Danish Træstammer
We are looooong overdue for a Danish recipe, don’t you think? There are so many recipes that I want to make (Danish and others alike) and simply not enough hours in the day. Maybe if I took a month off from work I could make a dent in my to-do-list.
Anyway, I have been planning and researching Danish Træstammer for a long time now and I am so excited to finally being able to share them with you. I remember buying Træstammer from the store at home and they were a very special treat indeed. For this post I choose to use a ganache as a binder which seems perhaps a little cumbersome but very delicious. Making Træstammer is not an exact science. A lot depends on how moist or dry your left-over chocolate cake is, mine was actually quite fresh and moist so it did not take much ganache to form the inside cake “batter”. The ganache portion of this recipe makes more than enough, so if you happen to have something needing decorating, the left-over ganache will be perfect.
Ingredients:
For the ganache:
2.5 deciliter (9 oz) whipping cream
250 grams (8.8 oz) dark chocolate
For the chocolate filling (logs):
400 grams (14 oz) left-over good chocolate cake
1/4 cup ganache
3 tablespoons Bacardi Gold Rum
For the outside covering:
400 grams (14 oz) marzipan
confectioners sugar for sprinkling
dark chocolate for dipping
Directions:
To make ganache: Chop the chocolate and place in a small bowl. Pour whipping cream into small saucepan and bring to a simmer. Pour the hot whipping cream over chopped chocolate and let sit for 5 minutes. Stir chocolate mixture until it’s smooth. Place in refrigerator to cool for 20-25 minutes.
To make chocolate filling (logs): Break left-over cake into large chunks and place in food processor or blender, process until fine crumbs. Slowly add chocolate ganache, while processing, until crumbs start to come together into a ball. Add rum. Form chocolate mass into a ball and place in refrigerator.
Sprinkle flat working surface with confectioners sugar. Form marzipan into a rectangle and start rolling it out making sure it does not stick to working surface.
Remove the chocolate filling from the refrigerator, divide into three parts and roll each part into long logs approximately 2-3 centimeters (0.8-1 inch) in thickness. Place logs one at the time onto the marzipan and roll the marzipan around the log, cut along the long edge to fit. Pinch together the long edge to close the marzipan around the chocolate log. Gently roll the marzipan log to flatten the seam. Trim off the ends of the log, cut the logs into equal lengths approximately 7-8 centimeters (2.8-3 inches). Place cut up logs on baking sheet and place in refrigerator.
Chop the remaining chocolate, place in a small bowl over a water bath and melt. Dip each end of the logs in the melted chocolate, place on baking sheet and allow to cool. Enjoy!
Source: Himmelske Kager
My Danish Kitchen 
[…] found the recipe on a blog called “My Danish Kitchen”, you can find it here. Hope you don’t mind me posting […]
I know little Christmas Eve is a bit late to be asking for advice but I am wondering if I could make these using a gingerbread bundt that broke when I took it out of the oven yesterday 😭
Thank you,
God Jul 🌲❄
Hannah, what an interesting idea 😃 Well they won’t taste like a tradional træstamme, however, they might taste very Christmassy. Why not, give it a try. And if you do, let me know how they turned out, now I’m curious. God Jul 🎅
Thank you so much for getting back to me, I was so pleased to get your reply.
I’ve wanted to make træstamme for a while but never seem to have leftover cake – until I ruined my gingerbread that is!
The cake was pretty moist – being a gingerbread, as we have children coming I left out the rum and used a little ganache with a dash or two of Monin Gingerbread syrup. .
They are not like the traditional træstamme, but I think that they are very tasty indeed! ( I’ve had 3 so far! )
Have a wonderful Christmas.
Hannah
Hannah, I am so excited they turned out good 😋 You have a wonderful Christmas too.
Gitte
[…] can leave the pacifier tied up on a special pacifier tree to help the little ones say goodbye. Danish Træstammer or Tree Logs are a fun desert you can find in bakeries and is quite easy to recreate at […]
Tusinde tak for de dejlige opskrifter. Jeg er bosiddende i USA paa 20. aar, og min son skulle lave et projekt i hans skole om traditioner og desserter. Han fandt opskriften paa hans yndlingsdessert, risengrod paa din website. Jeg fandt opskriften paa traestammer, min yndlingsdessert – jeg glaeder mig til at prove at lave dem. Glaedelig Jul!
Christina, Jeg er rigtig glad for at høre at i fandt jeres ynglings desserter på min food blog. Træstammer er også en af mine favoritter og jeg blev selv helt vild glad da jeg fandt ud af hvordan jeg selv kunne lave dem 🙂
Very different, and very tasty looking! I’ll pin this one so I can remember to make these for the big Christmas get together!
Just perfect and an absolute hit at the Danish Girls JuleHygge & Juleklip afternoon last sunday,,,, Thank you very much
Thank you, that makes me so happy to hear!
Juleklip? I want juleklip too 🙂
MMMMMMMMMMMMM,…I am so going to make these today! I have all of the ingredients in the house! 😉
Oh yum! I was looking for a nice cookie or candy that incorporated chocolate and almond for my Christmas baskets, and I think I just found them!
Sounds very yummy!
Oh they will be perfekt for a Danish JuleKlip & Guf afternoon this sunday. It is quite hard to make the traditional Guf in the Australian climate but these will be perfect.
Reply to BackOverHere: There is a great recipe for Flodeboller on http://www.summerbird.dk as well as Odense Marcipan website…. both really good, not the best to make in an Australian Summer.
Just like Jayne, I love your Danish recipes! This treat is *so* perfect for me. I *adore* marzipan. And chocolate ganache too. So there you have it — perfect combination! Now I only need to control myself and not them all at once 😀
Oops. That had to be “not eat them all at once” 🙂
I know what you mean, I’ve had two already today. I can’t stay away from them 🙂
I think my next attempt at a danish goodie is going to be flødeboller. Have you ever made them? I am torn between thinking they should be easy and being very overwhelmed at the idea. My children and I miss them now that we live back in the states.
I did make some flødeboller a while ago but choose not to post about them yet since I did have difficulties with them. I am still looking for a really good recipe and I do plan on posting about them, they are too yummy to overlook 🙂
These look fabulous! They would be wonderful Christmas treats 🙂
I love running across unique recipes and this is one I am glad you posted. The idea of the chocolatey rum filling surrounded by marzipan is genius. Also, these logs make for an awesome presentation. This is one recipe I have saved and put on my to do list. Great post.
Oh I love these tiny bites of heaven! Absolutely delicious!
I love your Danish recipes! I found your blog while searching for Danish food blogs. I moved to Denmark a few months ago and it is difficult for me to figure out what to do with the interesting (but foreign-to-me) ingredients that I find in the stores here.
I know what you mean 🙂 I hope my blog can be of some help to you. Enjoy your time in Danmark.