some bread crumbs with a little sugar in a pan. You want them to have a golden color, perhaps a dark golden color, but this requires guarding them lest they burn on you.

Whip the cream.

Now, if you're the patient type, I suggest layering your apple sauce and crumbs, and then waiting until they're almost completely cooled before adding the whipped cream to the whole thing.

If you're the impatient type, like some people I know and happen to live with, make individual servings while it's still nice and warm, and then race each other to eat up before the whipped cream melts completely.

*Some people use crumbled up macaroons instead of crumbs. They're sweet by nature, and don't need any toasting.

**Some people also add sherry or a port wine to the crumbs/macaroons. This is always a welcome addition in my family.

In Many Ways a Perfect Cake

Since last, our carrot supply has actually grown. I keep having to think of creative ways to use them up, and this is harder than you would think! We are just not carrot people, but they are in our CSA nonetheless. I found this oh so yummy carrot/banana cake on the interwebs yesterday, and it was not only quick and easy, it was absolutely delectable, moist, perfect texure and with a cream cheese frosting, and we all love that, n'est-ce pas?



The Perfect, Moist Banana/Carrot Cake

3 medium eggs
175g soft brown sugar
175g plain flour (I used my usual spelt flour w/germ)
2 tsp baking powder
1 tsp salt
1 tsp bicarbonate of soda
175ml sunflower oil (I used coldpressed rapeseed/canola)
175g walnut pieces (I used 90 grams of Texas Pecan Meal)
2 ripe, medium bananas, mashed
175g grated carrot

Icing
75g butter, softened
75g cream cheese
150g icing sugar, sifted
1 tsp vanilla extract
Chopped walnuts, to decorate (optional)

Preheat the oven to 170°C. Grease a 20cm-diameter cake tin with removable base.
Beat the eggs and the sugar together until thick. Sift in the flour, baking powder, salt and bicarbonate of soda. Mix well then add the oil and walnuts, then the banana and carrot.
Pour into the tin. Bake for 1¼ hours or until a skewer comes out clean. Cover with foil if it begins to brown too much (I didn't do this, and mine was pretty brown, but by no means burnt). Cool on a rack.
For the icing, beat the butter and cheese together, then add the sugar and vanilla. Spread on the cold cake. Finish with walnuts.

As if we could wait that long for the last bit. We ate it still warm with a side dollop of the frosting. Perfect for a night in while dogsitting for friends. We didn't share with our furrry friend though. This recipe is originally for 8 people, but if you're anything like Mik and me, this is a weekend cake for two.

Fig and Goat Cheese Clafoutis

This yummy tidbit comes from Traveler's Lunchbox. It's a recipe I've tried four or five times, and it's always a hit. Made it just yesterday (again) in honor of my mother, who's visiting from Texas, and who ate this for breakfast, dessert or a little snack whenever she felt like it! Don't let the goat cheese put you off, it's a light and fluffy chèvre you need for this, and it's not invasive in the dessert context at all.

Fig and Goat Cheese Clafoutis

Serves: 6
Notes: Equal parts custard, cheesecake and pancake, this clafoutis is not terribly traditional, but it is really good. Serve it in generous wedges, lukewarm or at room temperature, with something fresh and tangy as counterpoint.

5 oz (150g) mild goat cheese, at room temperature
1/2 cup (110g) sugar, plus extra for dipping figs
4 large eggs
3 tablespoons honey
3/4 cup (180ml) heavy cream
1 vanilla bean, split, or 1 teaspoon vanilla extract
1/2 cup (70g) flour
1 lb (500g) figs, any variety

Preheat the oven to 350F/175C. Put the goat cheese and sugar in a medium bowl and whisk until smooth. Add the eggs, one at a time, incorporating each one before adding the next. Whisk in the honey and cream. Scrape the seeds from the vanilla bean and add them too. Whisk in the flour just until no lumps remain. At this point the batter can be refrigerated for up to 24 hours (and indeed, some people say it improves with age).

Halve the figs lengthwise. Grease a shallow baking dish or cast-iron skillet (approx 10in/25cm diameter) with butter and pour in the batter. Pour some sugar into a shallow bowl and dip the figs, cut-side down, into the sugar. Arrange them, cut-side up, in the batter.

Bake until the top is golden brown and a toothpick inserted in the center comes out clean, about 30-40 minutes (this will depend on how large your baking dish is). Allow to cool for at least 20 minutes before serving.